The Origin of the Middle Finger

I got such a surprising and overwhelming response to my post yesterday on Bad Words, that I thought I would extend it today and do one on something we have all done at least once in our life time, and that would be giving some one “The Bird”

 This idea actually comes from our first son, NW who for the longest time would use his middle finger to point at people, or objects. We told him that some people would not find it polite and not like it and to please use his index finger. Of course he questioned why.

And then I started wondering why the middle finger is bad? When did it originate? So again with hot coffee by my side, I began to research.

A story that refers to the gestures of long bowmen fighting in the English army at the Battle of Agincourt in particular is often mentioned when we speak about the Middle Finger history.
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

However great that story is, unfortunately it is not true.  Giving someone "the finger" is one of the basest violations in modern culture, but its origins date back over 2500 years. The first written record of the insult occurred in ancient Greece, where the playwright Aristophanes (the Adam Sandler of his day) made a crude joke mixing up the middle finger and the penis. Even back then, the bird was considered an aggressive, phallic put-down.

When the Romans imported the art, music, and culture of the Greeks, the finger came along, too. Roman Emperor Caligula, a pioneer in perversity, frequently shocked his citizens by forcing them to kiss his middle finger instead of his hand. One of his subjects, Cassius, who Caligula often taunted as being too effeminate, finally had enough humiliation and assassinated him. Clearly, the bird was not to be taken lightly.

During the middle ages, it kind of went underground as it was highly frowned upon by the Catholic Church. Then at some point in the 19^th century it began to show up again, this was most likely due to the invention of photography. Then came the automobile and the insult could be delivered behind the safety of glass and metal.

Throughout the 20^th century The Finger penetrated all levels of society. Even the Vice President of the United States got into the act. At a campaign stop for Senator Bob Dole in 1976, Nelson Rockefeller was heckled by protesters telling him what they thought of his Vietnam War policy by casting their middle finger votes. Never one to back down, the VP just gave the finger right back.

 Connecticut Court ruled the finger was not obscene and it was forever released from its cage.  And now with the new millennium this once endangered species has been saved from the brink of extinction and thrust in to the mainstream forever.

-JUGM