A recent Puzzler was about the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 AD.The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, threatened to cut a certain body part off all captured English soldiers so that they could never fight again. The English won in a major upset and waved the body part in question at the French in defiance.
The puzzler was: What was this body part?
This is the answer submitted by a listener:
Dear Click and Clack,
Thank you for the Agincourt "Puzzler," which clears up some profound
questions of etymology, folklore and emotional symbolism. The body
part which the French proposed to cut off the English after defeating them
was, of course, the middle finger, without which it is impossible to draw
the renowned English longbow. This famous weapon was made of the
native English yew tree and so the act of drawing the longbow was known
as "plucking yew." Thus, when the victorious English waved their
middle fingers at the defeated French, they said, "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) 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."