Even with all this knowledge im providing the mrs with she still says i waste my life on here. Pah women!!
Like the clue from Ricardo suggests it's all to do with Longbows. Around the time of the battle of Agincourt the most feared warrior on the battlefield was actually the English Long Bowman. As such the French would cut off the two bowing fingers( the index and middle finger) of any Long Bowman they captured. This resulted in the English Long Bowmen with all their digits still in place showing them to the French in an act if defiant aggression. That's were sticking your two fingers up at somebody comes from.
Ah, another I didn't know. Many thanks, I like that one. It's cheeky Yet gruesome at the same time. That's the paradox. The pleasing paradox...
And the reason the English had such skilled Long Bowmen is that it was law that every male child over a certain age( something like 8) had to practice so many hours a week with the Longbow. Come wartime every bloke in England could sling an arrow a fair distance because they had been made to practice from been a kid. The cheese eating surrender monkeys couldn't fire them anywhere near as long as the English. That's one of the reasons why they got spanked. FACTOID.
I worked with a bloke years ago who actually made English Longbows. One of the nicest blokes i have ever met but as with any bloke who is passionate about a hobby he was a bit boring and very straight laced. Anyways when you pull a longbow all the way back the distance pulled is known as the clout. It was fukin hard trying to keep a straight face when he told me his wife had the biggest clout in East Yorkshire!!
Aside from clouts I did know about the origins of the two fingers, got to say I prefer it to the Americanized one finger.
Back on topic.... I fancy Bayern to do Madrid if the two meet in the semi. There's just been something about Bayern that I fancy them to do well this year, said it since day 1 of competition.
I think some of you need to brush up on your history on here...... It was never actually passed through parliament for anyone in England to have to practice longbow or anything of the sort, it was mainly a tradition that most of the Northern areas tended to rely upon in war. I can go into more depth if necessary as Agincourt starts around the historical period that i study. On topic i fancy a Bayern v Barcelona final.
And I think you need to stop being so patronising. Nobody was claiming to be an expert on history. My post was based on a bit of general knowledge and I can only apologise for it's inaccuracy. FFS.
Sorry to be a ****, ruining a romantic tale, but the flicking the V's comes from the battle of Agincourt story is in fact an urban myth. For starters I'm pretty sure the French wouldn't bother taking Bowmen prisoner. They were peasants, they'd just kill them. Only Noblemen would be captured for ransom. They talked about it on QI and the first recorded evidence of the two fingered salute was some kid being filmed in about 1900.
Now way Jose. I'm sticking with the Longbowman salute theory. I have actually googled it and it would appear I need to brush up on my history. Some smart arse will probably blow my nonce one out of the water next. I don't know why I bother sometimes.
I believe you mate anyway never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Next people will be saying some of ticklers stiff isnt true!! And as for QI a lot of the stuff that twat Fry comes out with is stretching the truth.
