Small Gods

40

The Greek name Didactylos, besides having the word ‘didactic’ as its root (very appropriate for a philosopher), also translates as ‘Two-fingers’.

The British equivalent of “giving someone the finger” consists of extending two fingers upwards, palm facing the gesturer, in a kind of rotated ‘V for Victory’ sign.

The origin of this rude gesture is supposed to date back to the battle of Agincourt. In those days the French used to cut the index and middle fingers off the right hands of any British archers they happened to catch, in order to render them useless for further shooting should they e.g. ever manage to escape and rejoin their army.

When the English finally won the battle (largely thanks to their longbowmen) the gesture quickly evolved from a Frenchmen-ridiculing “look what I still got” statement into a more general rudeness.

Whether this story, charming as it may be, is in fact completely incorrect, or only partially incorrect, or completely correct after all, is something I will no longer be attempting to resolve in this annotation, since proponents of all three theories have been supplying me with quotes from various history books in order to support their claim.