So, I'm out with my homies on Friday night, and it comes time to take the usual group photo. We all gather around, check that we can see the camera, maria pulls out her "psycho" face, and everyone flashes their gang sign.
We settle back down into our seats, sup on our ale, and maria points out that the 'V' sign that most of my homeboys/homegirls have just flashed is actually a rather rude sign in England.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! They say is shock.
YEEEEEEEEEES! We reply.
WHAAAAAAAATTT? They demand.
'Tis giving the finger, except in this case it is giving it twice. We inform.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! They say is shock.
YEEEEEEEEEES! We reply.
But, but, but...we thought it meant "Peace" or "Victory" or, or, or something. They say in bemusement.
It does, but that is with the palm facing outwards. When the palm is facing inwards it means something totally different. We explain.
Way back in the 1300s, England and France went to war. This was a war that would last (on and off) for one hundred and seven years. Thus it was called: The Hundred Years War. Under the leadership of Henry V, the English had their most successful period of the war. Some of this was due to his leadership (but please don't confuse the play with reality), but a lot was to do with a WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction). The English introduced a weapon that was to annihilate French armies and bring a country to its knees. This weapon was the longbow. A single piece of yew, aged and shaped for four years into a bow, was capable of launching a 75cm (30in) arrow over 400m. It was either a long range weapon or a highly accurate weapon, not both. At the beginning of a battle volleys of arrows could be aimed into troops, on mass. During battle, single arrows could hit their mark, accurately, at up to 200m away. However, the key to this weapon's domination of battles rested in the hands of the archer or, to be more specific, the two fingers of the archer. To launch an arrow a great distance or to fire it with enough energy to pierce armour, the string had to be pulled back by the forefinger and middle finger, the arrow resting between them, notched onto the string. This was a tiring operation and, even though they would train, most archers couldn't fire more than six arrows a minute, for the first minute. However, this number would drop of dramatically as the fingers tired. Without those two fingers, a longbow was just a piece of wood.
Rumour had it that whenever the French took Englishmen prisoner, they would cut off their fingers. This would mean that they could no longer use a longbow. Knowing this, the English archers they would taunt the French by showing their fingers. They would wave them in the air, flicking Vs at the French army. Yes, all the way back in the 1400s the Gallagher brothers were already hard at work spreading peace and harmony amongst our European neighbours.
And so, flicking a V became the way that English people would say "I've got mine, now you're fucked".
Over time it simply just became a way of saying "fuck off".
So now you know.
Peace Out.
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