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Finger counting gives away your nationality

bbc.com

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Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#71

Post by rpmisms »

MengerSponge wrote: post #60
rpmisms wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you had flashed OK hand gesture... thought you were a member of a fringe group? For what it's worth, this hand sign being a hate dogwhistle is pretty much entirely an invention of 4chan.

> invention of 4chan They set out to transform a symbol, and they succeeded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_gesture#White_power_symbol If you think it isn't real because it was made up, Vonnegut's Mother Night has you covered: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

I think you're seeing a slightly different narrative. 4chan decided to make people upset about the hand sign, some major news networks obediently expressed outrage, and a whole lot of people who actively dislike said news channels discovered a whole new way to generate headlines.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#72

Post by at_a_remove »

rpmisms wrote: post #55
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…

> If you had flashed OK hand gesture... thought you were a member of a fringe group? For what it's worth, this hand sign being a hate dogwhistle is pretty much entirely an invention of 4chan.

It is an amazing way to show how paranoid people are over "dogwhistles." Witches are everywhere!

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#73

Post by sombremesa »

mngnt wrote: post #9

I like what I got to know as "the Japanese way" to count to 144 on my fingers. I´m sure it´s not exclusive to Japan tho. Using thumb as a pointer, I count not on the fingers, but their segments. Each finger is 3 segments, which gives 12 per hand. Now, to boost it, one hand is used to count the dozens from the other hand. Gets me thinking, maybe this is one of the reasons for popularity of 12-based systems in ancient…

From TFA:

> In India, for example, they use the lines between the segments of the fingers to count. This means each digit can represent four numbers and the whole hand can represent 20.

Which is false. This method is indeed "taught" (folk, not academia) in India (and Japan), but it's not the way a majority of natives will actually count in everyday situations.

There are indeed important cultural distinctions re:counting in areas (like tally marks), but articles like these which are plausible yet false (this isn't a shibboleth at all) muddy the waters.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#74

Post by coccinelle »

Talanes wrote: post #35

Every time I've heard some variation of this, the example is always three. I'm more interested in four. Does the pattern follow through? Because I physically can't hold up 3 fingers and my thumb without the pinky going up to, when I do 3, my thumb is holding my pinky down.

I think French people would do 4 with just the pinkie down. At least this specific French person does :). In my case that means the ring finger is not perfectly up, but still enough that it's clear it's raised.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#75

Post by FredPret »

dylan604 wrote: post #69
slim wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s a wonder we humans get anything done

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#76

Post by Leherenn »

dylan604 wrote: post #39
jjgreen wrote: post #3

Drinking outside a bar in Paris (so table service) with my girlfriend, the glasses approach empty so I turn to catch the barman's eye. He flicks the Vs (I am culturally sensitive so not offended, he means "two more pints?"), I return the thumbs-up. He brings one pint.

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…

It's going to depend based on context. In this case, context was unclear and a misunderstanding ensued. I have nothing to back this up except experience, but I think the thumb up is less common is Europe than in the US.

In this specific case, I think the expected answer is to confirm the number by flashing the same sign. A nod would also work, but be potentially less clear/easier to be missed.

The ok gesture would likely have worked as well, since in France they start counting from the thumb. I don't think the fringe group association is well known in France.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#77

Post by FabHK »

folli wrote: post #61
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 Germ…

You could be born in Switzerland to German parents, thus being German (with a funny accent to boot). Germany (at the time) employed jus sanguinis (=your parents matter), not jus soli (=your place of birth matters).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_sanguinis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#79

Post by FabHK »

odiroot wrote: post #18

I really like the Chinese way of counting. As far as I remember you can go as high as 99 on both hands. Still, I'm never able to memorise it, no matter how many times I learn it.

Basically they do the "normal" 1-5 with one hand (well, one of the several normal ways), then have specific gestures for 6-10 with one hand as well. Use both hands and you get to 100, I suppose.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#80

Post by rpmisms »

at_a_remove wrote: post #72
rpmisms wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you had flashed OK hand gesture... thought you were a member of a fringe group? For what it's worth, this hand sign being a hate dogwhistle is pretty much entirely an invention of 4chan.

It is an amazing way to show how paranoid people are over "dogwhistles." Witches are everywhere!

People want to have something to fear or wave pitchforks at. It's simple mob psychology, and it's scary.
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