How did the finger become what it is now?

Question

The finger in the middle of your hand is just a finger, right?

Then why is it also a profounded message.

Answer 1

sign language?

Answer 2

in medieval times the middle finger was used instead of toilet paper by peasants and in poorer regions.

Answer 3

seriously.. in the american revolution the british used to threaten to cut off the middle fingers of any american that they caught.. so the americans would stand up and give them the finger as kinda like a come and get it thing before fights..for real

Answer 4

see my finger

Answer 5

The origin of this gesture is speculative, and quite possibly thousands of years old. It is identified as the digitus impudicus ("impudent finger") in Ancient Roman writings and reference is made to using the finger in the Ancient Greek comedy The Clouds by Aristophanes. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another. The widespread usage of the finger in many cultures is likely due to the geographical influence of the Roman Empire and Greco-Roman civilization. Another possible origin of this gesture can be found in the first-century Mediterranean world, where extending the digitus impudicus was one of many methods used to divert the ever present threat of the evil eye.

There is a popular, but apocryphal, story about English bowmen waving fingers at the French army during the Hundred Years' War.

Another possible origin is the phallic imagery of the raised middle finger (the middle finger being the longest finger on the human hand), similar to the Italian version of the bent elbow insult. Also, there is a variation of the finger where it can be done by performing The Fangul, by sticking out the finger during the throwing motion.

Answer 6

I heard that it dates back to battles between the French and English.  It was when the long bow was the main weapon.  One requires the middle finger to pull the cord back on a long bow.  If either side captured and prisoner of war, rather than have to feed the prisoners they just cut off their middle fingers rendering them useless with a bow.

So, to hold your middle finger up for the enemy to see was to say, roughly,"You don't have me yet!  I'm gonna use this finger to draw the bow that lays you low!"

It wasn't a sexual thing.

Answer 7

because the world has gone stupid and perverted and can't seem to go without cursing for even a day.

Answer 8

The finger supposedly comes from the story that the english cut off the middle fingers of French archers so they couldn't use their bows, and French archers who still had their fingers would hold it up to the english armies in battle to taunt them