[T. Thomas]

I am curious about the history of giving someone the middle finger. To be specific, what is the origin and how did it come to be?

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Name : T. Thomas, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 30, City : Flint, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : driver, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Andy-B]

There’s a rumor that it comes from a battle during the Hundred Years War, when British soldiers cut off the middle fingers of archers to prevent them from using a bow, then taunted them by flipping theirs. However, this is highly unlikely, as this site shows: http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/pluckyew.htm Most likely the longest finger is supposed to represent a male member, as a way of saying: ‘Up yours!’

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Name : Andy-B, Gender : M, Age : 16, City : Sharon, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Middle class, 

[Jack21200]

I’m not sure where the middle finger insult comes from, but I have always assumed it was a phallic symbol. The French/English story that Andy B. is talking about is actually about the English two-finger gesture. It started because the English had the long-bow before the French, and it required two fingers to use it. So when Englishmen were captured, the French would cut off those two fingers – so the fingers were waved at the French as a taunt. By the way, the only Europeans to have an insulting gesture that represents the female genitalia are Yugoslavians (according to a friend of mine, anyway). With this, the thumb is pushed through the first two fingers.

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[S.]

The ‘war’ you are refering to was not during the Hundred Years War. It was during the reign of Henry V and was called the Battle of Agincourt (in France). The French were fearful of British Longbowmen (Welsh longbowmen, actually), as they were inflicting heavy casualties, and they would often cut off the index and middle fingers on the right hand. These two fingers were used to draw the bowstring, and so to taunt the French the Bowmen would ‘flick’ their fingers at the French, and culturally that’s how the British insult anyone, but this has been superceded somewhat by the middle finger, a phallic representation.

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[Bill23276]

A Swedish girl who was staying with us one summer said that pushing a finger through a circle made of the thumb and forefinger of the opposite hand has the same meaning as the raised middle finger in the United States.

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[Ambyr]

In 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 hanged to a labiodental fricative ‘F’, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! 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.’ IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY! LOL!!! Crazy huh?!

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