The History of the Middle Finger

by: Author Unknown,

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.

'IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing