<P> For a time in the UK, "a Harvey (Smith)" became a way of describing the insulting version of the V sign, much as "the word of Cambronne" is used in France, or "the Trudeau salute" is used to describe the one - fingered salute in Canada . This happened because, in 1971, show - jumper Harvey Smith was disqualified for making a televised V sign to the judges after winning the British Show Jumping Derby at Hickstead . His win was reinstated two days later . </P> <P> Harvey Smith pleaded that he was using a Victory sign, a defence also used by other figures in the public eye . Sometimes foreigners visiting the countries mentioned above use the "two - fingered salute" without knowing it is offensive to the natives, for example when ordering two beers in a noisy pub, or in the case of the United States president George H.W. Bush, who, while touring Australia in 1992, attempted to give a "peace sign" to a group of farmers in Canberra--who were protesting about U.S. farm subsidies--and instead gave the insulting V sign . </P> <P> A commonly repeated legend claims that the two - fingered salute or V sign derives from a gesture made by longbowmen fighting in the English and Welsh archers at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War, but no historical primary sources support this contention . This origin legend states that archers who were captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they could no longer operate their longbows, and that the V sign was used by uncaptured and victorious archers in a display of defiance against the enemy . However, it was common practice in warfare of that period to summarily execute common soldiers, since they held no ransom value . </P> <P> Alternatively, there is evidence against this interpretation as the chronicler Jean de Wavrin, contemporary of the battle of Agincourt, reports that the captured archers would have three fingers cut, and not two . Wielding an English longbow requires three fingers, as is the case for modern bows . </P>

Where does sticking two fingers up come from
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