Amazing Fact of the Day

[DepthBlade]

Todays amazing fact is \"Where did giving the middle finger originate from?\"

After extensive research by my period 1 english teacher we come to find that it actually has been around for hundreds of years back i think he said in the 1600\'s when the French and English were going at it *shrugs*! Anyways...

The English military had the most well trained bow-man any army had ever seen, and they played a very strategic part in the English victories! The French knew this and when they captured English prisoners they would cut off the middle finger of the solider because it was the one they pull back the bow with and then they would give the finger to the leading officer! AND that my friends is where the term giving the middle finger came from!

If anyone else has amazing facts they would like to post do so, its fun to hear some of this stuff

[Ineluke]

Kinda gross but it is a fact...
ah well...

[SaintNuclear]

I read something like that somewhere, it\'s not exactly like that, but yeah, pretty close.

[seperot]

no thats wrong

the uk jesture of \"2\" fingers came from that. im not sure where the middle finger thing came from but it wasent that...you can still shoot a bow with just your index finger

[dfryer]

Methinks combining the gesture with it\'s meaning makes the origin rather obvious.. or is that just Freud talking again?

[[azrael]]

yes it is two fingers. also did you know that every train station in london includes at least one letter from the word \"mackeral\"?

[DepthBlade]

I am just repeating what I was told this morning I figured the dates must be wrong but the middle finger is the finger you pull back the bow on, I know because I took archery! (The middle and the one closest to pinkie I use )

Another Amazing fact I learnt today

Identical Twins ARE IDENTICAL! Yes they have the same finger prints and there has been a case which I should try and find where one of the twins murdered someone the other got convicted but pleaded innocent, they couldn\'t be sure to which did it so they both got off SCOTT FREE! TWINS ARE EVIL!

[Zephyrus]

FACT! Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th. Mmmm gregorian calendar maths goodness... *drools*

[tygerwilde]

hey depth, I took archery too, back in boy scouts, they taught me to use three fingers to draw, index middle and ring.

also, I don\'t know about the identical thing, most of the identical twins I\'ve known had at least one major difference. there were a pair of them I knew real well at job corps. they tested to be identical genetically, but their eyes were different colors (both were two tone, but the blue eye was opposite on each) one was left handed, and slender, the other was a little more heavyset and right handed, and their natural hair color was slightly different.

[DepthBlade]

Yah it doesn\'t really matter I think but they taught us the middle finger was the one to use and when i used two fingers they said i was doing it wrong but i did it anyway
Yah I always thought identical twins were different by something for example finger prints but guess not on the other hand fraternal twins have differences heh

[TheRedMonk]

I love this thread Nice info Depth
/me just realised that there are no twins in PS...thats weird

anyway...heres for you who don\'t know where the word assasin comes from. It originally comes from \"Hashishin\" which is a person who has drunk of the hashish. Under its influence the Assassins of the East, followers of the Shaikh al-Jabal (Old Man of the Mountain), were said to commit the murders required by their chief.]

and do you know where the act of saluting (when a military greets another military by putting his hand to the side of his forehead) comes from? It originates from the medieval times when two knights in armor met, they would lift up the screen on their helmets to show their faces.

[Melbourne]

Originally posted by TheRedMonk
and do you know where the act of saluting (when a military greets another military by putting his hand to the side of his forehead) comes from? It originates from the medieval times when two knights in armor met, they would lift up the screen on their helmets to show their faces.

Come to think of it I think I have heard that before.  I think it was Mail Call.

[eL_Qadsawi]

Nice info RedMonK .. & great reserch DepthBlade


Just one thing RedMonk .. Do you know that Hashish is actually arabic for drugs ( cocaine to be exact ) and you also spelt Shaikh correctly which means leader in arabic ... (

I think I should also add a fact ..

Issac Newton ( the apple guy ) dropped out of school when he was a teenager !!! His mother wanted him to become a successful farmer !!  Luckily his mother never got her wish !

[lynx_lupo]

Originally posted by TheRedMonk
anyway...heres for you who don\'t know where the word assasin comes from. It originally comes from \"Hashishin\" which is a person who has drunk of the hashish. Under its influence the Assassins of the East, followers of the Shaikh al-Jabal (Old Man of the Mountain), were said to commit the murders required by their chief.]

Go read Alamut, a fine book on a wannabe El Mahdi Seduina(Hasan ibn Saba) and his fedai(by Vladimir Bartol). It became one of our more famous books after the terrorist threat arose in some parts of the glob.
He was a master pupetmaster, the # was only icing on the cake.

Did you  know there are more species of beetles(Coloptera) than of all the plants combined?

[Zorium]

Depthblade from what I was told about the two (or one) fingered salute, was that when the English captured French archers they would cut their middle and ring finger off so they could not fire their bow.  The English would then taunt the French by holding their middle and ring fingers in the air (which is supposed to mean we have our two).

Of course I could be wrong but it makes sense (in my mind at least) that it was the English and not French who cut the fingers off as it\'s very English to pull the fingers.

-Zorium