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.....
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 they 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.'
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing. Didn't yew!!
Thanks for the wiki on the Battle of Agincourt and the English long bow. Since I have my middle fingers I guess I can say "I'm gonna pluck yew up" because my bird has been flipped and is headed for it's target right now.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I needed that today!