X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,90c7c913f8c07932 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-11-12 00:27:49 PST From: "Anonymous" Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: The History of Giving the Finger Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 08:27:48 -0000 Organization: BT Lines: 39 Message-ID: References: <3DCFE6CA.E133849F@erols.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 193.37.173.8 X-Trace: pheidippides.axion.bt.co.uk 1037090040 10608 193.37.173.8 (12 Nov 2002 08:34:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: postmaster@axion.bt.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 12 Nov 2002 08:34:00 GMT X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3612.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3612.1700 Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!peer1.news.newnet.co.uk!lon1-news.nildram.net!195.60.31.14.MISMATCH!news2.power.net.uk!btnet-feed5!btnet!bt !not-for-mail Xref: archiver1.google.com alt.ascii-art:20568 Pete wrote in message ... >> That 'pluck yew' bit sounds a tad tenuous to me. I always heard that the >> French cut *two* fingers off the English archers, so the traditional English >> salute is with two fingers up, not one. The symbol was later partly >> corrupted, partly reinvented, rather like the 'thumbs up/down' gesture, to >> one finger making a fisting reference. > >Two fingers up, indeed. Yes. But don't get the idea that the single-fingered salute is any less insulting than its two-fingered variant. Especially don't try this idea out down the pub on a Friday night. You won't make it out alive. :O/ >I very much doubt the pl/f theory... even morphing from one to the other >the l is resilient. Afaik the word originated in elizabethan england, >where it was visibly branded onto people "For Unclean Carnal Knowledge". "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" was abbreviated to "F.U.C.K." and was written on the chalkboard beside each prison cell that was occupied by a prostitute. Thus the most used word in the English dictionary was born... :oD -- Graeme Porter -^-_ _ / [_][_]_:_ Proud owner of a 1978 /| _||_ v Pearl Fiberglass Shell kit | / \ | -=/=\\____//=\=jaa "I married Miss right, I just didn't know her first name was 'Always'" -- Anonymous