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 TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
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Originally posted by Ice ColdI knew that.
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 cu ...[text shortened]... OPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
Originally posted by Ice ColdI think you may find that the V sign fits better into that history.
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 cu ...[text shortened]... OPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
Originally posted by Ice Coldpluck you
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 cu ...[text shortened]... OPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
Originally posted by Ice ColdWhat a pheasant plucker!
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 cu ...[text shortened]... OPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
Originally posted by Ice ColdThis is an old story but unfortunately there has not been any middle-finger-less skeletens dug up to bolster the theory, as far as I know.
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 cu ...[text shortened]... OPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
Originally posted by Dr StrangeloveIn his defense, the English won a decisive battle which he stated. Since the English won, there were no missing middle fingers, at least from what I gathered.
This is an old story but unfortunately there has not been any middle-finger-less skeletens dug up to bolster the theory, as far as I know.
Remember, the absense of evidence isn't the proof of absense.
Originally posted by slappy115If there were no missing fingers, how did the English know the Frenchies intended to chop their fingers off?
In his defense, the English won a decisive battle which he stated. Since the English won, there were no missing middle fingers, at least from what I gathered.
Remember, the absense of evidence isn't the proof of absense.
They couldn't have advertised the fact in advance or there would be documentary evidence somewhere. Even if the English won, they still had plenty of casualties, so why no fingerless ones?
Originally posted by Dr StrangeloveWould you stop and cut off someone's finger as your oppenent is trying to kill you? And maybe there was that one guy who couldn't keep his mouth shut. You know the guy I'm talking about. The "We are going to cut off their middle fingers so they cut shoot arrows" guy.
If there were no missing fingers, how did the English know the Frenchies intended to chop their fingers off?
They couldn't have advertised the fact in advance or there would be documentary evidence somewhere. Even if the English won, they still had plenty of casualties, so why no fingerless ones?