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                       /'/    /    /    /"  /_\
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        Giving the Finger

 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!"
 Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, 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 used with the
 longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird".

 And yew thought yew knew everything!

(This knowledge moment courtesy of Allan Wertheim.  THANKS ALLAN!! Here's FIVE fingers for you from the MR.TRAFFICAM:)