so do you mean to say the middle finger is s-e-x-i-s-t? (pardon the hyphens..refer reason for editing)
Is it related to warring armies, where one party used to cut off the middle fingers of the other so they couldn't use arrows?
I think it represents the phallus, with the fingers next to the middle finger representing testicles..
I have heard of this being a false origin of the English "V" sign on the BBC series, QI. The opposing army in question was the French army, who were fighting the English in the Hundred Years' war.
Either ways the sign is used as an expression. Expressions cannot be taken for literary meaning. As an example, when I say you are right on the money with your point, there is actually no money involved at all even if your point is exactly right. There are a lot of similar words in English vocabulary whose current usage would make no sense at all in context of their origin. Maybe that is the point of a language - to express an idea by a speaker in a way it is commonly understood by the intended audience.
WTF @ this thread. middle finger = "UP YOUR ARSE/ASS/BUM/HOLE". Its got nothing to do with me showing my phallus to the world ... Why can't women drive their middle fingers up other person's bottom?