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Comment by paganel | Hacker News Reader

> instead of using his thumb, index and middle fingers (as Germans do), he uses his ring, middle and index finger.

I'm not German but I also find the "thumb, index and middle" method to be the most natural, curious why people in the Anglo world have a different way for doing this.

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I'm Romanian, so hardly in the anglosphere, but extending the thumb is not natural for me. I would always start with the index finger for 1, then continue with the long finger, ring finger, and pinky for 2, 3, 4, and extend the thumb only for 5. Sticking out just the thumb for 1 would look like an OK kind of sign to me, not at all as 1.

I guess this is all just culturally acquired, no deep reasons necessarily. Still, as someone else was pointing out, sticking out all fingers except the pinky for the "German" 4 seems hard to do.

I find that if you lead with the thumb-as-1 - then I can't use my little finger held down for 4.

I naturally use my thumb to hold down the other fingers leading with index-as-1.

I'm not sure what the thumb-as-1 does for 4 though.

Since the thumb is the first digit on the hand (depending on the way you go) I can see it being a logical choice - but not necessarily the most convenient once you get to 4.

I just tested different ways of displaying numbers with fingers and the most comfortable way is to start with the pinky finger and then go in order from there. But I guess the downside to that is a raised pinky isn't as clear as a raised index finger or thumb due to it being so short.

I feel like it's important whether you're tallying things, or presenting a quantity by hand gestures, for example to a bartender. Then 1 is a single index finger raised, with the thumb and other fingers pinched together. 2 the same, but also long finger. For 3, I would use the ring finger, and similarly for 4, using the pinky.

However, if I was tallying, I'd do thumb, index, long, ring, pinky. I have a Chinese colleague, and he always goes pinky, ring, long, thumb.

If I count things, I tend to extend the thumb first, then the index finger, then the long finger, etc. This I think naturally leads you to make 3 by extending the thumb, index and long finger.

That's OK, but can you then extend the ring finger but not the pinky to make a 4? For me it's almost impossible.

Fairly easily yeah, on either hand

For that reason I always count as \.... \\... \\|.. .\|// \\|//, if that makes any sense to you.

I find it physically difficult to fully extend my middle finger while my ring finger is curled up. If I put my thumb on it I have no issues, but otherwise it feels uncomfortable.

>I find it physically difficult to fully extend my middle finger while my ring finger is curled up.

Definitely sounds like a cultural thing. In Australia, this is an extremely common gesture. :^)

It works fine if my thumb even taps my ring finger, but without it the ring finger doesn't like staying down.

I taught myself to count from the pinky, because each of the gestures for 1-5 is quite natural: the thumb retains the bent fingers and releases them one by one.

It's, er, culturally variant, but not in a way that raises eyebrows.

Obligatory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznppzkyqa0&t=97s

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