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Kseniia
How many fingers are there?
Hello everyone!
I have a really stupid question, but I can't get it out of my head. Would appreciate your help.
There's a song, "Third finger, left hand" by Martha Reeves and The Vandellas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nQKvcDiLCM
My question is about these lines:
"'Cause third finger, left hand
That's where he placed the wedding band"As far as I know, in Western cultures, a wedding ring is placed on the finger between the middle finger and the little finger (I know it actually depends on people's religion, but in general) - which is why this finger is called "the ring finger".* However... whichever way I look at my hand, it's never "the third finger" for me. So, my question is: is it really common in Anglophone countries to call the ring finger the third one, ignoring the thumb? Or did they actually mean the middle finger in the song? Or am I nit-picking and this is one of the "songs are not supposed to be 100% correct" situations?
*By the way, it's "the nameless finger" and "the forth finger" in Russian - hence my puzzlement.
Thank you!
Mar 5, 2018 12:58 PM
Answers · 10
2
Hold your hand out, count index finger as 1, middle finger as 2 and ring finger as 3 and the pinkie (smallest) as 4.
Third finger is ring finger.
March 5, 2018
1
It's intersting that Russian speakers count with the thumb first.
Generally, native English speakers count fingers first, starting with the index finger, then the thumb last; therefore the fingers are: #1) index finger, #2) middle finger, #3) ring finger, #4) pinky finger, and #5) thumb.
March 5, 2018
@Jerry, a-ha, got it now, thanks again!
March 6, 2018
So... there are 8 fingers AND 2 thumbs, aren't there? o_O Come to think of it, maybe I wasn't fully ready for this information. I would really like to use that memory eraser from "Men in Black" now.. The thumb is not considered a finger...!
Anyway, thanks again, Rick!
March 5, 2018
Most English speakers don't consider the thumb a finger! The thumb is one of five digits on the hand, but there are only 4 fingers.
March 5, 2018
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Kseniia
Language Skills
English, Gaelic (Irish), Russian
Learning Language
English, Gaelic (Irish)
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