italian_stallion21
Well-Known Member
2 awesome posts back to back. Thanks for the laugh Berg
Go England !!!
====================
The History of the Middle Finger
Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and now that I know it, 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?
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 English longbow 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!
Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals 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."
IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
Sir M you have changed avatars 3 times in 3 days...identity crisis?
No. Mid-life crisis.
PS That is interesting Number 10. On a similar note, I have friends back in Holland who advised me that the demise of Van Nistelrooy with the National team was when Van Basten was coaching and admonished him, and RVN told him to look at the stats as to who had scored more goals. Probably not a good thing to say to a three time European Footballer of the Year I guess.
RVN does have him by a 271 to 242 score though...
Sir M
Best coaches in the world though all in all out of this country.
would love to see that in a game here.
Actually Luch, I should qualify that. Best coaches at bringing the best out of lesser teams.
I would vote for yes, but I don't think there are any takers...Australia, Russia etc seem a better bet. Or North Korea.
By the way Luch, did you see how many bars/posts Chelsea hit today in the first half?
Sir M
Yes... almost thought they'd thrown it away.. great free kick to win the double. Great stuff for Ancelotti's first season. He's class.
Since leaving the country isn't exactly the easiest thing for North Koreans to do and traveling all the way to South Africa just to watch their team serve as the sacrificial lamb to the Group of Death may not be the best reason to do it, they've decided to recruit their Chinese friends to make the trip for them.
Says the AP:
The Beijing office of the North Korean Sports Committee is giving outtickets to the tournament, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Chinese fans will attend North Korea’s games against Brazil and Portugal, Xinhua said.
North Korea is looking to distribute 1,000 tickets to these Chinese rent-a-fans. It almost seems appropriate given the ties between China and North Korea -- even the team's sponsor is a Chinese sports apparel maker -- and the secretive, largely unknown quantity of the North Korean team.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if other countries tried this as well. Several thousand Chinese-Dutch fans may be the difference for the Netherlands.
Yes winning with a squad like that takes someone special . Man Utd wasn't expected to win it after Ronaldo's and Tevez departure. Although I think they handled the Tevez situation terribly. The guy was beating his drum saying he wanted to stay and they didn't offer him a deal until the last minute but the damage had been done. I couldn't believe it personally as I felt it was a huge mistake to rely on Berbatov, as he is a lazy shite who doesn't fit into the system. Tevez is a great player and a tireless workhorse who plays for the team, he stays Man Utd wins 1-2 more titles this year. Not to mention my authentic Man Utd Tevez jersey I bought from England is now useless to me..little agrentinian kunt
This stuff about Ballack... it makes you wonder...
Michael Ballack agent threatens Kevin-Prince Boateng legal action - ESPN Soccernet
Obvioulsy a huge blow to Zee Germans, if they had any shot of winning the WC it's gone now...
A nice little conspiracy theory here to fuel the match in that group...