Pluck Yew

manlymatt83

Lifer
Oct 14, 2005
10,051
44
91
> > The 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?
> >
> > 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.'
> >
> > AND TO THINK IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO OUR ENEMIES TODAY! And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.
 

MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
9,125
792
126
Fuck is a derivative of the german word "ficken"

It is not a curse word in Deutsch.
 

darkxshade

Lifer
Mar 31, 2001
13,749
6
81
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: darkxshade
Originally posted by: gypsyman
Snopes says no.

here

How nice of them to debunk a theory but not provide the true story of the origin.
How can you, if nobody knows?

Surely something so notorious as the origin as the finger should have been documented considering the history we've gathered on all sorts of equally stupid gestures. :p