The History of the 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?

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 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").

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."

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

Actually, the story over this side of the pond involves the fore- and middle fingers (on the grounds that the English longbowmen of the time used those two fingers to draw back the bowstring and hold the arrow), thus giving rise to the two-fingered V salute.......(in more recent times sometimes referred to as a "Harvey Smith" after a much-televised shot of that great, and somewhat outspoken , Showjumper's* reaction to, er, something or someone unknown..............)

* and much loved for his "bluff Yorkshire" anti-establishment attitude.......not to mention the fact that he was a bl**dy good horseman!

The other story that my father (RAF, WW2) would tell was that after Winston Churchill started giving his famous "V for Victory" salute with the extended fore- and middle fingers (palm facing outward to the recipient) the somewhat war-weary response from the troops was a sort of "whatever" or "and up yours" response with the same two fingers extended but with the palm facing toward the sender....

but, hey, who wants to debunk a good story     

...and where does this notion of the French beating the English come from??    

We have a fine tradition of beating our Gallic cousins in the really important engagements....like last Saturday for example.......              




(ducks to avoid incoming Exocets from Surfeur     )

Quoting Rico:

Quote:
The History of the 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?

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 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").

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."

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

What do you think Robert Wuhl would do if he knew you plagiarized almost word for word his act on HBO?