Jackie - here is everything you wanted to know and then some about the
Agincourt Salute. I couldn't resist.

King Henry V of England's victory over the French in the Battle of Agincourt
on October 25, 1415 has been attributed to the overwhelming superiority of
the English longbow. Henry matched his force of approximately 5700 men
against the French, some 25,000 strong, outside the village of Agincourt,
south of Calais in the north of France.
Prior to the battle, confident of victory due to their superior numbers, the
French cockily proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English
soldiers. English archers had the reputation of firing up to twenty rounds a
minute. Evidence of the longbow's ability to prove decisive in battle had
been demonstrated in the earlier battles of Crecy and Poitiers where immense
numbers of knights were slaughtered before they ever got close to the
English. Since it is impossible to draw the longbow without the third finger
it would therefore, render the men incapable of using a longbow in the
future. Word spread quickly throughout the French army and, as intended,
made itself know to the English.

Inspired by King Henry's passionate call to fight beside him on St.
Crispin's Day, the English forces formed up in four ranks with their archers
in front. They advanced, then halted and drove stakes into the ground to
deter oncoming French cavalry. The ground was thick with mud, which,
combined with the heavy rain of fierce arrows and the row of stakes,
thwarted the French cavalry. The English foot soldiers attacked, engaging in
hand-to-hand combat and defeated the first line of the French force. The
English continued to advance upon the second and third lines, driving the
French from the field. The French lost over 6000 men while the English
marked only 1600 casualties.

The famous longbow was made from the wood of the Yew tree, whereby the act
of drawing the longbow was known as to 'pluck yew'. In the aftermath of the
battle, the triumphant English, mocking the defeated French, began waving
their middle fingers at them and shouting, "See, we can still pluck yew!
PLUCK YEW!"

Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say the consonant blend at the
beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'F'. It is also
because of the feathers on the arrows that the gesture, holding up the lone
middle finger, is known as "giving the bird". After all, if you're drawing a
bow and loosing an arrow at someone, you are, obviously, sending 'the bird'
with a rather specific intention, not all together pleasant for the
recipient. How these words, often used in conjunction with the
one-finger-salute, are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an
encounter of a closer proximity is another story.

Statlab Medical Products
Dick Paulson
dpconsult@earthlink.net
Phone (800) 393-6345



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