History of the middle finger

Don't know whether this is true...But it is definitely worth a read...

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Many things in life we take for granted, just because we don't realize
the true meaning behind it. Like many rituals we follow, we've seen
others do it, and so we do it. Some of the things we do are meant to
offend others, sadly they were not meant to be that way, Well, now ...
here's something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel
compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that
they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you know
something about it?


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 they would 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!" Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to
say, 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!