Tanhaa

Giving the 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 for
> > a man to draw the renowned English longbow and
> > therefore he 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 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 are mistakenly thought
> > to have something to do with an intimate encounter.
> >
> > 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 everything.
> >

babydoll

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