Naughty Grecians likely developed the phallic gesture around 2,500 years ago to offend each other. Here’s how the middle finger became the most obscene digit.

Proudly displaying a middle finger 2,500 years ago was usually meant as a joke. Today, “flipping the bird” is considered so vulgar that it’s frequently blurred in media.

Morris has said that the middle finger we know today – the digit hoisted high in the air, other fingers bending to its will – represents a penis and testicles. “It is saying, this is a ...