The middle finger, or ‘flipping the bird’, is an universally offensive gesture. However, the history behind is it somewhat interesting. Read on to be informed, but in no way encouraged to use it!
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. This wasn’t just an odd act of war, it was entirely calculated.
The English used their middle fingers to draw their renowned longbows, so without them, they would be incapable of fighting in the future. The longbow was made from the wood of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as ‘plucking the yew’ (or ‘pluck yew’).
The feathers used on the English arrows at Agincourt were goose feathers, which is where the ‘bird’ reference comes in. In preparation for the invasion of France, Henry V ordered a tax on every farm in England of one goose per month.
Legend tells that the “fletchers” made so many arrows for Henry’s army that they had to release prisoners from the Tower of London in order to be able to store the arrows.
This enabled the happy few, ‘we band of brothers’ to defeat the much larger French army mainly made up of armoured knights. The English arrows could pierce the armour of the French knights – in particular the light armour of their horses.
The English winning the battle was a major upset. They had caught wind of the middle finger plans, so celebrated their win by mocking their enemies by waving their middle fingers at them, saying, “See, we can still pluck yew!” Over time, it seems the consonant of the word has evolved from the ‘pl’ blend to a more simple one..
So there you have it; the history behind the gesture of frustrated drivers the world over!
nzar82947 - 8 years ago
Believe Qodi has got it right. Being a Traditional archer whenever some unintelligent individual gives me the fingers my response is to let them know I am an archer too but of Irish/English descent despite my first name being Louis