...and not that long ago I read another history lesson that further
expounded....
Something about old bows made of the Yew (?!) tree, therefore "plucking the
yew" was shooting said bow. Someplace, it theorized, "we" got an F
instead of "pl" in there...
Lord only knows what we were supposed to do with Fetherstonehaugh and St,
John Smythe
Dave T
Phonetically challenged on occasion
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Johnson <b.johnson@diamond.co.uk>
To: Andy <amdixon@erols.com>
Cc: Gbouff1@aol.com <Gbouff1@aol.com>; Triumph List
<triumphs@autox.team.net>
Date: February 23, 1999 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: Humor non LBC but English boundary="part0_919725412_boundary"
>
>Yep Andy's correct - we stick two fingers in the air - It was a the
Battle of Agincourt where this supposedly started , when the English
triumphed over a much larger
>French army that was badly organised (nothing new there then) . Very few
English died but most of the French nobility were either killed by arrows or
were put to the
>sword after being brought down from their horses ! The French knights
had sent a message saying that they would cut off the first two fingers of
every archer's hand
>to stop them pulling the bow. The English stuck their fingers in the
air to show the French that they still had them. It was the law (and
some say it still is)
>in England that every able bodied man should practise shooting the longbow
on certain Holy Days, hence we were good at it !
>
>Here endeth the History lesson !
>
>Brian Johnson
>(Descended from Matthew Hopkinson, Yeoman of South Wingfield Manor (circa
1660))
>
>Andy wrote:
>
>> The English don't wave their middle finger, they flick the "V", the first
and middle finger, which I think gives your story more credence as those are
the two fingers
>> needed to "Pluck the Yew". The middle finger is American and represents
something totally different.
>> Andy
>>
>
>
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