The History Of The ‘Middle Finger Salute’

History is more fun if one knows most [if not all] of the true reason and background details behind the story.

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, they would be incapable of fighting again in the future.

The famous English longbow was made of the native English yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as 'plucking the yew' (or to 'pluck yew').

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset, and they began mocking the French by waving their middle finger at the defeated French, as they shouted, "See, we can still pluck yew!" It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as 'giving the bird.'

The expression pluck yew has since gradually changed to the labiodental fricative 'F--- you' expression or the "F" word often used today in conjunction with "giving the finger" or the middle-finger salute!

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

~Source Unknown