35 Of The Biggest ‘Screw You’ Moments Ever Witnessed In History, As Shared Online

Frank Zappa was interviewed by an abrasive radio host named Joe Pyne.

Pyne commented to Zappa, “So I guess your long hair makes you a woman.”

Zappa replied, “So I guess your wooden leg makes you a table.”

Pyne had lost his leg serving in WW2.

Although I'm sure he wouldn't have called it a "f**k you" because he had way too much class, I'm going to say Mr. Rogers sharing a wading pool with a black man while people were fighting to keep blacks out of public pools.

When France was invaded during WW2 they cut the lines to the elevator up the Eiffel Tower so when the nazis went to put their flag on ot they had to take the stairs all the way up.

In 1962, a wealthy Italian businessman met with Enzo Ferrari to discuss his displeasure with the famous luxury sports cars. His chief complaint was that the clutches didn't seem to hold up well. Ferrari responded, "The clutch is not the problem. The problem is you don’t know how to drive a Ferrari and you break the clutch.”

The businessman happened to have founded and owned a successful tractor manufacturing company, so he knew a thing or two about vehicles. He was incensed at the reply, and not only vowed to never buy another Ferrari, but to begin building his own supercars to show Ferrari how it was done.

And today, the cars of Ferruccio Lamborghini are famous worldwide.

I've always been fond of the exchange between John Montagu and John Wilkes, both British politicians in the 18th century (Montagu was also the 4th Earl of Sandwich, the namesake and possibly inventor of the sandwich).

During one of their many verbal battles, Montagu reportedly spat at Wilkes and said, "Upon my soul, Wilkes, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox."

Wilkes replied, "That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."

Joan of Arc’s trial was known to be tedious as the Church tried their hardest to find grounds for a conviction. In an attempt to trick her, she was asked whether she knew if she was in God’s grace. Since the Church believed no one was able to know if they were truly in God’s grace, either a yes or no could be condemnable. She responded by saying, “If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me”. Reports on the trial say that the court was stupefied by her deft answer. It was basically a mic drop in the face of the Church at the hands of what they saw as an illiterate and heretic farm girl.

When that dude on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? used his only lifeline on the final question to call his dad… Not to ask for help, but to let him know he was about to win because he already knew the answer.

Explain this one in a similar form but it keeps getting buried.

After the second World War, a group of soldiers, all Jews, held a memorial service during the Passover and prim for the fallen Jewish comrades. The ceremony was carried out at the summer home that once belonged to Joseph Goebbels, a known hater of Jews.

Goebbels wasn't shy of saying f**k the Jews. So, for a Jewish memorial service on his estate was a "f**k you right back" from Jewish soldiers.

King Philip II of Macedon sent a note to Ancient Sparta saying:

“You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.”

Ancient Sparta replied to King Philip’s threat: “If"

Upon being handed his death warrant, the Marquis de Favras quipped, "I see that you have made three spelling mistakes."

Tolkien was in negotiations to sell *The Hobbit* in Germany. The Nazis were in power, but WWII hadn't started yet. The German publisher asked him to provide proof that he was Aryan. This was his response, with emphasis by me:

25 July 1938

20 Northmoor Road, Oxford

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by "arisch". I am not of **Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian;** as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, **Gypsy**, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that **I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people**. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that **if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.**

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, **of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.**

I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and remain yours faithfully,

J. R. R. Tolkien

Bette Davis, who had a decades-long feud with Joan Crawford that lasted right up to the bitter end, was quoted upon first hearing of her rival’s death:

*”You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say good…Joan Crawford is dead. Good.”*

One general in WWII wrote to gen. Patton: "you can't take Trier wtih less then 3 divisions"

Patton wrote back: "I took it with two, should I give it back?"

Calvin Coolidge, one of our late American presidents, was nicknamed “silent cal” because he was a man of very few words. A person once seated next to him at a dinner said to him, "I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you." Silent Cal replied, "You lose."

Sara Bareilles was pressured to add a "catchy love song" to her debut album.

*I'm Not Gonna Write You A Love Song* was written as a "f**k you, I quit" message for the label... except it backfired: They actually *liked it* and they put it on the radio.

John Paul Jones when, in a naval battle that he appeared to be losing, the British called for him to strike his colors (surrender). He replied with "I have not yet begun to fight." He won, and sailed both ships home.

During the Korean War, a coastal battery got lucky and hit the battleship USS Wisconsin. It did minor damage but was the first direct hit on the Wisconsin. The USS Wisconsin then returned fire with all nine of her 16" guns and pretty much reduced the coastal battery to atoms. The funniest part is that one of Wisconsin's escorts sent a message to the Wisconsin afterwards that just said "Temper, temper."

More on the tame end, but in the 70s Rush’s record label was pressuring them to not make any more albums with long rock operas because it would kill sales.

They went ahead and made another album where one side of the vinyl was a 20 minute song and it ended up being their biggest seller at that point in time.

When the Royal Navy had finally cornered and were engaging the German warship Bismarck, one of the ships in the taskforce was actually made up of Polish navy crewmen who had escaped the country after the occupation. As the crew fired upon Bismarck they used their lights to signal the message "I am a Pole" for the Bismarcks crew to see.

In 2007 the website Gawker posted an article that outed Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel as gay. Not being able to sue defamation himself (it's not defamation if it's true), he instead started funding lawsuits brought against Gawker by others, including the lawsuit by Hulk Hogan that ended up bankrupting Gawker.

There are lots of ethical issues surrounding the idea of a billionaire targeting an outlet like Gawker, even if the outlet is utter trash like Gawker was, but I still consider it a glorious F**k You.