History of Middle Finger
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?
_
/'_-/)
,/_ /
/ /
/'_'/' '/'__'/','/'
/'/ / / / /_\
( ( ' ' _ > \
\ |
\ / '
\ /
Giving the 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 they would 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 hanged 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."
IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE
|