The History of the Middle Finger

Hi BUST! We had a different take on giving the middle finger before -

http://groups.msn.com/BUST/thefinger.msnw  [LINK BROKEN]
.  Well....here a salute to the Frenchies.

----- Original Message -----

From: Sent:
Friday, August 31, 2007 8:42 AM

Subject: Fwd: The History of the Middle Finger

Just thought you all
needed to know this!!!  READ
ON.....

  The history of the
middle finger

The History
of the Middle Finger

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 d rawing 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 conjunct ion 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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