Middle Finger Gesture

[White Rhino]

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 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!" Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this symbolic gesture. Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like "pleasant mother pheasant plucker," which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow), 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 are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird."

So in other words:

PLUCK YEW

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........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')

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Have a nice Friday!!!

[dunefreak]

thanks for that tidbit of info, Paul!

[desertskyz]

:fro: Hummm.... can you say BORED! How long did it take the type the finger?

See how easy that was.

Thanks for the history lesson. Cheese is gonna get mad thinkin' you might know more then him.

:fart:

[SandBox_Kid]

:fro:

<---ambedextrous plucker?

[Richard Cheese]

....................../´¯/)

....................,/¯../

.................../..../

............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸

........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\

........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')

.........\.................'...../

..........''...\.......... _.·´

............\..............(

..............\.............\...

:fro: :fart:

[barefoot bob]

....................../´¯/)

....................,/¯../

.................../..../

............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸

........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\

........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')

.........\.................'...../

..........''...\.......... _.·´

............\..............(

..............\.............\...

richards having a meltdown

[White Rhino]

:fro: Hummm.... can you say BORED! How long did it take the type the finger?

See how easy that was.

Thanks for the history lesson. Cheese is gonna get mad thinkin' you might know more then him.

:fart:

Ok I cant wait 'till kick off weekend.... That is fo sure

Plus I thought it was intersting

[offroadracer]

Interesting info .....................

[RAGDOLL MX]

any history about this?

[powerhouse]

Hey Paul ,

your gonna get plucked, if you don't get your stuff in here soon!

[duniemonkie]

Another piece of proof that the French are useless outside the kitchen or bedroom; if they had already captured the English soldiers, why didn't the execute them instead of cutting off thier finger? You can't pluck your yew when you're dead

Here is some more interesting information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_finger

[barefoot bob]

Another piece of proof that the French are useless outside the kitchen or bedroom; if they had already captured the English soldiers, why didn't the execute them instead of cutting off thier finger? You can't pluck your yew when you're dead

Here is some more interesting information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_finger

what is that in your avatatar ??? :dance:

[duniemonkie]

Antennarius Pictus, aka Painted anglerfish, aka yellow frogfish. This photo was taken off of Wakatobi island. I have a beautiful black frogfish @ the museum here, no pics

[Richard Cheese]

what is that in your avatatar ???

pollo asado

:dance:

[Don29palms]

Here's one for the camel jockeys!

[barefoot bob]

Here's one for the camel jockeys!

that one rox don can i have some o those cookies ??