Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Grant, your link to the article doesn't work. Get your eight fingers and two thumbs working to fix it!

There are some funny and odd responses on that survey, as one would expect! The dictionaries I use seem to cop-out a bit on the issue. For example: “One of the five digits of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.” Especially?

Interestingly, in France, when counting with fingers, they begin with the thumb for number one, rather than the index finger as we Americans do. But that doesn't really point the evidence one way or the other, so to speak. It's hard to put a finger on an answer that everyone would give a thumbs up to.

That's why I wrote “seem to cop-out a bit.” I agree with you that it's a matter of usage, but I expect a good dictionary to provide some guidelines for usage rather than use a vague term like especially.

My point is that especially is a poor choice of words to describe the usage issue, and the definition actually loses clarity. It's like telling someone that yes, thumbs are fingers, but not especially so. Is my dictionary trying to tell me that some people don't think of thumbs as fingers, or is it stating a preferred usage? There is a difference between matters of usage and matters of preference. If it is correct either way - with 8 or 10 digits - then the dictionary should not use a word like especially which implies a preference. I suppose that what the dictionary is trying to convey by using especially is that in ALL cases the non-thumb digits are fingers, but as you point out, in MOST cases, thumbs are fingers, too.

My preferred usage is to consider all the digits of the hand as fingers. We say babies are born with ten fingers and ten toes. In school kids count to ten and do basic math on ten fingers. When we play finger games we say, “How many fingers am I holding up?” We have five and ten finger piano music. Each one of our digits has a name: Thumb, index, middle, ring, and baby, little, or pinky, or a number, one through five.

Maybe someone can help me remember any instances in common discourse in which we say we have eight fingers rather than ten? Arguments about whether thumbs are fingers do not count as common discourse! And no, there are no eight finger piano music books. 🙂

Appropriately enough, the number I had to type to post this message was 10!