Got this in an email.

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 all thought yew knew everything!!!!

__________________
"There are times when a Corps Commander's life does not count"
-General Winfield Scott Hancock at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863

I remember reading this somewhere several years ago--thanks for the memory-------and laugh. [img]smile.gif[/img]

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

It is a good story but there are a couple of problems with it. Firstly the french actually claimed to cut off the top two fingers which are required to loose a bow (you can acutally loose with the two fingers that above and below the middle finger). Secondly the gesture was made before the battle, before the French charge when the longbowmen were shouting 'we still have our fingers' and so on. The pluck yew bit is not the origine of the word 'f**k' as it seems to come from either a Norse word for 'hit' or 'thump' (so much like 'banging' or 'bonking' in that respect) or from the toe of a type of shoe, both of which were 'fook'. Then again it appears that the whole story is more or less rubbish, take a look at the following site for further explanation:

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.htm

__________________
There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Another thing which is against the single middle finger dating back to the Hundred Year War is the fact that until very recently the British did not use the single fingered insult. The British insult is a two fingered one, similar to the V-for victory sign but with the palm facing inwards.

[ 30. April 2003, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: redcoat ]

__________________
if in doubt....Panic!!!!

Err...went though all this only a few months ago with Yarsatch or whatever his name is (should just use Denis or something).

As Red says, the one finger came out of America in the '60s. Just like Santa 'the red flying figment' Clause is a Coca Cola 1930's advertising invention - (gee, d'ya think he was real? Then how come when you hang up your stocking all you ever seem to get in it is a can of Coke?)

And, what's this Roman one finger??? More bollocks. Italian's (the real ones anyway), used two fingers or slap the bicep while raising a fist.

The 'F' word comes from German/Dutch. I wonder what common term we get from the German for ‘excellerated departure’ - Beschleunigte Abfahrt

No.9

No.9, I want to hear more about Santa and Coke, where did you read about this ? Did Coke invent the reigndeer and workshop and elves also.
I always though St.Nick was an older tradition but I would love to hear more.

__________________
Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

TA, have a look around on that web site for more about santa and the US, St Nick was actually a bishop who used to give out presents. His traditional colours were green and purple or red. Then coke created the image of santa to fit its advertising campaign.

__________________
There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Not very amazing that Coca Cola took Santa for their advertisement-and if it was possible they´d use God I´m sure!

Some Coca Cola Santa ads:

http://www.fortunecity.com/millenniu...cokesanta.html

Santa Claus has appeared in many forms, but the image that most people associate with St. Nick was commissioned by Coca-Cola.

In 1931, Coca-Cola commissioned Swedish artist Haddon Sunblom to standardize Santa for use as a brand image on Coke products, according to the Financial Times Limited.

Sunblom worked from a basic premise of the jolly old elf drawn by Thomas Nast and published in Harper's Weekly from 1863 to 1888. Coca-Cola decided that some elements of Nast's Santa should be changed, such as the pipe, which was eliminated. The company also thought Nast's interpretation of Santa suggested that his ruddy cheeks might have come from imbibing too much holiday cheer instead of from being out in the cold delivering presents in his sleigh.

Working from Nast's basic premise, Sunblom added white whiskers, a red tunic and belt to his version of Santa. The bobbled cap was included in St. Nick's ensemble in 1934 to create the image most people now think of as Santa Claus.

----------

http://www.icubed.com/~colagrrl/xmas.htm

----------



Thomas Nast


Thomas Nast and Santa

http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/cgaweb...santa_camp.htm



Thomas Nast´s Santa ( doesn´t it look like himself...?)


--------

The history of Santa ( Father Christmas etc )

Santa Claus
In the 4th century, a bishop in Turkey named Nicholas was known for good deeds involving children. Because of his holiness, Bishop Nicholas was sanctified by the Catholic Church and came to be known as Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas is illustrated in medieval and renaissance paintings as a tall, dignified and severe man. His feast day on December 6 was celebrated throughout Europe until about the 16th century. Afterwards, he continued to be known in Protestant Holland.

The ancient inhabitants of northern Europe believed a powerful pagan god, cloaked in red fur, galloped across the winter sky. These myths combined with the legends of the real life figure of Bishop Nicholas. Dutch children would put shoes by the fireplace for St. Nicholas or "Sinter Klaas" and leave food out for his horse. He'd gallop on his horse between the rooftops and drop candy down the chimneys into the children's shoes. Meanwhile, his assistant, Black Peter, was the one who popped down the chimneys to leave gifts behind.

Dutch settlers brought the legend of Sinter Klaas to North America -- where we came to know him as Santa Claus. Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History (1809) described Santa Claus as a stern, ascetic personage traditionally clothed in dark robes. It was a character we would scarcely recognize as the Santa Claus we know today, apart from his annual mission of delivering gifts to children on Christmas Eve.

The next mention of Santa Claus is found in a Christmas poem published in 1821 called "The Children's Friend." This poem for young people, harkened from the same tradition but also added some new elements to the "Santeclaus" myth. The poem begins:

Old Santeclaus with much delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night.
O'er chimney tops, and tracks of snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you...
The next year (1822), protestant minister Clement Clarke Moore, wrote his poem "The Night Before Christmas." Moore wrote the poem for his six children. Moore, stodgy creature of academe that he was, refused to have the poem published despite its enthusiastic reception by everyone who read it. Evidently his argument that it was beneath his dignity fell on deaf ears, because the following Christmas "A Visit from St. Nicholas" found its way into the mass media after all when a family member cunningly submitted it to an out-of-town newspaper. The poem was an "overnight sensation," as we would say today, but Moore was not to acknowledge authorship of it until fifteen years later, when he reluctantly included it in a volume of collected works. He called the poem "a mere trifle." An artist named Thomas Nast drew the first picture of Santa Claus (shown here) for Harper's Weekly.

Santa Claus gained much of his popularity after World War II when the economy and the baby boomers blossomed. Children born between 1945 and 1965 greeted this gift-giving Santa with open arms that have refused to let go, even in adulthood



Other Christmas history:

http://www.new-life.net/chrtms15.htm

--------

Christmas Celebration: differences between countries

http://www.soon.org.uk/country/christmas.htm

__________________

Thank you for the links KP. By looking at the pictures I can see that Coke red and Santas suite are the same shade of red. I never noticed this before. I did not know the story until now, but then 1931 was before my time.

I wonder if Coke has the copyright to Santa ?
I think I will stick to good old Dr Pepper.

__________________
Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.