Letters, Jan. 23, 1939

Saved from Embarrassment

Sirs:

You may be glad to know that a recent article in TIME proved timely indeed to the Walt Disney Studio and saved us from considerable embarrassment.

The article (TIME, Dec. 12) described a Brooklyn divorce trial where the most important testimony concerned a gesture made by raising the hands to the forehead, extending the fingers like horns, and making an ugly face.

I was horrified to learn that this gesture, called cornuto, is a well-known symbol for cuckoldry in Latin countries—horrified because I had in my ignorance and innocence used the identical gesture as a gag in a forthcoming Donald Duck...