Cub Scout Salute

[denleader09]

I am getting ready to do a den meeting on the flag requirements for Citizen. When reviewing the "Your Flag" book, I noticed that the adult leaders in the diagram don't do the cub scout salute with two fingers. They all are demonstrating the normal salute you think of. I learned to do the cub scout salute from observing the other adult leaders at my pack and roundtable. Are we all doing it wrong?

[rkfrance]

No you're not doing it wrong.

 

When in uniform, Cub Scouts and Scout leaders wearing the blue shoulder loops should use the Cub Scout 2 finger salute.

 

[denleader09]

Thanks! It was just an illustration and I am assuming that is just how the artist did it. It never said anything in the book except that cub scouts in uniform do the two finger salute. I guess the pictures don't always match.

[packsaddle]

I don't remember that particular illustration but I agree, it could be the result of 'artistic license'. I run into this in textbooks and there the problem is really bad if it gets through the review process. An illustrator, on some occasions, has taken a scientific graph of data and altered the lines because they 'look' better with the alteration. The scientist who produced the graph assumes, naturally, that his data are going to be published exactly as they were submitted. In a peer-review such goofs are almost always caught but in textbooks, they are sometimes made late in the process and review is cursory. Oh well. So YOU are the reviewer in this case. At least the mistake is minor and easily corrected. My thoughts go to the original cover of the Disney 'Little Mermaid' video case. THAT was incredible!

[perdidochas]

In our pack, our tradition is that Webelos who have earned the Webelos badge (and the 2nd yr Webelos leader) use the three finger salute.

[Scoutfish]

Call me ignorant, but I have to ask: What about the original cover for Little Mermaid?

[OwntheNight]

Umm 'Fish, Sit down we need to have a talk about Ummm "Adult" stuff. The illustrator for the cover was unhappy with Disney studios and decided to use "creative license" and inserted a phallic drawing in the castle in the background. Start there.

[denleader09]

I had to go look up the cover to Little Mermaid. I read it was a total mistake and not noticed for a year after release, lol! The artist was a churchgoer who says he did it by accident and once it hit the media about the tower, his church group was the one to tell him. How embarassing!

 

 

 

 

[OwntheNight]

I guess that's how urban myths get started. I had always heard the disgruntled employee story.

[shortridge]

Details about the Little Mermaid story:

 

http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/mermaid.asp

 

And on the salute, I'd just add that in my experience, even Cub Scout summer camp staffers - though they may be registered as Boy Scouts or on the council staff - use the two-fingered salute and sign.

[packsaddle]

Looks like I hijacked things. Sorry. I'll try to lay it to rest now. I first noticed the offending 'spire' when an illustrator friend returned from an illustrators conference with the story. I immediately pulled our copy off the shelf and...O!M!G!

ALL of the spires began to look, well, you know. So I stopped looking, and put that video into a safe place (gonna be a collectors item someday).

The story my friend heard at the conference is that illustrators normally like to 'sign' their work, either the way Norman Rockwell did (you can be sure HE'D never have drawn something like that)...h'mmm...I hope...or with a signature token (a small piece of art that is always the same and is worked into the illustration kind of like a trademark or something).

Anyway, the story goes that Disney doesn't allow 'signing'. The illustrator got upset and left Disney with a very special token.

Snopes has put the lie to this story and I have to admit, I'm sorry for that. Sometimes the illusions are more interesting than the reality.

 

Though I'm still a bit suspicious about that claim of it being 'accidental'. Illustrators are quirky and they are quite aware of what they create. Yep, suspicious. Maybe I'm just hanging onto the myth.

 

Back to cub scout salutes.....

[DeanRx]

As long as its not a ONE finger salute (so to speak), I'm not sure what the big deal is.

 

Cubs do 2-finger, some adults (when with cubbies) do the same. I've seen either done with Webelos scouts - hard to tell them to do it "the little kid way", when the majority of their rank is LEARNING the BSA way of doing things. Why learn it and then not use it?

 

Adult leaders in BSA, when visiting a cub gathering (i.e. DE, visiting SM, Roundtable, etc..) use the BSa 3-finger salute.