Pluck Yew too :P

[sisterblonde]

A little bit of history I learned in the Navy…. I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you know something about it

Comments

[zoe_me]

Sadly, an urban legend. Seems it's older than that (gotta love the Romans).

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp

[sisterblonde]

Pahahahaha! I got zapped! This has been sitting in my archives for awhile (at least since I was in Sicily from 99-02) and I just recently decided to share! Thanks for the link :)

[artemis_rich]

Sorry, love! Sadly, one can't believe everything told by the military.

No time to do a search, but I'm sure Snopes has something.

A few key points:

Prisoners were not taken during the battle of Agincourt (or, indeed, at all until [relatively] recent times [unless they were high ranking individuals who could be ransomed]). Any enemy wounded left on the battlefield were killed outright or left to die.

The word "fuck" is a lot older than Agincourt, though it's etomology is uncertain. Oh, my kingdom for an OED!

Most Brits use the two finger salute (like a backwards "V") rather than the paltry single finger that Yanks use (you lived in London, you remember!!). (Aside: there is another urban legend about the origin of that paricular gesture also relating to longbowmen.)

Cute joke, though!

[artemis_rich]

That's what I get for not reading comments first! Someone beat me to it!

[sisterblonde]

LOL! Thanks Carrie :)