History of the Middle Finger
The Middle Finger and "Plucking Yew"
For those of us who like a good historical story that explains some of our idiosyncrasies, I hope you enjoy this.
Just remember when you laugh the world laughs with you. And when you fall over, the world laughs at you. Lol.
Bringing a good laugh to your readers is a good way to break down barriers, but be careful the topic does not offend.
The Story
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 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 surprise and shock 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!
Over the decades and centuries the words have been corrupted and 'pluck yew' is now "f**K you" and 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.
Source; Facebook
So when you next get caught "flipping the bird" you can say that you are recreating a historical event and it is culturally relevant to you.
Hope You have a great day now you are equipped with the historical importance of "raising the middle finger"
Zoopie.
"keep on Plucking...errr...trucking"
Recent Comments
43
Great story, Steve, & I remember that poster from the ‘60s!
They were everywhere! Lol 😆
Frank 🤘🎸
Such helpful information! Maybe we should think about it when a raging driver flips us a “middle finger”! We can just let it go!!🚗🚙. This info was just in time for me as I am leaving this morning on a 3000 mile girl’s road trip.
Thanks Zoopie!
Barbara H.🤪
Barbara,
I instantly feel sorry for you. I remember some road trips we did with my parents. It generally starts ok and then you find someone had eaten curry the night before. In our case it was my brother. And too cold to wind the windows down.
We never went on another road trip after this.
lol
Stevoi
In the UK, we also flick the V - making a V shape with the middle and index fingers (palm towards yourself). This is often ascribed to Agincourt, but, is probably not true. Since the middle finger has not been a feature of British visual cursing for all that long - probably only since the 1950s/60s, I would very much doubt the Agincourt tale to be true for that gesture. Romantic though it may seem.
It was also once supposed that many of Henry's archers that day were Welsh, however, it's now thought that of the total of between six- and seven-thousand archers only around 400 were Welsh.
Lol ;-)
Henry fought with his father's army at the Battle of Shrewsbury (my home town) in 1403. He took an arrow in the face for his troubles and as a result, was always painted in profile so the disfigured side of his face was never seen.
Simon
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Thanks for the humorous history lesson, Stephan.
JD
Glad you enjoyed it JD
Steve
:D