The English don't wave their middle finger, they flick the "V", the first and
middle finger, which I think gives your story more credence as those are the
two fingers
needed to "Pluck the Yew". The middle finger is American and represents
something totally different.
Andy
At 2/22/99 6:16:00 PM, you wrote:
>
>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>
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>Content-ID: <0_919725412@inet_out.mail.aol.com.1>
>
>I don't know if the following story is true, but it sounds as if it might =
>be.
>Maybe some of our English listers can set it right.
>
>Gary Bouffard (my family left France a long time ago around late1600's,
>something to do with finger pointing)
>
><<
> History of Giving the Finger...
>
> =A0 In the current film, Titanic, the character Rose is shown giving the
> Finger to Jack (another character). Many people who have seen the film
> question whether 'giving the finger' was done around the time of the
> Titanic disaster, or was it a more recent gesture invented by some
> defiant seventh-grader. =A0According to research, here's the true
> story:
> =A0 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').
> =A0 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!' =A0
> Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this
> symbolic gesture. Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like
> 'pleasant mother pheasant plucker', which is who
> you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow),
> 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. =A0 It is also because of
> the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the symbolic gesture is known
> as 'giving the bird'. =A0And yew all thought yew knew everything!
>
> >>
>
>
>
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>Content-ID: <0_919725412@inet_out.mail.aol.com.2>
>Content-disposition: inline
>
>From: DLynn1196@aol.com
>Return-path: <DLynn1196@aol.com>
>To: Gbouff1@aol.com
>Subject: FROM YOUR WIFE...
>Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 21:48:28 EST
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>
>History of Giving the Finger...
>
>=A0 In the current film, Titanic, the character Rose is shown giving the
>Finger to Jack (another character). Many people who have seen the film
>question whether 'giving the finger' was done around the time of the
>Titanic disaster, or was it a more recent gesture invented by some
>defiant seventh-grader. =A0According to research, here's the true
>story:
>=A0 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').
>=A0 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!' =A0
>Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this
>symbolic gesture. Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like
>'pleasant mother pheasant plucker', which is who
>you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow),
>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. =A0 It is also because of
>the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the symbolic gesture is known
>as 'giving the bird'. =A0And yew all thought yew knew everything!
>
>
>
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