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.
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 they 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 labiodentalfricative '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. Didn’t yew!!
The History of the Middle Finger
Re: The History of the Middle Finger
An apocryphal tale, often told here, though convention has it as the origin of the two-finger salute, not the middle finger.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pluck-yew/
I honestly don't recall anyone in Britain using the middle finger gesture much before the 1970s anyway. Kate Winslett doing it in 'Titanic' was laughed at as an anachronism.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pluck-yew/
I honestly don't recall anyone in Britain using the middle finger gesture much before the 1970s anyway. Kate Winslett doing it in 'Titanic' was laughed at as an anachronism.
Re: The History of the Middle Finger
It was a joke I know it is BS.
Re: The History of the Middle Finger
Okay, well, my mistake then. Reading it, I just thought it was yet another permutation of a well-known historical nonsense - clearly, I missed the joke.dvm wrote:It was a joke I know it is BS.
Re: The History of the Middle Finger
No big deal ! I tried to walk across my swimming pool the other day an I went right to the bottom.
Re: The History of the Middle Finger
Do you know what word starts with 'F' and ends with '#ck?'......Firetruck!
- Tug002
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Re: The History of the Middle Finger
I was able to walk across my pool the other day but keep in mind......mine is still frozen solid. Has not thawed out yet from the winter.dvm wrote:No big deal ! I tried to walk across my swimming pool the other day an I went right to the bottom.
Keep smiling
Tug
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