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Finger counting gives away your nationality

bbc.com

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Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#91

Post by Gunax »

nikhilgk wrote: post #31
gumby wrote: post #11

> In India, for example, they use the lines between the segments of the fingers to count. My mother does this, and additionally used to do arithmetic this way. She never really taught us how to do math this way.

> 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. The first part is true, but not the second part. You use the thumb as a pointer to track the lines on the other 4 fingers. So you count up to 16 on each hand. Besides, the thumb has 1 line segment less than the other fingers.

I see only 2 or 3 line segments... also seems difficult to connect thumb to pinky bottom

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#92

Post by felipelemos »

FabHK wrote: post #77
folli wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not at the time, they still use jus sanguinis as most of European countries.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#93

Post by danellis »

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

The first time I saw this, it was a blind person on a train counting stations. Personally, I would need a lot of practice to gain that dexterity.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#94

Post by eurasiantiger »

refenestrator wrote: post #85
anigbrowl wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you'd care to explain why this guy has it emblazoned on his helmet. As I have pointed out many times, simply ignoring people whose ideas you find disagreeable doesn't necessarily make them go away. https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2021/08/08...

Because we're all idiots who got taken in on this by 4chan. The symbol became irresistible to that guy after watching liberals lose their minds at it. If it hadn't bothered the libs, it would have no use to him.

Exactly. The Trump crowd is made up of bullies, trolls, middle class frat boys and other antisocials, while various influencers are feeding them ideas. And horse medicine.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#95

Post by Teever »

reificator wrote: post #64
moralestapia wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/

I was taught how to count in binary in grade 5, is this not a normal thing that kids learn in school?

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#96

Post by remexre »

Teever wrote: post #95
reificator wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/

I was taught how to count in binary in grade 5, is this not a normal thing that kids learn in school?

I think it depends on what curriculum your school's using; non-base-10 math is a punchline in Tom Lehrer's "New Math" [1]. Common Core might be getting rid of it?

As a side note, comparing the complaints in "New Math" (from 1965) to those offered about Common Core is educational :)

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#97

Post by kukx »

not2b wrote: post #87
rpmisms wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They were so successful at marketing the idea that the "ok" sign meant White Power that white nationalists started using it that way and the meaning shifted. And since a lot of the 4chan people are deeply racist they were basically saying "let's take over this symbol". And they succeeded.

As far as I know 4chan people were trolling the media and they succeeded. The result is both funny and scary. The scary part is that random people's lives are harmed because of some innocent photo or gesture. This insanity stems not only from media but also the new culture. Hopefully when going back to normality we will not swing too much to the other side.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#98

Post by grandpa_on_lawn »

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…

Nodding the head is probably the better way.

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#99

Post by dspillett »

skipants wrote: post #47
pedrosorio wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bbc article claims in the UK (and “many countries in Europe”) start with the thumb, but the Inglorious Basterds scene seems to contradict that. The business insider article also claims people start counting with their thumb in Portugal but I start with the index finger and while I’m not sure everyone else does it, I think using the 3 middle fingers to represent the number 3 (like the British spy) is far more comm…

I'm Canadian and I'm assuming it's the same as Brits: We start counting with our thumb but if we represent a number less than 5 without counting then we do not use our thumb. That's why it doesn't contradict what happened in Inglourious Basterds.

English here, and yes counting starts with the thumb but going direct to two or three is just fingers. Middle three for three, not pinky and the next two or the shocker. This isn't universal, but in my experience by far the most common way.

Our spoken and written language is a mess of inconsistencies, why shouldn't our numeracy be!

Re: Finger counting gives away your nationality

#100

Post by jimmygrapes »

eurasiantiger wrote: post #94
refenestrator wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we're all idiots who got taken in on this by 4chan. The symbol became irresistible to that guy after watching liberals lose their minds at it. If it hadn't bothered the libs, it would have no use to him.

Exactly. The Trump crowd is made up of bullies, trolls, middle class frat boys and other antisocials, while various influencers are feeding them ideas. And horse medicine.

> The Trump crowd is made up of bullies, trolls, middle class frat boys and other antisocials

And millions of others who don't fit a single one of those othering statements

> And horse medicine.

Also human medicine for several decades, with perfectly safe dosages and formulations.

Please don't spread misinformation.

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