History of the Middle Finger!

By ConfusedFusion
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ConfusedFusion

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Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and I feel compelled to post it on neowin so my more intelligent friends 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 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!

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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rbeasley07

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yeah i think thats how 'giving the forks' originated as well, same story

when they pulled back the arrow in the bow, with two fingers. and like you said they would give the one finger salute to the french well instead they would give the two finger salute in mockery of the french

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Timmah Veteran

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yeah i think thats how 'giving the forks' originated as well, same story

when they pulled back the arrow in the bow, with two fingers. and like you said they would give the one finger salute to the french well instead they would give the two finger salute in mockery of the french

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I think that one's from the French Rev then.

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leesmithg

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Posted
Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and I feel compelled to post it on neowin so my more intelligent friends 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 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!

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...

585684677[/snapback]

In the words of Andy Pipkin, 'yeah I knoow'!

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ConfusedFusion

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That's completely false. The ancient Romans were aware of the middle finger as an undiplomatic gesture. The story of the British archers was totally made up after the fact.

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Well, I have heard lots of stories which includes the Romans, what I posted is just one of em. :happy:

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simplyatbliss

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The origins of this gesture are highly speculative. It is identified as the digitus impudicus ("impudent finger") in Ancient Roman writings. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another. It has been noted that the gesture resembles an erect penis. Ancient Romans considered an image of an erect phallus as a talisman against evil spells. As a consequence, displaying this gesture to another may not have been a pseudo-sexual insult but rather an insulting statement along the lines of ? "I'm going to protect myself against your witchcraft, before you even start."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_finger

if you think hard enough, almost anything that is long can resemble a penis:hmmm:m: anyways, wikipedia kicks ass.

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digitalslacker

Posted
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Archers use their index and middle fingers to hold the bow and arrow when pulling it back. If you hold up your index and middle finger in a sort of backwards peace sign, turned around that is and wave it at an English or Irish guy it will mean the same as holding up your middle finger does to us Americans.

The story as I heard it was that archers, when captured had their middle and index finger chopped off to prevent them from holding a bow and arrow. Archers who wanted to taunt their enemies would hold up the middle and index finger and wave it.

I read a story about this in Maxim Magazine about a year ago. I also know a bunch of Irish and English guys and believe me; they get offended when you make the gesture at them.

I'd argue that both stories have some root and the present day symbol probably derived from both.

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