Practical or disgusting?
Does it make a difference if it’s something you are about to hand to the other person? If no one is watching?
Having been on the receiving end of entirely too many dollar bills separated by a liberally licked thumb, I’m going with disgusting.
Utterly distasteful. I have a co-worker who does this all the time (she has so many annoying habits I’m thinking about starting a thread)and I really want to point out how nasty I find it but she’s a very kind person so I just bight my tongue.
I don’t mind with magazines, but with money??? You never know whose g-string it was tucked into.
Keep biting.
There are times when I absolutely cannot get any grip on a piece of paper, and need to lick my fingers. I honestly don’t see how it’s any more disgusting than actually touching the pages.
Grosses me out. I can’t think of any other objects with which it’s socially acceptable to lick and then hand them to someone.
slurrrrp Here’s the remote, honey!
licksmackomnomnom Found your cell phone!
Ugh.
I lick every bit of money I come into contact with. Once your DNA is on something, it’s yours.
Well I supposed if it’s all your own paper and no one else will be handling it then knock yourself out. But when she’s sorting through a bunch of papers, say stuff that came off the copier, and touching every damned page with her spit covered finger it makes my skin crawl. If I can’t get my stuff before she puts her slimy hands on it, I’ll reprint it.
What is wrong with peoples’ fingers that they have to wet them? My coworkers ALL use little sponges with water when dealing with money (all the time, as this is retail.) - I don’t get it. I have never, not one time ever, needed to wet my fingers to turn a page or separate bills. No, I’m not Spider-Man.
Joe
They could at least try breathing on their fingers up close. It gets some water vapor on one’s fingers to provide a better grip, without actually getting saliva all over everything.
Do they carry those sponges around with them wherever they go?
You’d think the natural oils from a person’s fingers tips would provide sufficient grippage. Obviously if you’re sorting through tons of paper over a long period of time they’ll dry out but that’s what those rubber finger condom thingies or a damp sponge are for.
I really, really, really hate this. To the point of it being a pet peeve that I know I’m being irrational about.
I never need to do it - why do other people? And for some people it is so, so obviously just an unconcious habit - they’ve long since stopped noticing whether they actually have a perceived need to do it.
Most hated: bar staff reading a newspaper then going on to serve. Ick.
This reminds me of the time I was working with a doctor who often did this. I once watched him go from using his hands to examine a patient’s feet to (without washing his hands) then licking his fingers to flip through a medical chart. It gave me the willies to watch it. I really don’t think the practice is necessary, and it does pose some risk of making yourself sick if you have any germs on your hands or whatever you’re handling.
Almost all the admins I’ve worked with have used those “finger condoms” and they work very well. I’ve never needed them but they’re pretty cheap.
It killed a guy in The Name of the Rose. I wasn’t sad.
No, they have little cups at work with sponges in them, and they wet the sponge at the beginning of their shift.
I mean, yes, but you have to guess where they keep the sponge 
Joe
I’m with wheresgeorge. 48 years in, thru law school, 2 decades as a lawyer, and an avid reader, and I don’t believe I have EVER felt the need to lick my finger to turn a page.
My wife does it occasionally, and I always wonder why. It doesn’t disgust me, but I always think it sort of a habit rather than a real need.
I used to have a little pot of pink waxy goo that was nice. Where I work now it just doesn’t come up that often, so I do occcasionally lick a fingertip. Not a big slobbery lick tho, just minimal. If I had a finger condom in my drawer it would take me waaay longer to fish it out of my drawer that it does to ‘moisten’ a finger. No one else is normally handling the pages I’m sliming 
My SO does this whenever reading a magazine or newspaper.
Drives me nuts.
He has been doing it since long before I met him 28 years ago.
I have sort of given up hope he will stop doing it.
Then again, if that is the worst habit someone has, well…