# Can you snap your fingers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 24, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255 "2010-12-24T04:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/21 "2010-12-24T16:25:54Z")
I can snap my middle and ring fingers on both hands (and my pinkies a little), but apparently the trade-off is I’m incapable of whistling. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/22 "2010-12-24T17:35:38Z")
I can only snap my fingers of my dominant hand. Snapping with my left hand is useless unless I’m specifically trying _not_ to make any noise. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/23 "2010-12-24T17:50:17Z")
Hee. I saw the poll, immediately snapped fingers on both hands simultaneously, and pushed the vote now button. I then got a message telling me that I hadn’t actually voted in the poll. :smack: I can tap my middle, ring, and pinky fingers on both hands (although I have a really sore right pinky, so that _hurts_). I can also make an Orthodox Jewish prayer symbol (aka Vulcan salute) with both hands. Oh, and I can whistle recognizable tunes as well. It’s just too bad that none of these mad skilz are marketable. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/24 "2010-12-24T18:02:28Z")
I can snap with my right (dominant) hand, and do a lame snap with my left (it makes a sound, but is definitely muffled). BUT I can only snap with my ring fingers, not my middle. The middle finger has to stack on top of the ring finger for the snap. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/25 "2010-12-24T20:43:00Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I can also make an Orthodox Jewish prayer symbol (aka Vulcan salute) with both hands. That’s an Orthodox Jewish prayer symbol? Cool! Because I am ambiVulcanish! However, I can only make an audible snap with my non-dominant hand. It’s really the only thing that hand is good at. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/26 "2010-12-24T20:46:22Z")
Thanks OP. Its good to know Im not alone. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/27 "2010-12-24T20:49:55Z")
No option for snapping the fingers of other people? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/28 "2010-12-24T22:30:54Z")
> [@Proudest\_Monkey](#): > > That’s an Orthodox Jewish prayer symbol? Cool! Because I am ambiVulcanish! Yes, Leonard Nimoy wrote in his autobiography that he created it based on a blessing that he had seen in synagogue (which involves doing the salute with both hands). [Here’s a link](http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/v-salute.html) to an article about it (by a rabbi). I don’t have access to video, but if you google “Nimoy vulcan salute,” you can find dozens of links to videos of Nimoy explaining how the salute was created. Live long and prosper! ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/29 "2010-12-25T00:21:04Z")
I can’t snap with either hand. I’ll never be one of the Jets! _sob_ ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/30 "2010-12-25T00:22:59Z")
Double snap, triple snap, cordinated snapping, and super fast snap. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/31 "2010-12-26T05:11:33Z")
You should have asked for people’s age. I’m not the only person who used to be able to, but can’t anymore (snap my fingers, that is). ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/32 "2010-12-26T06:55:49Z")
The only fingers I can’t snap with are my pinkies. No one else has said they can do the index fingers, did they? Am I unique, or did I miss something? ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/33 "2010-12-26T23:19:45Z")
I can do both hands, but it’s a pretty dull-sounding ‘snap’. I didn’t learn to do it until late in my teens however. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/34 "2010-12-27T12:02:11Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > The only fingers I can’t snap with are my pinkies. No one else has said they can do the index fingers, did they? Am I unique, or did I miss something? I’m late to the game here. I can only do it with my index fingers. Attempts with my middle fingers result in a sort of “flop” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/35 "2010-12-27T16:03:56Z")
I’m right-handed and can only snap with my right hand. My technique is different than most, I think. I put my ring finger on my thumb and my middle finger on top of my ring finger. It makes a pretty satisfying snap that way. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/36 "2010-12-27T16:59:42Z")
Right hand only. But I can do this weird finger flip/snap thing that is common in South America. Brazilians do this thing where they pinch their middle finger to their thumb and let their index finger flop loosely. Then, with a certain degree of wrist-flicking, the loose index finger slaps against the middle-finger/thumb combo. When I first met my wife she did this one time, and I immediately duplicated what she had done. She was astonished that a gringo could replicate this action. It was only years later that I mentioned that this exact motion and loose index finger is used to pack a tin of chewing tobacco. In high school I had practiced over and over so I could pack my chew (yuck) just like the cool guys. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/37 "2010-12-27T18:39:59Z")
I wonder if anyone _didn’t_ check before answering? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/38 "2010-12-27T19:04:55Z")
I can snap with both hands, with my index, middle, and ring fingers, but the snaps are muffled on my non-dominant hand. However, upthread someone commented that the “snap” comes from your finger striking your palm… I’ve been snapping various fingers on both hands while reading the thread, and I’m pretty sure the “snap” is the quick friction between the thumb and the finger in question. When I snap, my fingers don’t hit my palm, and only occasionally they hit the base of my thumb, where it joins the pad of my palm. Even when I put the fingers of my other hand along my palm, they’re only barely getting brushed by the snapping finger closing in. As far as Vulcans, I can do the salute with both hands, but while my right hand is easy (I can even do the fingertrick where you do the Vulcan salute and then you hold your ring and middle fingers together and stick out your index finger and pinky - then switch back and forth quickly between the two gestures) - but my left hand is nearly hopeless. I can get the Vulcan gesture if I stare at my hand for a few moments, but it’s sloppy and scraggly, and I can’t do the other thing at all - my pinky is very uncooperative. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/39 "2010-12-27T19:09:50Z")
I can snap all four fingers on both hands. I can also do the Vulcan thing with both (as well as the Mork from Orc greeting - nanoo-nanoo - which is pretty much the same thing as the Vulcan greeting… just different. Somehow.) /wins thread. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255/40 "2010-12-27T20:56:46Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I wonder if anyone _didn’t_ check before answering? 😃 Yo. I been snapping 'em long enough to know what I can and can’t do. So neener. What I did check, however, is where the sound comes from, and for me at least it is the sound of the finger being held against the thumb striking the finger below it. The pinkies make a dull thud, but it is clearly coming from the impact against the palm at the base of the thumb; the ring and middle fingers make a sharper sound clearly coming from the impact against the next finger out. Oddly enough, my index fingers don’t make a sharp snap. Must be weak knuckles or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-snap-your-fingers/565255.md?page=3)