X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,90c7c913f8c07932 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-11-12 16:50:26 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!kibo.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!xemu.demon.co.uk!dave From: Dave Bird Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: The History of Giving the Finger Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 20:05:32 +0000 Organization: Smelling--nose Dogs for the Anosmic Lines: 40 Message-ID: References: <3DCFE6CA.E133849F@erols.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: xemu.demon.co.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 1037148622 2793 158.152.196.209 (13 Nov 2002 00:50:22 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 00:50:22 +0000 (UTC) X-Newsreader: Turnpike Integrated Version 5.00 U Xref: archiver1.google.com alt.ascii-art:20612 In article<3DCFE6CA.E133849F@erols.com>, William R. Snyder writes: >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"). This is the joke version, of course. There are three main kinds of insulting finger guesture in English. The old version is done by curling the first two fingers over, the thumb between, and the last two fingers also curled over, then shoving the thumb up in the air, in imitation of testicles and penis. This is called a "fig" (as in "I couldn't give a fig") as it resembles the sides and stalk of a fig. A variant is the first finger curled over, the second finger stuck out, and the third finger curled over; this is often called "the bird", for its resemblance to the wings and neck of a flying goose, and is very common in America. The modern British finger guesture is the first two fingers stuck up in a Vee, again with the back of the hand to the watcher. It might have some sexual meaning, but most likely it really does go back to Agincourt and showing that one has the FIRST TWO fingers with which to draw a longbow. As for "fuck", it comes from ficken meaning to strike or push, which came to mean having rough sex with someone. Likewise "shag" (a variant of "shake"), again meaning rough sex. -- .---. It was once believed that a million monkeys at a million { o o } keyboards would eventually type the works of Shakespeare, _(---)_ but the Internet has since disproved this theory. / \