Post by SunnyGirl on Mar 2, 2004 12:10:30 GMT -5
History of the Middle Finger
Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French,
anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut
off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers.
Without the middle finger it would be impossible to
draw the renowned English longbow and therefore
be incapable of fighting in the future.
This famous weapon was made of the native English
Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was
known as "plucking the yew" ( or "pluck yew" ). Much
to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a
major upset and began mocking the French by waving
their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying,
"See, we can still pluck yew! PLUCK YEW!" Since "pluck
yew" is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant
cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a
labiodental fricative F, and thus the words often used
in conjunction with the one-finger-salute are mistakenly
thought to have something to do with an intimate
encounter.
It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the
arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic
gesture is known as "giving the bird."
And yew thought yew knew everything. ;D
Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French,
anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut
off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers.
Without the middle finger it would be impossible to
draw the renowned English longbow and therefore
be incapable of fighting in the future.
This famous weapon was made of the native English
Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was
known as "plucking the yew" ( or "pluck yew" ). Much
to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a
major upset and began mocking the French by waving
their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying,
"See, we can still pluck yew! PLUCK YEW!" Since "pluck
yew" is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant
cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a
labiodental fricative F, and thus the words often used
in conjunction with the one-finger-salute are mistakenly
thought to have something to do with an intimate
encounter.
It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the
arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic
gesture is known as "giving the bird."
And yew thought yew knew everything. ;D
. I will be back looking for Lin and others.