# Weird question on "fingers"



## Ricky Jalapeno (Jan 1, 2011)

Well. I guess I should explain why I want to know this sorta thing before I ask. You see in the story I'm working on. There is a guy. With 9 fingers. 5 on one. 4 on the other. So I started thinking. What if this doesn't make sense. Like, medically. I've already tried googling this. And I couldn't find anything. So here's the question. Well...questions.

_How many fingers do we ABSOLUTELY need on our hands?_
_Is there a finger that we can lose and not suffer any consequences?_


----------



## Olly Buckle (Jan 1, 2011)

I once knew someone who was born without thumbs, a very clever plastic surgeon had taken his ring finger and grafted it on the side of his hand so it opposed, it was almost un-noticeable until you realised his thumb had three sections.


----------



## PSFoster (Jan 1, 2011)

Actually, you could lose any finger and still manage.  You absolutely need at least one finger and thumb on a hand, but 2 would be more convenient.  Then again, there are people missing hands altogether.

You adapt to what you have.


----------



## Sam (Jan 2, 2011)

Olly Buckle said:


> I once knew someone who was born without thumbs, a very clever plastic surgeon had taken his ring finger and grafted it on the side of his hand so it opposed, it was almost un-noticeable until you realised his thumb had three sections.



I remember that. They asked a question "How many fingers does Homer Simpson have?" to a hundred people on the street. 90% of those surveyed answered "five". They were shocked to discover that cartoon characters only have three fingers and a thumb. You tend not to notice.


----------



## The Backward OX (Jan 4, 2011)

Dunno about losing a finger, but I’ve heard that in the Borlin Valley, near Bantry, Co Cork, the natives have six fingers on each hand.


----------



## seigfried007 (Jan 4, 2011)

There are also people born without arms altogether who still cook their own food, wash dishes, knit, _drive_. They do almost everything with their toes. 

I know a carpenter who has lost at least three-and-a-half fingers. Father of seven and still working.


----------



## excuseme (Jan 4, 2011)

The pinky finger would probably be the most practical to lose, since it's smallest and sometimes even in the way. I heard talks about that people who use their pinky finger little, like people writing much on computers (my line of relatives will be doomed!), will probably lose that finger in the natural evolution in the future. 

My grandfather hurt his hand in a saw and had to remove two fingers. He was not able to use this hand in any good way though, since the nerves have probably been damaged and he tended to shake on this hand. But if you are born without a couple of fingers, there shouldn't be that kind of problem. But like people said before me: there are people without arms that manage fine anyway. There is always another way to manage the situation if you're missing something others have, especially if you're born with the defect and learnt to manage in a different way from the beginning. c:


----------



## Richard.E.Craig (Jan 19, 2011)

The ring finger of the left hand is the best finger to lose for two reasons. Reason number one, the only people that actually use this finger in a dexterous way are musicians ! The second reason is that you will have an excuse for not wearing your wedding ring 
If you were unfortunate and lost fingers, the most essential fingers to retain are the forefinger and thumb.


----------



## riverdog (Feb 2, 2011)

Jerry Garcia only had 9 fingers.


----------



## WolfieReveles (Feb 23, 2011)

Except fore some specific activities, like playing the violin and so on, you don't need more than two fingers plus a thumb to function normally. it's enough to grab and balance what you're holding. try getting through the day without the pinkie and ring finger, I assure you it won't be too hard, but use only thumb and index and you'll be dropping stuff all day. Think of what you're holding several things in one hand, how many fingers you use for each object.


----------



## Ditch (Feb 23, 2011)

Actually, in a lot of cases, one finger is all that you need, it can say so much.

I did see a documentary about a woman who was born without thumbs. A plastic surgeon took her big toes and grafted them on, she was actually knitting after the surgery.

However, a search reveals...

*Six fingers or toes:*  The presence of an extra sixth finger or toe, a very common congenital malformation (birth defect).  
 This condition is called hexadactyly. The word hexadactyly literally  means six digits. In medical usage, hexadactyly does not specify whether  the six digits are fingers or toes (although in Greek "dactylos" is  without equivocation a finger).  
 The 6th digit can be located in three different locations: on either  side of the extremity or somewhere in between. With the hand for  example, the extra finger can be out beyond the little finger (which is  called ulnar hexadactyly) or out beyond the thumb (radial hexadactyly)  or, finally, between two of the normally expected fingers (intercalary  hexadactyly). 



Here's a link... Six fingers or toes definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms


----------



## garza (Feb 23, 2011)

excuseme - How can you type and not use the pinky fingers on both hands? There, that question mark was punched in with my right pinky. How would you handle a shift? To make the question mark, indeed, took both pinkies - my left one to shift and my right one to hit the key. 

I have a friend named Ralph who lost the three middle fingers of his left hand when he was 17. He was working in a boot factory and got his hand caught in a stitching machine. At the time he was engaged to be married, but her family broke up the engagement saying a cripple would never be able to make a living. Here is a story about Ralph.

Edit - I don't know who that old man is in the picture. Ralph's just a young fellow with a lot of hair and no wrinkles.


----------



## The Backward OX (Feb 23, 2011)

I'm still waiting for an erotica-based response to the first of the OP's questions. Guess I'm the only one around here with a filthy mind.


----------



## WolfieReveles (Feb 23, 2011)

The Backward OX said:


> I'm still waiting for an erotica-based response to the first of the OP's questions. Guess I'm the only one around here with a filthy mind.


 
I could give a few examples but it's hard to explain why all 5 fingers are needed unless I go int very explicit detail... and I don't think this is the correct forum, or at least not the correct thread for that.


----------



## excuseme (Feb 24, 2011)

garza said:


> excuseme - How can you type and not use the pinky fingers on both hands? There, that question mark was punched in with my right pinky. How would you handle a shift? To make the question mark, indeed, took both pinkies - my left one to shift and my right one to hit the key.



I actually only write with my index finger, middle finger and my thumb. Once in a week I even stretch myself to use the ring finger. When I go for a question mark or a exclamation mark, I simply use both my index fingers. This is nothing to recommend though, since it puts more pressure on those fingers (I tend to tense those fingers when I write). As a side fact I also use caps lock to make a capital letter. After ten years on a computer I'm simply too used to this to bother to change the mistake.

I have a slight hate for my pinkies, since I find them being in the way more often than not. I paint a lot, and when I do this on the computer, I tend to mash my pinkies against the drawing tablet for a couple of hours. Then they simply hurt for the rest of the day. I think I need to look over my not so ergonomic ways of work.


----------



## Sam (Feb 24, 2011)

I learned to type the old-fashioned way. Fingers of left hand on A, S, D, and the F key; fingers of right hand on J, K, L, and the semi-colon key; thumbs on the space bar. Every finger is used. My pinkies are often used as much, if not more, than the rest of my fingers. 

Then again, everyone has their own way of typing.


----------



## garza (Feb 24, 2011)

That's the only way I've ever known. When I brought my Model Five home from the pawn shop when I was, what, ten? 11? My sister started drilling me right away on a s d f ; l k j. She was seven years older and had taken typing in high school. She taught me using the same system the teacher had used to teach her and in a short time I was typing.


----------



## Hawke (Feb 24, 2011)

It's called 'pecking,' isn't it? I know a few writers who do that (typing using only their pointer fingers). 

I also know two women who were born with an extra thumb each, and one man who lost his pinky, ring and middle fingers in a childhood lawnmower accident. The only problem the women had were as children, with other children (kids can be so cruel). The way the man does things one wouldn't know he lost anything unless you looked at his hand.


----------

