# Did you suck your thumb? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762 "2004-12-14T09:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Of\_Cabbages\_and\_Kings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/49beb7/32.png) [@Of\_Cabbages\_and\_Kings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Of_Cabbages_and_Kings)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/21 "2004-12-15T20:35:24Z")
I sucked my thumb until I was ten, and then chewed on my nails until I was seventeen, and then I promptly took up smoking. Ah, the joy of Oral Fixations. ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/22 "2004-12-15T21:07:01Z")
Not the thumb. The right ring finger. My parents said I had to make do with whatever was comfortable because I had a bilateral cleft lip – one weird anatomy, I tell you. When exhausted I pop that finger into my mouth and go to sleep immediately. Sad habit at 35. I’m a secret smoker. Socially, one or two cigarettes, a couple of times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/23 "2004-12-15T23:16:13Z")
Not the thumb. My left index and middle fingers kind of upside down. I’m fifteen and still do it. It has screwed up my teeth and my fingers too. I have a gap in between my front two teeth and my left index finger can go probably a good 45 degrees farther back than my right index finger. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/24 "2004-12-16T00:22:44Z")
I sucked my index and middle finger, can’t remember which hand. Stopped in the early grades (first? second?), can’t remember how. (Mom had been on my case to stop earlier, but I couldn’t/wouldn’t.) Once I stopped, I forgot which hand it had been and never again understood why it had been such a comfort. I’ve never smoked. Used to bite my nails and chew pens, but I’ve broken myself of those habits. GT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762.md?page=1)