Quote:Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified.

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 they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow 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 they began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still 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! 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 every plucking thing ...

(09-17-2023, 08:31 AM)BIAD Wrote: Just for the record, I am not a pheasant-plucker, I'm a pheasant-plucker's son.

(09-17-2023, 11:26 AM)Ninurta Wrote:

(09-17-2023, 08:31 AM)BIAD Wrote: Just for the record, I am not a pheasant-plucker, I'm a pheasant-plucker's son.

I'm actually a pheasant-plucker

(09-17-2023, 05:43 PM)Snarl Wrote:

(09-17-2023, 11:26 AM)Ninurta Wrote:

(09-17-2023, 08:31 AM)BIAD Wrote: Just for the record, I am not a pheasant-plucker, I'm a pheasant-plucker's son.

I'm actually a pheasant-plucker

I used to be called a pleasant fucker. 

The string on my bow is pulled back with a release aid.

Here's a guy with the (almost) equivalent pull of one of BIAD's old Aenglish bows. Sort'a cheating that a compound bow gives you a decent let-off of 80-85% once you get to full draw.

These days I'm down to a 65lb pull. Anything more than that sends me directly to Physical Therapy. I like all of my fingers too, BTW.

(09-17-2023, 07:03 PM)Ninurta Wrote: The English longbows were actually stout enough to modify the skeletal structure of archers. In archer skeletons that have been retrieved, there have been changes from normal skeletons, particularly in the area of the shoulders.

(09-17-2023, 07:03 PM)Ninurta Wrote: I can't shoot compound bows. There is something about that "letoff" that you mention that throws my aim off. furthermore, I draw and release, I don't stand there holding it at draw all day, and the folks I've talked to say that's the reason for the letoff - so you can draw it and then stand there with it drawn like a knot on a log. I don't see the point to that.

I have a friend that shoots bow and arrow competitively, and he uses a compound bow with one of those fancy release geegaws. He gets upset when I mention his need for training wheels on a bow. I reckon it's ok if that's what one needs, but  just can't get behind it because I can't hit anything like that. If I'm going to need to just stand there holding it, I'd rather use a crossbow.

   

(09-17-2023, 01:04 PM)DISRAELI Wrote: I think intelligent friends will be obliged to disillusion you. I'm going to call this one internet nonsense.

In the first place, that Agincourt story is normally told about the standard English TWO-finger gesture. The middle finger gesture is an American novelty. I don't actually believe it about the two-finger gesture either, because I'm sure it doesn't come from contemporary chronicles.

As for the word, dictionaries say it is "early 16th century: of Germanic origin (compare Swedish dialect focka and Dutch dialect fokkelen ); possibly from an Indo-European root meaning ‘strike’, shared by Latin pugnus ‘fist’."