Weird Old Names For Fingers

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SOURCES & FURTHER READING

[NameExplain]

Let me know a fun nickname you came up with for a finger or a toe!

[pedromenchik]

Fun fact: In Portuguese there is no concept of toes being a separate thing, they are just literally called “fingers of the foot”

[amandajones]

Okay, the most common nickname I've heard for toes is 'piggies'. Like when a mom says the 'this little piggy went to market...' rhyme while counting on their child's toes!

[elinakangas]

In Finnish finger between the little finger and middle finger is still called "nameless".

[allanrichardson]

I would suggest that the ring finger be named the SLOWX finger, because on a standard QWERTY typewriter, the left ring finger hits the W, S, and X keys, while the right hits the O and L keys.

Combining and anagramming, SLOWX!

[samwill]

I call mine Dave, Other Dave, Lord Farnsworth Hornswoggle III, Princess Peach and Chicago Joe

[Olafje]

In Dutch, the name for the index finger is "wijsvinger", with "wijs" coming from the infinitive "wijzen (naar)", meaning "to point (at)".

[Jan_Koopman]

I always knew 'pink' and 'pinky' were etymologically related. Interesting to learn 'pinky' actually comes directly from 'pink'.
According to my etymological dictionary, the oldest record of the word 'pink' is from June 1567, but its origin is uncertain. It might come from the Old English 'pinca' ('point'), which would have it originally mean 'pointy object' and make it also related to 'pen' and 'pick' (as in 'pickaxe').

[SilsioMansio]

When you suddenly started to see the video and you saw the middle finger 💀

[doyouguysnothavephones]

I never thought I’d get flipped off by Name Explain

[billthomas]

On the Nameless Finger: I was always taught that the ring finger is the 4th digit on the left hand, where you put the engagement/wedding/eternity ring, & the corresponding digit on the right hand was the nameless finger, as it had no such function.

[HalfEye]

In Germany, the big toe is often called "großer Onkel" which translates to English as "big uncle".

[thomasloos]

I've had the (completely baseless, purely conjectured) theory that the special associations with the ring finger, like health, the heart, or, in some cultures, a magical association came specifically because of its initial namelessness. As you pointed out, all the other fingers have something obviously identifiable about them, whereas for that finger, humans had to come up with something original.

[blakdeth]

In America we just say "flipping the bird". We don't pluralize the bird.

[metsfan]

In the 1920s, legendary baseball player (and even more legendary speaker...) Casey Stengal was being harrassed by fans, when playing at the opposition stadium. Prior to his turn at bat, he caught a pigeon and walked out to his place holding his uniform cap against his torso. Once in place to bat he turned his cap around, literally "flipping the bird" to the crowd.

There are many wonderful Stengalisms ("pair up in threes") but this one needed no spoken words at

[pedromenchik]

In Portuguese fingers have very weird nicknames, including: cake poker, lice killer, farher-of-all, tiny, and neighbor

[antoniosoul]

When I was a toddler my Italian mom would do a game similar to This Little Piggy. The names of the fingers, starting from the pinky translate to - the little one, the one with the ring, the longest of all, the plate licker and the lice killer.

[Mixmum]

Having played guitar my entire life, I view my hand as primarily being a thumb, the fore and the little. The two mids are support fingers, especially the middle, since they share a tendon.

[marcosokajimajr.]

In Portuguese hte names are somewhat similar, but still different!

Mindinho ("pinky", "little one"), Seu Vizinho ("neighbor"), Pai-de-todos ("father of all"), Fura-bolos ("cake piercer") e Mata-piolhos ("lice killer")

[aaaaaaaaaaaaa-bw]

I thought people used their index finger for picking their ear

And generally anything that needs only one finger outside of wedding rings.