Well, now......here's something I never
knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on
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 TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew everything!
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