|
History Lesson - 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 to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore 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!!!
__________________
________________________________________
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline -- it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." - FRANK ZAPPA
________________________________________
|
Linear Mode
