> Here's something I never knew before, and now that I
> know it, I feel compelled to send it to my friends
in
> the hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't
> history more fun when you know something about it?
>
> HISTORY OF 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 they
> would 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! Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult
for
> some people to say, 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!
>
> Also, because of the pheasant feathers on the base
of
> the arrows used in conjunction with the longbow,
this
> symbolic gesture is known as "flipping the bird."
>
(
geocities.com/voksman)