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Finger counting gives away your nationality

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Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#61

Post by folli »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #15

And a key plot point in Inglourious Basterds . https://www.businessinsider.com/order-a-beer-like-a-german-2...

This scene is a particular pet peeve of mine (I know it's a movie, but everyone needs something to be picky about...).

The character played by Fassbender at one point explains his peculiar accent by being born and raised in a village near Piz Palü (an hommage by Tarantino to "White Hell of Piz Palü" a 1929 silent movie). However, this mountain is located in Switzerland, right by the italian border, far away from Germany. Still, his cover is blown by a tiny mistake on how he orders beer while everyone glances over the glaring inconsistency of his birthplace.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#62

Post by throwaway1239Mx »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #14
jhncls wrote: post #7

The correct way is to count in binary, and easily reach 1023 without needing a third hand [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_binary

> and easily reach 1023 without needing a third hand Given that most people cannot move their ring finger independently of their middle finger, this seems like a stretch.

Came here to comment on binary finger counting; found it'd already been said!

I have trouble with some positions due to the ring/pinkie connection, but for me it's more of an internal count anyway, so something like counting a 'down' finger as '1' instead of '0' makes it a lot more comfortable, or even '1' is finger touching a surface, '0' is not - which can involve moving a digit only a few mm or so.

The 1023 thing does require fine motor control of at least ten appendages, though even legs-arms-tongue gets you to 32, if a bit inconveniently.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#63

Post by adventured »

Lammy wrote: post #30

I first learned about this from the regional box art variations for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994): - JP: https://info.sonicretro.org/File:Sonic3-box-jap.jpg - US: https://info.sonicretro.org/File:Sonic3_md_us_cover.jpg - EU: https://info.sonicretro.org/File:S3-eu-box.jpg

When I was young I first realized that there was regional variety to this in the US, from Michael Jordan (he grew up in North Carolina):

2: https://i.imgur.com/J7MaBUq.jpg

3: https://i.imgur.com/wORrZjC.jpg

Where I grew up, several states north of the Carolinas, three is pretty much always the index/fore + middle + ring fingers. Prior to seeing Jordan do that I didn't recall having noticed someone counting / signaling three with the pinky instead of the index.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#64

Post by reificator »

moralestapia wrote: post #50
dylan604 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I get your teacher was dumb, but technically it could be on the right side. Let's be fair, a 5 year is only in kindergarten, so I would not expect a kindergarten teacher to be fully expecting a 5 year old to be talking about binary or even fully educated in other counting methods than base 10. That doesn't make them dumb. I'm sure that teacher could teach you things without calling you dumb.

Err... sorry I don't know said teacher, I was just following along your comment, where you seem to portray the teacher in such way. You even do it in this comment, condescendingly, >I would not expect a kindergarten teacher to be [...] fully educated in other counting methods than base 10 Honestly, it's not that big of a deal to know binary or not. But anyway, that aside, you completely missed the point of my comment…

That was not a condescending comment by my read.

Replace counting in other bases with “theoretical physics” or “woodworking” and it doesn’t read that way either.

I think this xkcd is relevant here: https://xkcd.com/2501/

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#65

Post by jdavis703 »

dylan604 wrote: post #49
moralestapia wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get your teacher was dumb, but technically it could be on the right side. It all depends on whether you were writing it or saying it, "1 + 1 = 10" is true in binary but "one plus one equals ten" is not, not even in binary.

>I get your teacher was dumb, but technically it could be on the right side. Let's be fair, a 5 year is only in kindergarten, so I would not expect a kindergarten teacher to be fully expecting a 5 year old to be talking about binary or even fully educated in other counting methods than base 10. That doesn't make them dumb. I'm sure that teacher could teach you things without calling you dumb.

I’m fairly certain I was taught the unary counting system in either kindergarten or 1st grade. And I wasn’t even in an advanced course.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#66

Post by dylan604 »

kubanczyk wrote: post #57
dylan604 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Index + middle in an upward movement would probably be taken as something other than peace

No, not likely in 90s in Germany. What you're describing is primarily a UK gesture. (Wikipedia says also known in Ireland, South Africa, Australia, India, etc.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign#As_an_insult

I'm in the US and I'm aware of it (granted most 'muricans are not). I'd be willing to wager Europeans would be much more aware of the meaning than what you're suggesting.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#67

Post by dylan604 »

jdavis703 wrote: post #65
dylan604 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I get your teacher was dumb, but technically it could be on the right side. Let's be fair, a 5 year is only in kindergarten, so I would not expect a kindergarten teacher to be fully expecting a 5 year old to be talking about binary or even fully educated in other counting methods than base 10. That doesn't make them dumb. I'm sure that teacher could teach you things without calling you dumb.

I’m fairly certain I was taught the unary counting system in either kindergarten or 1st grade. And I wasn’t even in an advanced course.

Timmy has 1 rock. Johnny gives Timmy 1 rock. Timmy now has 1 rock. Jenny gives 1 rock to Timmy. Timmy has 1 rock.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#68

Post by tyingq »

kubanczyk wrote: post #57
dylan604 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Index + middle in an upward movement would probably be taken as something other than peace

No, not likely in 90s in Germany. What you're describing is primarily a UK gesture. (Wikipedia says also known in Ireland, South Africa, Australia, India, etc.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign#As_an_insult

Agree...I never encountered anyone thinking I was throwing that insult.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#69

Post by dylan604 »

slim wrote: post #58
dylan604 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting. How can one differentiate the two then? Does the wrist position matter? A thumb out with the wrist twisted so the thumb is at an angle indicates "1", but a forward thrusted wrist so the thumb is pointing up and towards the person mean "yes, good job"? Is the second meaning lost entirely to the barman? If you had flashed OK hand gesture, would the barman have poured 3 pints, or thought you were a m…

He should have nodded his head

Careful, is that a singular movement from up to down in affirmation, or a singular movement from down to up as in "what's up"? in some situations, the first would mean send in the assassin to take out that person involved in that thing. that's one you don't want to use at the wrong time.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#70

Post by [deleted] »

dylan604 wrote: post #41
tyingq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did index+middle for 2. They would do thumb+index for 2, and thumb+index+middle for 3. They didn't do index+middle for anything other than maybe "peace sign". So from a distance, my "2" would look like "3" to them. It was a rural area in Germany, in the late 80's, early 90's.

Index + middle in an upward movement would probably be taken as something other than peace

[deleted]
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