The History of Middle Finger

[airgun_novice]

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's also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as 'giving the bird.'
IT'S STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

[xl_target]

I enjoyed that story the first time I read it but this one has been making the rounds of the Internet for a while.
It turns out that it is not really true. For one thing, there are many methods of drawing a bow and you can still draw one without a middle finger.

Here is the Snopes article on this
http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp

[airgun_novice]

XL. Got it around in mail after a long time and couldn't resist the smile or the urge to share.

[brihacharan]

XL. Got it around in mail after a long time and couldn't resist the smile or the urge to share.

> Here's another "Eye Opener"
> The ubiquitous 4 letter word seems to have the following origin...
> In 16 century England the King was bothered about the growing population - so brought a decree - that citizens who wanted to make an addition to their families had to take prior permission from the King.
> The decree read - Fornication Under the Consent of the King"
Briha

[brihacharan]

[quote="airgun_novice"]

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.

> It's not the 'Middle Finger' that was cut - It was the 'Thumb'
> But then the Brits adapted the grip to 'Index Finger & Middle Finger' - The French were aghast that they could still shoot an arrow...
> In response to which the Brits showed them their "Middle Finger" followed by the Chant 'Pluck Yew' which today phonetically sounds... you know what
Briha

[hamiclar01]

I find it sad when internet hoaxes creep up on IFG. I thought we were industrious, responsible, educated people who base their thinking on facts, rather than hearsay.

[nagarifle]

I find it sad when internet hoaxes creep up on IFG. I thought we were industrious, responsible, educated people who base their thinking on facts, rather than hearsay.

as long as its in its rightful place.

and i used to think that the v sign was the outcome of the battle

[brihacharan]

I find it sad when internet hoaxes creep up on IFG. I thought we were industrious, responsible, educated people who base their thinking on facts, rather than hearsay.

> As long as its in its rightful place.
> And i used to think that the v sign was the outcome of the battle

Briha