[GAD] I have muttered to myself, "You are all fingers and thumbs" many times over the years. I spurted it out again yesterday and that got me to thinking. Was I this clumsy person who is unable to hold things steadily in my hands? All the time? Sometimes? Just that one [temporary time?]
Is it just a cliche? Term of endearment? Repudiation of self. Is the saying "All fingers and thumbs" how anyone (on occasion of feeling irritated) might cry out when a loss of manual dexterity happens. [Yikes! I dropped a jar of pickles. I am all fingers and thumbs today!]
[Yes] This makes my list of sayings that have little real value, but are sentiment for the moment and fun to cast about. Shorter… the phrase "All fingers and thumbs" has a sister that is simply, "All thumbs." Now, this gets my dander up because it sort of diminishes the value of the thumb. Doesn't it sound like a put-down?
We humans have fingers and thumbs on our hand and that's hardly unusual. But why or why are there both fingers and a thumb on a hand? Why isn't our hand consistent with these sticky-outty thingies?
If you look at an anatomy book, you'll find that our hand has this weird thing called phalanges (plural of phalanx) which is a small appendage [supplementary part]. These are the long bones of the fingers or toes, numbering 14 for each hand or foot: two for the thumb or big toe, and three each for the other four digits. The two phalanges for the thumb allows a wider movement more than any of the hand's four fingers and enables the thumb to perform much more efficiently than the fingers.
Collectively the fingers and thumbs are known as digits on your hand. But as I mentioned, it's the thumb that gives the hand accurate motor skills, because the thumb is said to be opposable to the fingers. This means it is capable of being moved into a position facing the other digits so as to be able to touch the ends of each. This agility gives the hand more dexterity. In other words, the thumb has skill or adroitness to help us use our hands and be more functional than we would be without thumbs. Whew! That's some workhorse we have.
The thumb is also thought to have directly led to the development of tools such as the pencil and hammer.
[Yes] The opposable thumb ensured that important human functions such as writing were possible. How awesome is that?!?
Some people refer to the thumb as both a finger and not a finger. "Finger" can mean any of the four digits besides the thumb or refer to any digit including the thumb. Hmmm...
Many feel that the thumb is not a finger, because you have an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger, and a pinky finger but it is not called the thumb finger. [What?]
Others believe that the thumb is a finger because if the thumb was not a finger, it wouldn't be called "5 fingers" -- Rather it would be called 3 fingers because the pinkie is also not considered a finger. [Hello]
[Pinkie finger] When you hold up your hand and ask, "How many fingers am I holding up?" What do most people say? Do they say 3 or 4? This no-thumb answer means they didn't count the thumb but did include your pinky finger. Therefore that cancels out everything about how many fingers does a hand have, pinkie finger or not. It's still called a finger… isn't it. But why omit the thumb in this count?
Is your thumb not a finger because it doesn't use the word finger by definition. [thumb finger?] By definition, it's a thumb.
It isn't clear when the phrase 'all fingers and thumbs' started, as the phrase doesn't occur in print until the late 19th century. But it's meaning definitely traveled in time and still lives today in our language. The question about respecting the thumb is easy.
That's all for today
