To get The Shaft (
Definition 3) from someone, that is, to get screwed over. However - getting The Shaft is common enough - you realise you have received The Spanish Finger only
after the fact. So, in (say) a review situation - your boss makes a couple of critical remarks that are so subtle you only realise it afterwards. That is The Spanish Finger. Realisation of having just received The Spanish Finger is normally accompanid by a puzzled frown and a rub of ones chin. This was first coined in Rathmines on
December 9, 2005.