SoCal Jet Boats
Discussion => The No Wake Zone => Topic started by: Nordie on September 03, 2009, 08:16:01 PM
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History of the middle finger
The History of the Middle Finger
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Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and now that I know
it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the
hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you
know something about it?
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Before the Battle of Agincourt (pronounced a zhin kuhr) 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 they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous
English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of
drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").
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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! 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! 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."
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And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!