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 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.'

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing

Nice story, slight variation from that usually told. We (brits) use two fingers, index and middle, in our famous 'pluck yew' salute. And it is commonly known as 'pluck off' rather than 'pluck you'. Kind of like a 'peace' sign in reverse. Apparently Winston Churchill, who often got the 'V' for victory salute the 'wrong way round' was told of his mistake but chose not to change how he did it.

Also, 'giving the bird' is something I've only heard Americans use. Not sure of it's origin but it ain't English.

wikipedia reckons;

It is identified as the digitus impudicus (impudent finger) in Ancient Roman writings^[1] and reference is made to using the finger in ancient Greek comedy to insult another person. The widespread usage of the finger in many cultures is likely due to the geographical influence of the Roman Empire and Greco-Roman civilization.

Another possible origin of this gesture can be found in the first-century Mediterranean world, where extending the digitus impudicus was one of many methods used to divert the ever present threat of the evil eye.^[2]

No mention of birds though! Dunno where that came from.

gee, i thought it originated in "Easy Rider"... with Steppenwolf music blaring in the background