THE OLD PHILOSOPHER SEZ,

Ever been given the finger. It may not mean what you 
think. Read on for more history lessons.

Giving Someone the Finger

In today's continuing education class, we shall now 
discuss the Middle Finger.

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 "peasant 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."

And yew thought yew knew everything.