Gormo
Mildly Cretinous
Location: Granite City
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Re: History of the middle finger...
quote:
Originally posted by DKOMPOZD
Sorry if its a repost, but here goes.
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."
[Also not sure if true, but pretty interesting.]
actually i heard that as the reason english people flick the v's
http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/his..._hardy_01.shtml
No wonder the French hated the English archers so much. A captured archer could expect short shrift - the usual French way of dealing with them was to cut off the index finger and the middle finger of the right hand.
The unfortunate archers were then sent back to the English army, unable to draw their bows and use the weapon they had trained all their lives to master.
Out of this came the infamous English V-sign - the two-fingered salute, which archers often directed towards the French armies prior to battle.
It was meant as a taunt towards the French, as if to say: 'Look - you haven't cut off our fingers', but the message was meant the same as it does today!
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Last edited by Gormo on 06-21-2006 at 02:02 AM
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Dogs On Acid > The Board > History of the middle finger...
History of the middle finger...
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06-21-2006 01:54 AM
