whats the story behind this. I see this pic every where, so i was just wondering. Thanks for the help, Ryan
If I remember right, that sign means **** off in Italy or England. Don't remember which country of the two it was. He face expression sure looks like he says "**** off". But I haven't seen the Le Mans movie so..
not quite sure it means **** off in england ... it was born back when archers where the big hits in the army ... brits were good at it and showed the 2 fingers (that pulled the cord) to their enemies to "threaten" them ... or something to that effect. Sounds more like victory.
Way back in the day - archers on the losing side of a battle were known to have their middle and index fingers chopped off by the victors.. So.. if you still had them, the two-finger V salute came to be a symbol for Victory and "up-yours!" 8^) This is the short version I heard - there is more a lot more history - the development of the long bow, the Tea Bags beating up on the Frogs, and Steve McQueen racing in France.
The French would cut off these two fingers of any archer that was captured during battle, to obviously stop them from being able to use a bow and arrow again. So, to wind up the French at the start of a battle the archers would show these two fingers to show they still had them! Best Mark
In England, the picture of Steve is usually taken to mean F*** OFF or some other similar meaning. Aas stated in this thread it came from the English Longbow men who would raise this salute to the enemy (usually the French) to basically say 'you're f*cked' as the longbow was a seriously dangerous weapon in those days and mandatory training for all Englishmen every Sunday after church - by law. If you raise two fingers but with the palm of your hand facing outwards rather than the back of the hand (as with the picture) it is the sign for victory. It was used extensively by Winston Churchill during WWII. It is not a good idea in the UK to mix the two sign up as the meaning is so radically different
Fukcer beat me to it!!!!!! Remember the greatest prisoners ever held by the French were, no surprise, French. Napoleon Louis VI Man in the Mask Dumas ect.
French Kiss with Death and the video should be required items of any sports car enthusiast! The Museum of Fine Arts here did a screening of the movie from a clean print, and had that book for sale at the same time! Needless to say, both I and my favorite Ferrari technician have a copy! I think he has the faded poster on the wall at the shop!
Snopes seems to be getting confused between the middle finger salute and two fingure salute. I hadn't heard the 'Pluck yew' theory before, sounds fishy as I thought the two finger salute meant 'up yours'! Best Mark