ROME, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Italy's highest court of appeal affirmed the illegality of insulting someone by sticking your tongue out at them.

The case brought before the Cassation Court involved a farmer whose tongue gesture was captured by a cellphone camera held by the neighbor with whom he was arguing. The farmer, Carlo O., had been convicted by a justice of the peace of insulting the neighbor, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.


The Cassation Court let stand the conviction and ordered Carlo O. to pay his neighbor's court costs of $1,863.81. He will also have to pay damages, which will be set in a different trial, the news agency said Friday.

Italian courts often find people guilty of offending someone's honor, ANSA reported.