Why is it called "flipping the bird?"

[SaltBoy]

I just got to thinking about that middle finger thing and wondered why it's also known as "flipping the bird." What does a bird have to do with a dirty gesture that means "f*** you?"

 

[Entity]

http://www.yaelf.com/questions.shtml#whrdsphrsflppngbrdc

Not sure what the two have in relation, though.

Rob

 

[Beau]

http://www.ooze.com/finger/html/history.html

Also, you may want to read this book

 

[ZeroNine8]

One theory is that, following the origin from "pluck yew" (google if you're not familiar with it), the fletching on arrows was made from bird feathers, so firing arrows came to be known as 'flipping the bird' and the terminology followed the connotation of "pluck yew" and the more widely known result of that.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: ZeroNine8
One theory is that, following the origin from "pluck yew" (google if you're not familiar with it), the fletching on arrows was made from bird feathers, so firing arrows came to be known as 'flipping the bird' and the terminology followed the connotation of "pluck yew" and the more widely known result of that.

That's not a theory, that's an urban legend. It's false.

Rob

 

[ZeroNine8]

I've never seen anything disproving it (never really looked either), link?

Edit: quick googling found several references to it being an urban legend, but still no answer to the original question so far.