The History Of The Middle Finger

A couple weeks back, I saw a Facebook post that had an interesting history on the middle finger. It seems that the internet believes the 1415 Battle of Agincourt between the French and English is the birth of flicking the bird. The English had the best archers in Europe at the time. For the archer to use the longbow, he needed his first two fingers. Apparently, the French threatened to cut the fingers off the English longbow men. In a big "Eff You!" moment, the English gave the finger to the French showing they still had their fingers. There is not any clear documentation of this happening. Although, it is possible the French threatened to cut the fingers of the English, and the English may have given the finger to the French in return. But honestly, who doesn't want to give the French the finger?

Wanting to share this with you, I decided to actually do some research and see if this is true. Boy am I glad I did...

While the above story is interesting, "Flipping The Bird" actually started long before the a fore-mentioned battle...by at least 1900 years.

The Romans called the one-finger wave the digitus infamis or digitus impudicus (dirty finger). The weird sister-loving Roman Emperor Caligula insulted his subjects by making them kiss his middle finger instead of his hand, as was customary.

The Romans stole this from the Greeks, who have the honor of the earliest record of this gesture. The play "The Clouds", written by the Greek Aristophanes in 423 B.C, used the middle finger as an obscene and sexual gesture.

Since the middle finger extends beyond the rest of the hand, it has been used for centuries as a phallic symbol. Some people believe that since it can be used in place of a penis as a sexual instrument, it's origins go back to prehistoric time.

According to this story on Yahoo!, recent studies have shown that the higher primates, such as the highly sexual Bonobos, use gestures for extensive communications, even when seeking sex. Many believe that human communications started this way. First, we gestured, and then enhanced our gestures with sounds. The sounds became words. Now the gestures enhance the words. Somewhere between primate and human, caveman and civilized man, the middle finger found a way to make a profound statement.

According to this story from ooze.com, It has 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.

Always one to be a party pooper, the Catholic Church drove the gesture underground in the middle ages. People still knew what it was, but the Church believed it to be Holy during mass...riiiight...

Once photography became popular, the middle finger came back with a vengeance. From High School class photos, to the random photo-bomb, the unsaid "F-U" has become ingrained into our society...

...and a way to get back at your boss when he's not looking...