Monday, February 20, 2006

just me thinking this way..!?

Every day ends with a smile, memory/experience yet begins with a surprise
I get on the tube and people just stare at the floor
The tube is so crowded, yet of course there is room for few more
The blue skies of summer are now replaced by the grey
I wish I could blow hard enough to chase them away
Sat here at work very late, a place where I don't want to be
Yet it pays for the good times, where I can truly be free
The wrinkles get bigger; another hair turns from black into grey
Time flashes by like lightning across the sky
Our lives moving in the blink of an eye
Friends they come and friends they sure go
The good times are locked in our minds, we just go with the flow..

..may be life is not about choices, its all about priorities...

Thursday, February 02, 2006

History of the Middle Finger...

Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and 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?

_

/'_-/)

,/_ /

/ /

/'_'/' '/'__'/','/'

/ '/ / / / / _

('( ' ' _

|

' /

_./'





Giving the Finger

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory
over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured
English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to
draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable
of fighting in the future.

This famous weapon was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act
of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and
began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated
French, saying, "See, we can still pluck yew!"

"PLUCK YEW!"

Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant
cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'F', and thus the words
often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute!

It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the
longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird."
And yew thought yew knew everything.