# Finger Counting **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280 "2005-04-14T13:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/1 "2005-04-14T13:36:10Z")
Just a thought: if you ever count things off using your fingers, with which finger do you start? I always use the thumb for one, index finger for two and so on. But others start with the little finger (“pinkie”), then the ring finger etc. Now I personally find the sight of someone doing the latter (especially if he is male) to be quite strange. But maybe that’s because I am a thumb man. Am I in the majority or the minority, or are there equal numbers of Dopers who do each? Thanks in advance for your attention. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/2 "2005-04-14T13:43:08Z")
Left hand index finger for 1 thru to pinky as 4, LH thumb for 5 if needing to continue, right hand thumb for 6, RH index finger for 7 unless stopping at 6, then the originally used RH thumb as 6 is switched to RH index finger There can be only one right way, MINE! Everything else is an abomination. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/3 "2005-04-14T13:44:33Z")
I start with index. I suppose this leaves me out of both the majority and the minority. I guess this leaves me with no choice but to secede. Index counters, unite! ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/4 "2005-04-14T13:45:22Z")
Blimey, I’m on my own already! Am I that much of a freak? ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/5 "2005-04-14T14:10:12Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Left hand index finger for 1 thru to pinky as 4, LH thumb for 5 > > if needing to continue, right hand thumb for 6, RH index finger for 7 unless stopping at 6, then the originally used RH thumb as 6 is switched to RH index finger > > There can be only one right way, MINE! Everything else is an abomination. Why are you copying me?!? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/6 "2005-04-14T14:17:18Z")
I used to count index through pinky (1-4) with the thumb being 5. A few years ago I taught myself to count in binary. Now I start with my thumb as I find it easier to toggle. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/7 "2005-04-14T14:26:40Z")
I start with LH index, then the other fingers, then the thumb. I was raised in the US Midwest. In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, all the natives I saw counting started with their thumb. One of the first times I saw this was when I bought at ticket for a museum. The woman stuck her thumb in the air. I was thinking “What’s so great about buying a ticket? Isn’t that what everyone does when they walk up to this booth?” Of course I quickly realized she was asking me if I wanted only one ticket. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/8 "2005-04-14T14:38:49Z")
I still use [Chisanbop](http://www.megalink.net/~jones/chisanbop.html) which I learned as a kid in the mid to late 70’s. It’s weird but effective - you can actually do some hefty arithmetic with it. Another [link](http://klingon.cs.iupui.edu/~aharris/chis/chis.html). ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/9 "2005-04-14T14:46:41Z")
I learned this in school too. Still use it at times. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/10 "2005-04-14T16:58:06Z")
How about this - I start with my fingers curled down like a fist and straighten each one as I ‘count’ it, the thumb is number one BTW, - however Japanese people I’ve spent time with ‘count down’, they start with their fingers straight and curl them down towards the palm as they count. Is it just a Japanese thing ? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/11 "2005-04-14T16:59:22Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > How about this - I start with my fingers curled down like a fist and straighten each one as I ‘count’ it, the thumb is number one BTW… This is how I do it too. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/12 "2005-04-14T20:21:55Z")
Having a go at the little-finger-first method, I physically cannot get my ring finger in line with the little finger without the aid of the other hand. It looks all skew-whiff. Maybe that’s why I personally start with the thumb? Maybe it’s a national or cultural thing? > [@zagloba](#): > > In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, all the natives I saw counting started with their thumb… Well, I am neither Czech, Slovak nor Pole - in fact, I’m 100% Irish. Any Irish Dopers care to reveal their method? A question for the index-finger-firsters: what do you do when you get to 5? Come back to the thumb?? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/13 "2005-04-14T20:29:37Z")
This seems to be a poll, and is not directly related to arts or entertainment. Hence, it’s being moved to a more appropriate forum. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/14 "2005-04-14T22:06:03Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Having a go at the little-finger-first method, I physically cannot get my ring finger in line with the little finger without the aid of the other hand. It looks all skew-whiff. Maybe that’s why I personally start with the thumb? > > Maybe it’s a national or cultural thing? Ah, this clear things up for me a little. People answers will depend on if they’re interpreting your question as counting off using your fingers or counting with their fingers. I thought you meant **off** (or on, heh) one’s fingers at first. To me counting off something using my fingers involves keeping the hand I’m counting on open and quickly touching the fingers in sucession with a finger of the other hand - it’s an easy way to visualize how many months have passed since X & Y for example. Since I’m a lefty I start with my right pinky, touching each finger with the index finger of my left hand. What you’re talking about - I think - would involve counting with one’s fingers, and releasing them one by one from a fist. In that case I usually use my left hand index to pinky, thumb last. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/15 "2005-04-15T00:16:42Z")
I grew up going to a Catholic school. The nuns would whack our fingers with a ruler if we used them _at all_ to count. They would whack them so hard, that sometimes the red welt would last for the entire day. So, to this day, I don’t use my fingers to count. Sad! Very, very sad. I did ask my daughter how she does it (I wouldn’t _think_ of ever whacking her hands if she used her fingers to count!), and she says she starts with her pointer finger, then middle, ring, pinkie, and the thumb last. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/16 "2005-04-15T09:54:12Z")
**elfkin477** - I didn’t think there was any difference! But what I originally envisaged was someone gesturing when speaking about a list of things. For example, I might be opining that whoever is chosen as the new Pope must be (1) fat (2) Italian (3) over the age of 77 (4) etc etc and at the same time using my fingers for emphasis. I suppose this is “counting off”. Does whether one is right- or left-handed make any difference, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/17 "2005-04-15T12:50:55Z")
> [@picker](#): > > I still use [Chisanbop](http://www.megalink.net/~jones/chisanbop.html) which I learned as a kid in the mid to late 70’s. It’s weird but effective - you can actually do some hefty arithmetic with it. > > Another [link](http://klingon.cs.iupui.edu/~aharris/chis/chis.html). Hey, me too! I never knew it had a name, though, or I had long since forgotten it. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/18 "2005-04-15T12:56:32Z")
If I’m counting more than a few items, I use binary: I count the RH thumb as one, RH index finger as two, thumb and index as three, middle finger as four, and so on up to the entire right hand as 31. Then the LH pinky is 32, and the LH thumb is 512 (if I need to count that high). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/19 "2005-04-15T13:44:10Z")
I have never counted fingers. I use the little breaks between each joint: 15 per hand, so I can count all the way to 30 if I need to without taking my shoes off. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280/20 "2005-04-15T13:58:24Z")
Anyone else do binary? It generally flops, but it does mean you can count up to a thousand. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finger-counting/299280.md?page=2)