# Stop licking your fingers! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 24, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840 "2004-02-24T05:35:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/61 "2004-02-26T08:53:10Z")
Why the hell would anybody lick their fingers anyway? Seems to me it would have the potential to damage the paper. I use the same page-turning technique as **BuckleberryFerry** , no matter what the dangers of communicable disease are. I heard somewhere that the mouth is the filthiest part of the body. :eek: That’s kinda hard to believe though - it implies that taking a bite out of a chip and then dipping it a second time is somehow worse than, say, sticking it up one’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/62 "2004-02-26T10:40:05Z")
The idea of someone spitting on my pages before giving it to me makes me gag a little inside. But see, I have mild hand-related OCD. I can’t go for more than an hour between washing my hands. I hate the way they feel dirty. Once, my water was out for about 3 hours, and I almost started gagging because of the way my hands felt. I’d actually take things out of the freezer, wait for condensation, and rub the water on my hands. I am strange. But that might be due to the fact that I chew on all the loose skin around my nails. That being said. The idea of me licking my finger before I turn every page disgusts me. I could never do that. I’ve worked at B&N - people read books there, and could be lickers. I borrow books from the library - I’m sure several people have been lickers. Money? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. (we REALLY need a pukey smiley face) As it stands, I may be getting my finger-grease all over everything, butthat’s between my books and my fingers. Lickers, however, are licking crap off their fingers every time they turn the page. From lord knows how many sources. Imagine the grossest finger-licker you can reading the book before you get it. I have to stop now, I’m too close to gagging. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/63 "2004-02-26T13:42:26Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Hold the phone there, Bub. Why don’t _you_ show _us_ your evidence that diseases can _only_ be transmitted through non-porous materials. I’ve never heard _that_ one before. I love it when people try to turn around arguments. You wanna claim it’s unsanitary, make your case. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/64 "2004-02-27T02:24:27Z")
> [@Silver Serpentine](#): > > But see, I have mild hand-related OCD. Hehe. Me too. 'Cause germs lead to hand-washing. And the cold weather doesn’t help either. It’s 30 degrees outside right now and my hands are bleeding. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/65 "2004-02-27T03:46:39Z")
> [@](#): > > **Cityboy916** : I heard somewhere that the mouth is the filthiest part of the body. That’s kinda hard to believe though - it implies that taking a bite out of a chip and then dipping it a second time is somehow worse than, say, sticking it up one’s ass. Depends on the yardstick. If you put a tiny bit of saliva on a sterile medium in a petri-dish, it’s a safe bet that the dish will be totally colonized with a variety of microbiological life-forms much faster than if you put the same amount of fecal matter in the same place. So in that sense, it _is_ your mouth _is_ filthier than your ass. Of course, chances are that none of the nasties in your average mouth are as devastating as _e coli_, (which is a sure bet with ass-debris) is when introduced to the wrong end of the GI system, so you might be better off taking your chances with the spit, and just hope that the double-dipper doesn’t have mononucleosis, hepatitis, or something like that. It’s a numbers game. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/66 "2004-02-27T04:56:44Z")
Still, I am so fascinated my the anti-finger licking folks. Do you all ever french kiss? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/67 "2004-02-27T05:19:30Z")
Well, sure, but not with the random strangers and the slobs we have to work with. As Emo Phillips observed, love is just two people who’ve built up an immunity to each other’s microbes. Of course, if Emo’s not enough of an authority for ya, there’s always [this guy](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html): > [@](#): > > Monogamous couples, whether gay or straight, soon achieve “homeostasis”–they’ve swapped germs, didn’t come down with anything, and thereafter coexist in a state of microbial equilibrium. That’s not to say they’re germfree; they may simply be “asymptomatic carriers” of some bug that doesn’t make them sick but that might lay low an outsider. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/68 "2004-02-27T08:00:24Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > I love it when people try to turn around arguments. > Daniel Then why’d you do it? YOU are making the claim that diseases are only transmitted through non-porous surfaces, and not through porous surfaces. So you make the claim and then we have to prove you wrong, eh? Whatever… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/69 "2004-02-27T08:19:13Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Still, I am so fascinated my the anti-finger licking folks. > > Do you all ever french kiss? Yes, but only people who I actually like and know. However, my gross-out is not the idea that I’ll get their spit on me, it’s this: > [@Silver Serpentine](#): > > Lickers, however, are licking crap off their fingers every time they turn the page. From lord knows how many sources. It revolts me the way it would revolt me to see someone snacking on a dog turd, albeit to a lesser degree. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/70 "2004-02-27T08:27:17Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > So you make the claim and then we have to prove you wrong, eh? Whatever… Gee, I’ve heard that somewhere before… 😉 Anyway, isn’t it silly to debate the transmissivity of diseases over a topic as mundane as people who lick their fingers? Rhesus monkey on a pogo stick! The OP seems to think licking is gross. If you disagree, fine. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/71 "2004-02-27T14:29:10Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Then why’d you do it? YOU are making the claim that diseases are only transmitted through non-porous surfaces, and not through porous surfaces. So you make the claim and then we have to prove you wrong, eh? Whatever… My claim is that I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick through anything remotely like this, and I doubt anyone ever has. The porous/nonporous I’m happy to abandon, if it’s that important to you. Now, can you point to an occasion where anyone has ever gotten sick through germs someone left on a piece of paper after licking their fingers and touching the page? Or even something remotely like this? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/72 "2004-02-29T05:32:34Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Maybe it has something to do with having dry skin – I literally can’t muster up enough friction to turn pages sometimes unless I lick my finger first. Sorry. > > Daniel Yup, yup yup. I don’t do it with books, mine OR other people’s, but I work in an office and after a full day of filing, printing reports, compiling different paperwork, my hands are so dry that I can NOT turn pages without the friction. The pages I have to do this to are ones that I’m sorting and collating, and they’re fresh off the printer or copier though. Can’t use lotion, it would leave a mark, and these are books that are going to meetings, and or “important” people. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840/73 "2004-02-29T09:28:11Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > My claim is that I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick through anything remotely like this, and I doubt anyone ever has. The porous/nonporous I’m happy to abandon, if it’s that important to you. Now, can you point to an occasion where anyone has ever gotten sick through germs someone left on a piece of paper after licking their fingers and touching the page? Or even something remotely like this? > > Daniel I’ve gotten colds from people at work lots of times. We can’t _see germs_, so when you catch a cold, you don’t know _exactly_ where it came from. You can catch them from airborne particles or from touching surfaces that the sick person touched. Isn’t that why doctors tell you to wash your hands frequently? It stands to reason that if a sick person _constantly licks his fingers_ and then touches things, you are going to have a higher chance of contracting his illness. Why is that not logical? How the hell would I be able to give an example of someone getting sick by touching paper? I can’t give an example of _any_ mode of transmission, because unless I took samples from every surface in the room and did a laboratory workup on them, I have no way of knowing how they contracted the illness. Does that mean nobody _ever_ gets sick? Of course not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-licking-your-fingers/230840.md?page=3)