This was forwarded to me by a friend... I have no idea if this is true or an 'urban myth!'  Seems plausible enough to be valid... would anyone have any firm research to confirm/deny this?

Lord Manfred Wolf
Barony of the StarGate

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

> History of "the finger""Giving the Bird"
> 
> In the current film, Titanic, the character Rose is shown giving the
> finger to Jack (another character).  Many people who have seen the film,
> question whether "giving the finger" was done around the time of the
> Titanic disaster, or was it a more recent gesture invented by some defiant
> seventh-grader.
> 
> According to research, here's the true story:  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!"
>   
> Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this symbolic
> gesture.  Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like "peasant
> mother pheasant plucker", which is who you had to go to for the feathers
> used on the arrows for the longbow), 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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