At the cost of sounding immodest, "librarians are wonderfully amazing!"
I received numerous responses to my prior posting, regarding the origins of
the "middle finger salute". This in itself is great and many responses were
very immaginative and interesting and one or two were right on.
Below are my findings:
Historical facts: A dispute between England and France arose out of a claim
to the French throne. To settle the claim, the Hundred Years' War began in
1337 CE(Common Era) and ended in 1453 CE. English King, Henry V took his
armies to France in 1415 CE to settle the dispute. On, October 25, 1415, in
Agincourt, France one of histories greatest battles took place. The French
outnumbered the English 4 to 1. The French had 25,000 men, including 15,000
mounted knights. The French army was made up of men from all over the
country and were considered to have a motley nature. They were known to
taunt their foes. One noted taunt was to extend their backsides to their
enemy. Even though it was done at a great cost to life (their own). The
English armies were equipped with their legendary "Welsh longbow". The
battle lasted an hour and a half, leaving 500 English dead and over 10,000
French dead. Henry V was victorious and the myth of the invincible knight
shattered.
Myth: The French commanders at Agincourt, seeing how they outnumbered the
English, decreeded that upon victory, all the English bowman would have
their middle fingers cut off. This would humiliate them and make certain
that they never could draw back their longbows again. When the English
defeated the French, the victors waved their middle fingers at their enemies
and stated, "See, we can still pluck yew".
Fact: The renowned "Welsh longbow" was made from the native English "Yew"
tree. The drawing of the longbow was thus called, "plucking yew".
Fact: The feathers used on the longbow's arrows came from pheasants.
Myth: Since the arrow's feathers originated from a bird, the letting loose
of an arrow was called, "giving the bird" :>)
At that my friends and colleagues are the origins of "The middle finger salute".
"Believe it or not" ;>)
Again, thank you, one and all,
Eric
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Eric M. Kaufman, Senior Reference Librarian
New York County Lawyers' Association
14 Vesey Street New York, N.Y. 10007
Tel#: (212) 267-6646, ext. 204
Fax#: (212) 791-6437
E-mail: ekaufman2@mindspring.com
"Any opinions expressed are my own and not those of NYCLA"
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