The History of the Middle Finger
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 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 are mistakenly thought to have
something to do with an intimate encounter.
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!
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 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 are mistakenly thought to have
something to do with an intimate encounter.
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!
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