Funny post about counting with your fingers
Remember when I made that video a while back and I demonstrated the number 3 while using my thumb? (Actually I don’t remember which video it was!) Well, I got SOOO many comments on that.. that I was showing 2 and not 3 etc.. and that made me realize the cultural differences in how we all count.
I found this post where someone was talking about it.. and it made me chuckle.. it’s in Spanish… but you can translate it easily.
Marina
Capman911 on 
Good handy work goes with the fingers…a point is always sharp
Now back to the work of counting backWoRDS
Lady, you are one of the prettiest women I ever saw anD I appreciate the things you are doing. Maybe you are a russian, i am a slovak, so we are slavics too, so I do not see the chance not to communicate. I like the way you presenting words to people. especially people who do not speak english.. I wish you many subscribers and lots of success in the future. And if I may, I dream my girlfriend is as you are:)..best wishes..strez
all that counts, in the end, is ____________
well, y’all fill-in the blank…
My dear Marina…..
It is just these cultural differances that make you, aside from your incredible beauty, so alluring to us westerners.
Quit picking, Y’all… She’s a philologist and I would bet that she knows Sign Language as well.
To make the representation of three with the pinky finger is the letter “F” in the alphabet of sign language. (Similar to making the OK sign, like the “Bob” the male enhancement guy.)
For our lovely instructor not to know sign language, which is a universal language? NEVER, she’s a genius wrapped in a female skin… I bet she’s Einstein’s great-grand-daughter or something really 007-ish, eh?
Oh yeah, the three shown in the “second illustration” is the letter “W” in the sign language alphabet, so Marina is proper in representing the number three with the thumb and two fingers.
well in my country (which nobody does know!) Latvia (FYI it’s in Europe) we also don’t use the thumb to show three. and I think it is because that way it is easier to show also 4 fingers (try it with the thumb – it’s more difficult)
The photo of the video in the article above is referring to the
“Cookie Game”. The video is located here:
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/06/03/cookie-game/
.k.
Spanish are very odd in their concepts and language. Try to learn it and you will go insane. Spanish can not be translated word for word, A Spanish speaking man trying to understand a Russian Women speaking English as her 2nd language…..shit…….. howdy…….no way. I have a hard time translating Blonde into coherent.
To show three fingers I show the thumb and other two.But the idea of doing this depending of your culture is not so precise.I think that everybody copies their parents or the majority of the people around.
I am going to say 3 using the second way
Hehe cool! I used the thumb three all my life and I didn’t really understand why people did it the other way as a kid, it seemed like a more difficult position to force fingers in as well as usually when I’ve seen people count 1,2,3 with their fingers they tend to start with the thumb. I started to mix between both ways as I moved through time thinking I was a weird alien.. Now I think I’ll go all the way with the thumb approach
I give hotforword 3 thumbs up!
First post! Great site….
How high can you count on the fingers and thumb of one hand?
I can manage 31; can anyone tell me how and can anyone beat that?
111 – |.|./
“can anyone tell me how and can anyone beat that?”
Binary finger counting, from 0 to 1023:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_binary
Well done, that
mancat.Have a Cee-gar.
And thanks for the link.
The world is full of traps for the unwary, and those too innocent or lazy to learn the customs of other cultures.
For instance, if you go to Greece and wave at someone with the (to US/UK people, normal) open handed, palm forward gesture, you are likely to cause grave offence.
Thailand is also a minefield in this respect; for example, putting your feet up on the furniture, or even just showing someone the sole of your foot is considered as bad as mooning.
Indeed, any activity where part of you is elevated higher than your companion’s head, has to be performed with a slight stoop, to indicate that you are trying to avoid putting them down. Touching anyone on the head is also considered insulting, so having your hair cut is always accompanied by profuse and frequent apologies from the Barber.
what’s bad about mooning?…i’d let Marina moon me…(-;
Hola Marina
Your post made me think about the possible hand gestures for the number 3. There are 10 possible combinations. I made a web album showing them.
As a Mexican, I use the mexican way, (photo D in my album). The easy ones are A (the russian way), J (the ‘ok’ gesture) and E (the heavy metal sign or Corna).
I guess we mexicans use the one showed, wich is a difficult one, to avoid the possible meanings of the other hand gestures. As far as I know, that gesture doesn’t have other meaning than 3. We use a lot of hand gestures and in the context of a conversation, the meaning of the other gestures could vary from confusing to offensive.
The automatic translation is hillarious. It shows every translation of your name from spanish to english.
que muestra a una guapa filóloga rusa llamada Marina, wich means “it shows a beautiful philologist named Marina” was translated as “which shows a beautiful filóloga called Russian Navy”. As in “Secretaría de Marina” (the mexican navy).
Hi, Marina was translated as “Hi, Marine, ” as in “fauna marina” (marine fauna).
I see your point Brain. C and I could mean something vulger in American hand language or some other cultures. You have very intersting article that you wrote to Marina. I injoyed it. Come on over to her web site and join in on some of our conversations that we share with each other. You’ll more than wecome
Hello Marina,
When I was a little guy- thumbs were not considered fingers and were not used to indicate a “number”. We were also discouraged from using our hands to express ourselves. So- “talking with your hands” was considered to mean that you didn’t have the proper communications skills and were thought of as lazy minded or even ignorant.
Maybe you could get out the white board and that would clear up any doubts. Also a pointer of some kind.
Just a thought.
Thanks Marina
Marina, I ref volleyball at all levels (kids, adults, collegiate) in the US…when I first started reffing in, oh, 1978 or so, and on through the ’80s we used the index-middle-third finger typical of the number 3 gesture in the US to signal a player’s number if needed. Somewhere in the ’90s the technique was changed to thumb-index-middle finger as you illustrated. The story was that somewhere the index-middle-third finger is considered vulgar or obscene, and hence we made a change to conform to Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (the international governing body for volleyball) specifications.
So I knew you meant three when I saw it.
You can signal me anytime…
I think, perhaps, the explanation could be thus:
Indicating three with your hand the way Marina did it seems to be a more natural, easy way to execute . Children, at about 3 years of age, are starting to gain control of their motor functions. Perhaps the Mexico way is one of the first “advanced” exercises mothers began to use to teach their children complicated motor skills.