I have to agree with Mike! It's too good to keep to myself!!
Carol
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>From: "Biemer,Michael" <Michael.Biemer@alliedsignal.com>
>To: "'f-body-classic'" <f-body-classic@bb-elec.com>
>Subject: FW: I salute yew
>Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 12:59:00 -0700
>Sender: owner-f-body-classic@bb-elec.com
>Precedence: bulk
>Reply-To: f-body-classic@bb-elec.com
>
>This was too good not to forward.
>
>Enjoy...
>
>Mike
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>----- -----------------------------------------
>> The 'Car Talk' show (on NPR) with Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers
>> have a feature called the 'Puzzler', and their most recent 'Puzzler'
>> was about the Battle of Agincourt. The French, who were overwhelmingly
>> favored to win the battle, threatened to cut a certain body part off of
>> all captured English soldiers so that they could never fight again.
>> The English won in a major upset and waved the body part in question at
>> the French in defiance.
>>
>> The puzzler was: What was this body part? This is the answer
>> submitted by a listener:
>>
>> Dear Click and Clack,
>>
>> Thank you for the Agincourt 'Puzzler', which clears up some
>> profound questions of etymology, folklore and emotional
>> symbolism. The body part which the French proposed to cut off of the
>> English after defeating them was, of course, the middle finger, without
>> which it is impossible to draw the renowned English longbow. This
>> famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and so the act
>> of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking yew". Thus, when the
>> victorious English waved their middle fingers at the defeated French,
>> they said, "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), 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".
>>
>> And yew all thought yew knew everything!
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>====
>
>
>I would like to point out [with my index finger] that the English use
>two fingers for this salute. The same two fingers that are required
>to draw a bowstring, thus adding credence to the answer
>postulated above.
>Coincidence?
>You decide.
>For those of you not familiar with the English version of the salute,
>think of giving the "peace" sign, now turn your palm to face your body.
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