Gestural Speculations
Evolutionary Psychology (Brody)
Gestural Speculations
by Lorraine Rice, 5/4/98
Lorraine posted the following on the HBES and Paleopsych list_serves. She consented to sharing it here.
-------------
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".
Don't you love it!