The Amusing History of the Middle Finger

Southern California realtor Dave King affably shared an overheard history of the middle finger and the accompanying word that evolved into the current day profanity. This occurred during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, where the English famously used longbows made out of yew trees. The act of pulling the arrow back to fire was called “plucking the yew”.

, the French anticipating a victory over the English proposed to cut out the middle finger of all captured English soldiers because you can’t shoot arrows without a middle finger…Sadly for the French, the English won, waving their middle fingers…saying ‘see, we can still pluck yew’.