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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 soldiers 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 know 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 finger 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 the labiodental fricative 'F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrow used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as " giving the bird".

it is 3:21 am - to early for history or whatever you are talking about

true

i'm no good at history

badboy - just made a guess

indeed he did

what a nerd...









jk

true? Just guesssing.

kosta - shame on you

Why shame? Because I took the safe option and said I was guessing? So when it turns out to be false I dont look like more of a doofus than I already am?????

I WAS JOKING ...sheesh

So was I actually. Sorry

yeah i love guessing

erm i dont know it sounds kinda radge ill guess and say true

I'll guess false. Initially I was going with true because of how utterly unlikely it actually is, but then logic took precedence and I decided not to be such an idiot

i think its actually false because i was just messing around when i said true

ok whatever! you are guessing again!!

did you actually read it-- I read like the first sentence- its to early in the morning for that sort of reading -- i would fall asleep at work

i'm messing around

true/false (the fence is sooo comfy...)

haha

True or not, that peice of information was interesting.

Personally, I hate all this historical nonsence about past wars and the "dull" life of Henry the with his one to many wives pimp...

If we had done something historical along the lines of this...the history of the F-Word...I would have totally loved history...

To my knowledge, this story is false.

Feel free to post similar true or false anecdotes.

I am not either Glen anyway I would have to say god only knows!~JM

Sticking the finger up comes from english bowmen who would taunt their enemies, showing them that they still had their bowfingers.

I read a story once that people had to get consent from the king (probably an English one, they were all mad anyway) before they were allowed to engage in sexual relations. It's probably bullshit, but according to the story, the word 'f*ck'' comes from Fornicating Under Consent of the King.

Go to toons, then the F-Word. This claims it comes from the german word frichen, to strike.. I believe it is a monty Python song. ^_^

The longbow men were traditionally WELSH not English, as the pike were IRISH! You do not pull back a bow string with one finger, but with two hence the two fingered motion I often make at other drivers!

So the answer is false on a number of levels. :P

no, middle finger salute means up yours.... the 2 finger gesture is the 1 this refers to
and yea, it was mostly welsh who were longbowmen

I declared already that the story is indeed false

Now post another one people.

The origin of the proverb: "Money does not smell."

Emperor Vespasian, who introduced taxes on public toilets in ancient Rome, said to his bewildered son Titus: "Pecunia non olet!" or "Money does not smell!".

True or false.

The first story about the battle of Agincourt is almost true, it took the forefinger and middle finger to pull the sting of a long-bow and the English would give the 'V' sign to the French, this is actually the origin of the 'V' sign.

This is true

I dont think I even want to know if it is true or not.JM

i think its true due to the fact my freinds dad when they went to france stuck his finger up at them out of the car window...(he cant be doing with the french )

Peter Griffin: You know I always thought that Dogs.....laid eggs. And I learned something today.

-AC