Flipping the Bird

Yesterday in World Civ II, I finally discovered why I pay thousands of dollars to attend college. For knowledge like this of course:

• The middle finger was invented by the English during the Hundred Years War. The English had invented the longbows which could shoot considerably further than the French bows. If any Englishman was caught, and not killed first, his middle finger was removed to disable him from ever shooting a longbow again. During future battles, the Englishmen would proudly flail their middle finger at the despondent French. As if to say, I can still kill you.
• A second attribute to giving the finger is this: The ends of arrows were fitted with quail feathers, which in combination with waving their finger is where "Flipping the Bird" originated.