Trivia: Origin Of The Middle Finger

[Don_G]

It looks like it dates from about 1415: http://www.rense.com/general52/historyofthemiddlefinger.htm

[librechik]

1. digitus impudicus

the digit that is inserted into the pudenda. Who knew the ancient Romans had foreplay?

[FarmerOak]

2. Um... no.

That's a fake fact. Not even close.

[On the Road]

3. Report from Snopes

Claim: The 'middle finger salute' is derived from the defiant gestures of English archers whose fingers had been severed by the French at the Battle of Agincourt.

Status: False.

Example: (from Car Talk)

---snip

Origins: The piece quoted above is silly, and so obviously a joke that shouldn't need any debunking. Nonetheless, so many have forwarded it to us accompanied by an "Is this true?" query that we feel duty-bound to provide a bit of historical and linguistic information to demonstrate why this story couldn't possibly be true.

---snip

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.htm

[bhairava]

4. Bogus!

That's a totally bogus 'history' in both the origin of the middle finger (a common gesture known in variations the world over) and the word fuck (an old word with cognates in German and Dutch). It wasn't even a particularly funny or original fable.

[bhunt70]

5. I could believe it until they got to "pluck you" and everything after.

[Endangered Specie]

6. OK, so what it the 'true' story, and btw...

where does the Middle Eastern (ultimate) insult of hitting something/one with the business end of your sandal come from?

[damnraddem]

7. Is it even used in England? Or is it American in origin?

I learned in traveling in Latin America that it is not recognized universally even in the Americas.