History Lesson

I have been preoccupied for the past several weeks and have truly missed our conversations and opportunities for enlightenment. As reparations for my negligence, I offer the following history lesson for your consideration:

The History of the Middle FingerWell, 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 yew thought yew knew every plucking thing have an awesome day!


Comments

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  • Great info, Steaks! You are my hero.
  • My favorite old saying coming from Britain is "rule of thumb". I man legally could beat his wife with a stick that was the diameter of his thumb.
  • I heard something else can be determined by the size of a man's thumb. x}> Any validity to that, Ray?
  • Well, I just checked.... my big toe is definitely bigger than my thumb.
  • So, this is what they teach in Kansas?
  • It's part of the core requirements at the Univ. of Kansas, along with remedial reading, math and personal hygiene. Fortunately 20% of the students are able to quiz out by their junior year.........

  • I shall send this to my parents, who share my love of learning the origins of words and phrases. Thanks, steaks!
  • You may also want to mention to your parents that snopes.com says this story is false.

    Interestingly, it appears that the use of the middle finger as an insult predates the Hundred Years War by about 1500 years:

    from [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_finger[/url] :

    The origin of this gesture is speculative, and quite possibly thousands of years old. It is figured that a man by the name of John Boucher was the first to use this as a way to insult. It is identified as the digitus impudicus ("impudent finger") in Ancient Roman writings and reference is made to using the finger in the Ancient Greek comedy The Clouds by Aristophanes. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another person. The widespread usage of the finger in many cultures is likely due to the geographical influence of the Roman Empire and Greco-Roman civilization. Another possible origin of this gesture can be found in the first-century Mediterranean world, where extending the digitus impudicus was one of many methods used to divert the ever present threat of the evil eye.

    Another possible origin is the phallic imagery of the raised middle finger (the middle finger being the longest finger on the human hand), similar to the Italian version of the bent elbow insult. Also, there is a variation of the finger where it can be done by performing The Fangul, by sticking out the finger during the throwing motion.

    A popular urban legend incorrectly states that during the Hundred Years' War, the French would cut off the middle fingers of captured English archers so they would be unable to use their bows, and that after the Battle of Agincourt, the victorious English showed the French that their middle fingers were still intact.


    (not that the french/english thing is not a cute story! but since HRQ says she and her parents love learning the origin of words/phrases, I thought she might like to know this tidbit)
  • Kimberly, you are doing it again. You know, being all accurate and stuff. Its more fun being ignorant and entertained.
  • Who you callin' ignorant, Paul?

    Thanks for the correction, KimberlyK. I will let mom know. And I was all proud of myself for teaching her something new! Dang...
  • Yes, I heard and repeated a similar story once about the origins of a certain word. The short version went that at one time many subjects were forbidden to have more children without permission of the king. If he gave his permission, then a sign was place over the doorway that read "Fornication Under Consent of the King." Eventually the sign just read: F.U....and so on.

    I was so disappointed when I found out the story was false. That darn Snopes.com!
  • You never told us what the certain word was.
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