History of the Middle Finger

HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE FINGER 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? _ /'_-/) ,/_ / / / /'_'/' '/'__'/','/' /'/ / / / /_\ ( ( ' ' _ > \ \ | \ / ' \ / 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 changed 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." And yew thought yew knew everything

Learn something new everyday!! Thanks !! but of DJ will come in and say he already knew this, so.. :smash:

HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE FINGER labiodental fricative 'F', That's a mouthful... :lol: ..... very interesting. :thumbs:

All I can say is sounds like bs to me. .

Learn something new everyday!! Thanks !! but of DJ will come in and say he already knew this, so.. :smash: Ok Captain Numbnuts...:lol: I have heard of this but this is not true. This did happen but was not when the middle finger first started. His story tells of how the words went along with it. Its originally dated back over 2500 years. The first written record of the insult occurred in ancient Greece. :dthumb: Even back then, it was considered an aggressive put-down.

Ok Captain Numbnuts...:lol: I have heard of this but this is not true. This did happen but was not when the middle finger first started. His story tells of how the words went along with it. Its originally dated back over 2500 years. The first written record of the insult occurred in ancient Greece. :dthumb: Even back then, it was considered an aggressive put-down. Yes I knew it! I was right.. Smells like BS to me..

Yes I knew it! I was right.. Smells like BS to me.. LOL I read it in my bathroom book of... something. It has so many stupid things in there that you never talk about on a daily basis. I will have to post up some of the stuff in it. But the middle finger thing was on page 45. hehehe I looked it up to make sure. :dthumb:

I relive the history of the middle finger every day on the highways :lol:

Hi, I'm English, and we don't use the 'finger' like you guys do (well some might, but it's an Americanism) - we 'flick the 'V's' as in stick up the first and second fingers in a V sign, and that's the one from Agincourt, as they were the fingers the English bowmen used when we gave the Frenchies a good thrashing. :lol: Thats how I've always understood it anyway, I thought your 'finger' came from elsewhere, even though the meaning is the same.

Welcome bomma to TWF. Thanks for the info on it for us. Enjoy TWF. :dthumb:

I relive the history of the middle finger every day on the highways :lol: :lol: Yep me too! Matter of fact...History made it's way to my car this morning a few times