Pluck Yew! (History of the Middle Finger)

Rasta_Man · May 21, 2006

I think you guys can appreciate this.

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."
Click to expand...

D3vO · May 21, 2006

Yea thats pretty cool, I learned this on a tour of a castle while I was in England couple years ago. So I guess the next time someone gives me the finger I'll let them know.

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Pluck Yew! (History of the Middle Finger)

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