History of the Middle Finger

[louixo]

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?

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."

IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE ON MANY AN OCCASION TODAY!

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!

 

[bernieh48]

That was pretty interesting. Thanks for enlightening us!

 

[copdsux]

Although these kinds of posts are interesting, and entertaining,they
should always be taken with a grain of salt. Go to www.snopes.com, and type "middle finger", in the search box.

 

[cheri1122]

It really WAS an interesting & entertaining story - even the part about the "labiodental fricative f" - which made me wondor if I've been mispronouncing it?! (Because I haven't got a clue as to what a labiodental fricative f should sound like!)
I'm already handicapped by the inability to salute worthy people with the middle finger extended - a repetitive motion injury called "trigger finger" locks my middle fingers in a curled position sometimes, and the sight of me trying, unsuccessfully, to extend the finger, causes either puzzlement or merriment in the other party.
Still haven't decided if this is the best, or the worst handicap a driver can have! :+

 

[fatman]

THE WORD F*** CAME FROM THE ENGLISH POLICE.WHEN YOU WOULD GET ARRESTED FOR SOLICITATION OF A PROSTITUTE BACK IN THE 1800'S-EARLY 1900S,YOU WOULD BE BOOKED "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge".SINCE THAT WOULD NOT FIT ON THE DESCRIPTION LINE OR THEY JUST GOT SICK OF WRITING IT,THEY STARTED USING THE ABBREVIATION

 

[MDB1]

And the B.S. rolls on.

As previously suggested you need to go to http://www.snopes.com/

and enter your "F-word" in the search box. You will find that your assertion as to the origin of this word, like the original "story" in this thread, is indeed, FALSE.

 

[louixo]

I think it´s almost impossible to find out where words came from, as there are so many ancient urban linguistic legends out there. As for the notorious "f" word, I remember reading that it originated back in the middle ages and was the result of medieval population control. When a couple wanted to procreate, thier house was bedecked with a sign which said "fornication under consent of the king", and thus the acronym was born. It was a form of an ancient attempt at issuing a permit. As implausable as that sounds, that´s what I read. Anyway, whose to say that snopes is right. It makes a good story no matter your opinion, and is a good conversational ice breaker. I never heard the one about "unlawful carnal knowledge", but will certainly add it to my repitoire of useless facts and information.