The Cruel and Depressing Extramarital Origins of Giving Somebody Bunny Ears
The innocent prank of today was a incredibly demeaning act of the past
Giving somebody bunny ears, the act of making a “V” with your index and middle fingers and holding it up behind the head of an unsuspecting person, is one of the most common and wholesome pranks out there. However, the origins of this practice actually goes back hundreds of years and traces to making fun of men whose wives were suspected of cheating on them.
Nowadays, giving somebody bunny ears is most typically reserved for slyly photobombing a friend so the moment can be laughed about later once others see the picture. Such lightheartedness wasn’t always the case, as the hand gesture dates back to the European Middle Ages when the bunny ears were most commonly known as the “cuckold’s horns.” Instead of a little joke, the gesture was meant to humiliate men whose wives were believed to have taken other sexual partners.
Taking the public shaming even further, men with unfaithful wives were even known to be forced to wear a set of antlers on their heads to really emphasize the “cuckold’s horns.” The “cuckold horns” were specifically noted as a part of Italian culture but spread to other regions of Europe as well. The act even made its way into art…
