not john mayer
in Ancient Roman writings and reference is made to using the finger in the Ancient Greek comedy The Clouds by Aristophanes, where the playwright made a crude joke mixing up the middle finger and the penis. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another. It has been noted that the gesture resembles an erect penis. Ancient Romans considered an image of an erect phallus as a talisman against evil spells. Even back then, the bird was considered an aggressive, phallic put-down. It has also been argued by anthropologists that the finger is a a variant of a classic "phallic aggressive" gesture used by primates. By jabbing a threatening phallus at your enemy like a wild animal, you aren't just belittling him, but also making him your sexual inferior. Instead of using a real penis, civilized Janes and Platos called upon the substitute wieners within their own hands to mock, threaten, and humiliate opponents.
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.
In 1644, John Bulwer wrote Chirologica: of the Naturall Language of the Hande as a guide to common hand signals for the deaf. The finger, or convicium facio (meaning, I provoke an argument) was a "natural expression of scorn and contempt." Although he thought it was horrid to use, the deaf might have had no better way to express themselves after someone dumped the contents of a chamber pot on them in the street.
The Bowfinger legend, a popular but apocryphal story, derives it from the gestures of Welsh archers, fighting alongside the English at Agincourt. The myth claims that the French cut off fingers from archers, and that the 'finger' was a sign of defiance by those who retained their fingers. The same story also claims that 'fuck you' is a corruption of 'pluck yew' since bows were made of yew, or the phrase "I can still pluck yew!". While it has been debunked many times, this story still crops up. The confusion most likely comes about through people mis-remembering the story, which was in fact concerned with a rude gesture involving two fingers, and adding their own strange etymological justification.
- From Several Sources
It's a joke - get it?
Very interesting history lesson you have provided us and I see Goggle is working well today.
Yes, Google is working very well. It saved time to cut and paste what is amply available, rather than write something new over so small a matter about which most of us were already aware.
not sure that anyone would take anything in hesterland as serious!
I've been eating there since I was seventeen, and for awhile I ate there everyday for months on end, so you've abit of catching up to do.
See how defensive I get when you rub it in about Tu Hai? Geesh...
did you know that felicity and felatio have the same root?
And yes, I did know that their root is similar. My eldest daughters name is Felicity and another friend of mine pointed that out. But, of course, with Felicity meaning happiness - it would just figure as such, eh?
