British times

The history of phrases and gestures is hazy and often a mystery. The often said phrase son of a gun is an interesting one because it seems soo harmless and innocent compared to todays descriptive and maybe vulgar ones today. Actually the phrase comes about from a criminal being sentenced to labor on a ship of war to carry out his sentence ...and when that craft was in shore it would not allow the prisoners to go to harbor, but instead the vessel would bring certain parties to bring some harmony to the human cargo. The parties in question were actually whores and the criminals and the hired painted ladies would go below deck to entertain themselves, the most private locations were between the gun stalls or cannons and there sex would take place. Thus the coinage or product came about. Son of a gun ; A whore and a criminals byproduct or procreation. Nice
When you hear the phrase; on the wagon: you are maybe only thinking he is gonna stop drinking , this being the volition of choice. Actually the phrase comes from the British sentence of death whereas the guilty party is given his last choice of final wish and often the preference was a last drink. Therefore the wagon would stop at the bar and the patron would make his request as to his choice libation and after its consumption the tender might ask whats next. The accused and convicted would have no choice but to reply that he was on the wagon. ( which meant he was off to the gallows pole)
Nice....Soo moving on...this applies to recent fun...the gesture of raising the middle finger is actually dated back to Roman times and in those days the finger was one of phallic reference. The person that you applied it to was the person that you were metaphisically screwing an regardless of sex it was the supreme insult. The Romans were actually very colorfull in their ability to articulate.
In more modern times like 1415 there was an English king ( Edward the 5th ? )who wanted France and occupation and he sent 10000 soldiers to do some damage. This story has many details. To shorten ..the English were better prepared with better munitions and better soldiers. These guys were happy to fight and knew how to.. Also skilled in the use of the English longbow. The French rallied as the English moved across their terrain and threatened their land. They gathered a much larger force but less ,by far, skilled. The battle at last was fronted and faced at Abercort ? The outnumbered English the night before were threatened by the French with promises of bow fingers being removed and their ultimate ability to inflinct damage on the French forever removeved across the battle line. The French feared the English longbow made of resilient Yew wood that had amazing distance and the archers could loose six per minute. The longbow is plucked with two bowfingers ; the middle and top and the wood is from an English Yew. The phrase fuck you therefore comes from the amazing victory of the English on the battlefield where maybe 8000 French died, thus ending many noble lines, vs. the loss of about 500 English. Pluck Yew was adapted to simpler Anglicized term fuck you as a cocky reference to the survivors defiance to insurmountable odds, yet coming out on top with all capabilities in order. Roger that ? A cool photo I will find for this post soon.