Well now.......... here is something I never knew before,
and now that I know it, I feel compelled to seend it on to
more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel
edified. Isn't history more fun when you knew something
about it ?
THE 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 off all captured English soldiers.
Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw
the renouned 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 you").
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 labiodentals 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 to the French today !
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing !
and now that I know it, I feel compelled to seend it on to
more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel
edified. Isn't history more fun when you knew something
about it ?
THE 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 off all captured English soldiers.
Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw
the renouned 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 you").
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 labiodentals 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 to the French today !
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing !
..