BRAIN CLOUD ..
A little trivia ..
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To: LindyBill (3372 )
From: DownSouth
Friday, Jul 2 1999 1:15PM ET
Reply # of 3384
OT * As we close in on a holiday weekend, here is a little known fact to ponder:
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 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 are mistakenly thought to have something to do
with an intimate encounter.
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".
And yew thought yew knew everything!
EOM------------------------------------------------------------------
And another
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o: DownSouth (3377 )
From: john osullivan
Friday, Jul 2 1999 4:53PM ET
Reply # of 3384
The straffing of British Infantry in the trenches in 14-16 by Fokker biplanes led to the
shout ...the fokkers are coming!
Happy holiday to you all.
John @**!*.com
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