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Wow. Who kyew?
:-)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 3:55
PM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] A little history
from a memer of my family
Subject: History of
Middle Finger
History of 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 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."
IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY! And yew thought yew
knew everything.
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