And Yew Thought You Knew Everything
Thread Starter
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 5,181
From: My BIG ol TURBO-DIESEL
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! Over the years some 'folk
etymologies'
have grown up around this symbolic gesture.
Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say like "pleasant mother pheasant
plucker" (which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows
for the longbow), 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, that the
symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird".
...And yew thought yew knew everything....
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! Over the years some 'folk
etymologies'
have grown up around this symbolic gesture.
Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say like "pleasant mother pheasant
plucker" (which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows
for the longbow), 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, that the
symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird".
...And yew thought yew knew everything....
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 260
From: Fountain Valley, CA
HA! I knew that, thats why being an english major rocks.
The word decimate originally never ment to destory. Way back when, like ancient greek status, the term decimate was used for as a punishment for troops. If a certain platoon did something wrong, every tenth man in the group was killed (thus the prefix deci, for 10). Rumors say this practice was continued up to WWI in the enlgish army, but I highly doubt it continued until that time.
The word decimate originally never ment to destory. Way back when, like ancient greek status, the term decimate was used for as a punishment for troops. If a certain platoon did something wrong, every tenth man in the group was killed (thus the prefix deci, for 10). Rumors say this practice was continued up to WWI in the enlgish army, but I highly doubt it continued until that time.
