History of the Middle-Finger

[Commander Tamson]

Ever wondered how this popular non-verbal expression came about? Here's one possible explanation:

The 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 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 labiodental 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."

IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!

But not to Thais on Motorbikes

[Morden]

It's useful in Thailand as an alternative wai, allowing you to keep one hand on the wheel or handlebars.

[willyumiii]

Thai school children use this expression a lot and do not seem to have a clue as to what it means in the western world.

Anyone kn0w what it means to them??

[richard_smith237]

That explanation is commonly used to explain the English two finger gesturer (flicking the V !)... everywhere else in the world used as the Victory hand sign.

History has it the the English chopped of the Index and Middle Finger from the French Archers... Hence 'Flicking the V'...

[thaicbr]

Thai school children use this expression a lot and do not seem to have a clue as to what it means in the western world.

 

Anyone kn0w what it means to them??

The OP's meaning is quite strange as it's mainly Americans that use the middle finger. British people generally use 2 fingers (which you also generally use to pull a bow) It means exactly the same in Thailand. The middle finger. if they are aiming it in your direction just give them the 2 finger salute back.. that's what I do.

:)

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

[A1Str8]

Thats a good one..I like it!

Besides, might have some truth to it.

But I am not sure if its appropriate in France to this day. Every time I did it when I was there, they seemed quite mad.

Thais, thats different. I can tell from experience that a lot of them have no idea whats up with the middle finger..they just show it because it comes from farangland so its automatically cool.

[Morden]

Thais hate the one fingered wai and they know that it's meant as a very severe judgement on their perfect driving skills.

And it is used in England. It has a more extreme meaning than the knuckles forward two fingered salute. Two means 'f... off' and one means 'spin on that'.

[GaoYuk]

I wouldn't think twice about doing it in England, but here, pick the wrong guy and you could end up a news story on TV..not worth it.

Sent from my GT-I9082L using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[KRS1]

Why does it not surprise me that the middle finger expression was started by the British?

[Morden]

Why does it not surprise me that the middle finger expression was started by the British?

If you read the thread carefully, you will see that it was the English soldiers (no Great britain in those days - history in Europe goes back way more than 200 years) and that it was a boast rather than the insult the US turned it into.

[MacChine]

OK, sounds plausible.I've read it before.

But how did pluck, supposedly morphing to <deleted> then become slang for sex?

[Bosse137]

That is the finger used for cleaning your behind in WC. Means,stick it u your ass..

[geezer2]

ducking ell guys.. middle finger my missis just says keep going more more sway don't what she means but I like it..

[dunque]

Why does it not surprise me that the middle finger expression was started by the British?

If you read the thread carefully, you will see that it was the English soldiers (no Great britain in those days - history in Europe goes back way more than 200 years) and that it was a boast rather than the insult the US turned it into.

I believe a lot of the archers were Welsh.

[Chittychangchang]

Why does it not surprise me that the middle finger expression was started by the British?

If you read the thread carefully, you will see that it was the English soldiers (no Great britain in those days - history in Europe goes back way more than 200 years) and that it was a boast rather than the insult the US turned it into.

I believe a lot of the archers were Welsh.

I believe they also care to partake in the swivle.

[Traxster]

And what about the Italian,'clenched fist' salute.....

anybody got any ideas on what that's all about ?

[Chittychangchang]

And what about the Italian,'clenched fist' salute.....

anybody got any ideas on what that's all about ?

Heartburn and indigestion from all that pasta...........

[Morden]

OK, sounds plausible.I've read it before.

But how did pluck, supposedly morphing to <deleted> then become slang for sex?

It didn't. The single finger wai has nothing to do with the f word. Go back to the beginning of the thread and read.

The f word isn't slang. It's been part of the English language for several centuries and appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

[Morden]

Why does it not surprise me that the middle finger expression was started by the British?

If you read the thread carefully, you will see that it was the English soldiers (no Great britain in those days - history in Europe goes back way more than 200 years) and that it was a boast rather than the insult the US turned it into.

I believe a lot of the archers were Welsh.

I haven't heard that previously. Do you have a source, please, because I can't find any reference to confirm it.

[xen]

I heard a similar story about the long bow archers . In the battles between the French and the English , the French would capture the English longbow archers they would remove their index and middle finger to prevent them from drawing the bow. The English archers would line before battle and out of range of the French crossbows they would give the two finger salute to show that they were still had their fingers and capable of drawing a bow and still capable of battle.

When i was younger though , i did believe the two finger salute actually alluded to what we were doing in the school yard behind the toilets with the willing girls.

The first time i saw the middle finger salute was when Dennis Hopper gave it to the Rednecks in Easy Rider. He got blown away so the lessen is be very careful of the rednecks who you give the bird to.

Edited August 18, 2013 by xen

[tonytigerbkk]

Why does it not surprise me that the middle finger expression was started by the British?

If you read the thread carefully, you will see that it was the English soldiers (no Great britain in those days - history in Europe goes back way more than 200 years) and that it was a boast rather than the insult the US turned it into.

I believe a lot of the archers were Welsh.

I haven't heard that previously. Do you have a source, please, because I can't find any reference to confirm it.

The two finger salute story is just that (a story).

It has been flouted around the internet for years and Snopes (among other sites) have debunked the theory and shown it not to be true.

The Snopes link is http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp

Hi Morden, Welsh Archers were highly regarded by the English army and were regularly employed by the crown.

Wiki covers the story of Welsh archers at Agincourt, with the link at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt.

King Richard used Welsh Archers during his campaigns in Ireland

In his documentaries, Dan Snow has also covered the fact that England employed Welsh archers on numerous occasions.

If my memory serves me correctly, the English ‘in his Battle Castle series’ even employed Welsh archers during the battle for Conway Castle.

Regards,

Tiger.

[tonytigerbkk]

Also, I agree with Xen, until we started to get regular american programs on British TV chanels, nobody knew about the middle finger salute.

Edited August 19, 2013 by tonytigerbkk

[overherebc]

I did hear/read somewhere it was because of the welsh build at the time, quite short but very stocky making them the ideal build for the long bow which was very difficult to pull to full power.