Weird Old Names For Fingers 

Let me know a fun nickname you came up with for a finger or a toe!

Fun fact: In Portuguese there is no concept of toes being a separate thing, they are just literally called “fingers of the foot”

When you suddenly started to see the video and you saw the middle finger 💀

Okay, the most common nickname I've heard for toes is 'piggies'. Like when a mom says the 'this little piggy went to market...' rhyme while counting on their child's toes!

In Finnish finger between the little finger and middle finger is still called "nameless".

I call mine Dave, Other Dave, Lord Farnsworth Hornswoggle III, Princess Peach and Chicago Joe

I never thought I’d get flipped off by Name Explain

In America we just say "flipping the bird". We don't pluralize the bird.

In Dutch, the name for the index finger is "wijsvinger", with "wijs" coming from the infinitive "wijzen (naar)", meaning "to point (at)".

Nice Smash Mouth reference

In Germany, the big toe is often called "großer Onkel" which translates to English as "big uncle".

I always knew 'pink' and 'pinky' were etymologically related. Interesting to learn 'pinky' actually comes directly from 'pink'. According to my etymological dictionary, the oldest record of the word 'pink' is from June 1567, but its origin is uncertain. It might come from the Old English 'pinca' ('point'), which would have it originally mean 'pointy object' and make it also related to 'pen' and 'pick' (as in 'pickaxe').

On the Nameless Finger: I was always taught that the ring finger is the 4th digit on the left hand, where you put the engagement/wedding/eternity ring, & the corresponding digit on the right hand was the nameless finger, as it had no such function.

In Portuguese fingers have very weird nicknames, including: cake poker, lice killer, farher-of-all, tiny, and neighbor

I've had the (completely baseless, purely conjectured) theory that the special associations with the ring finger, like health, the heart, or, in some cultures, a magical association came specifically because of its initial namelessness. As you pointed out, all the other fingers have something obviously identifiable about them, whereas for that finger, humans had to come up with something original.

I would suggest that the ring finger be named the SLOWX finger, because on a standard QWERTY typewriter, the left ring finger hits the W, S, and X keys, while the right hits the O and L keys. Combining and anagramming, SLOWX!

Just from looking at the thumbnail I saw some of the same names as they are in Kurdish, I’m not sure which dialect says ram finger but I was taught that the thumb is called espa kuzha meaning lice killer, the index finger is dowshau mizha meaning syrup licker, the middle finger is bala berza meaning tall height, the ring finger is brai toota and the pinky finger is toota which pretty much means the same thing as pinky, the ring finger is called the brother of toota and my guess is because it’s hard to move your pinky finger without also moving the ring finger. Also when I wrote z and h it represents a long j sound.

In Portuguese hte names are somewhat similar, but still different! Mindinho ("pinky", "little one"), Seu Vizinho ("neighbor"), Pai-de-todos ("father of all"), Fura-bolos ("cake piercer") e Mata-piolhos ("lice killer")

When I was a toddler my Italian mom would do a game similar to This Little Piggy. The names of the fingers, starting from the pinky translate to - the little one, the one with the ring, the longest of all, the plate licker and the lice killer.

New fingers' names are: Ok finger for thumb & Fuck you finger for middle.

In the 1920s, legendary baseball player (and even more legendary speaker...) Casey Stengal was being harrassed by fans, when playing at the opposition stadium. Prior to his turn at bat, he caught a pigeon and walked out to his place holding his uniform cap against his torso. Once in place to bat he turned his cap around, literally "flipping the bird" to the crowd. There are many wonderful Stengalisms ("pair up in threes") but this one needed no spoken words at all.....

I call mine Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby

In Dutch: duim, wijsvinger, middelvinger, ringvinger, pink (Thumb, pointfinger, ect.)

I'm a tad surprised the children's didn't make it in this (tune is Frere Jaques): Where is thumbkin? Where is thumbkin? Here I am! Here I am! How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you! Run away! Run away! And so on for pointer, tall man, ring man, and pinky.

The thumbnail reminded me of the way my mom taught me the finger names in Spanish: niño, tonto, loco, lambe cazuelas, y mata piojos. Niño(child) because the pinky/little is small, tonto (stupid) because the ring finger can't move on its own, loco (crazy) because the middle finger is used to flip people off and crazy people love flipping people off, lambe cazuelas (pot licker) because the index/pointer finger is used to clean up left over food, and mata piojos (flea killer) because the thumbnail was a rigid and broad place that was great for squishing tiny bugs. Though looking through the internet, it look like most Spanish nursery rhymes call the middle finger tonto y loco and the ring finger señor de anillo (Mr. Ring). There is nothing particularly stupid and crazy about the middle finger though so I don't know why those people call it stupid and crazy. On the contrary, I have noticed a lot of old people in Mexico use the middle finger for pointing things out and not as an insult on the sly.

There's a hilarious movie scene in "Harlem Nights" with Eddie Murphy where a character is shot in the "pinky toe".

About the index finger being called scythe: when I pick weeds, my index finger is closest to the ground/root. When I pull, the plants usually break where my index finger is. (Best case would be them comming out the ground with roots and all, but you know...)

Fingers are more individual than toes, I can bend each finger one at a time, while the only toe that I can bend seperate from the other's is the big toe, the other four just kinda work in unison with each other. Interestinly people use their pinky finger way more than they think, and if you're ever in a situation where one of your fingers is going to be chopped off or something but you at least have some say in which one you lose, the middle finger or the pointer are the ones that can most easily be acomidated for by the existance of the other

I thought people used their index finger for picking their ear And generally anything that needs only one finger outside of wedding rings.

Having played guitar my entire life, I view my hand as primarily being a thumb, the fore and the little. The two mids are support fingers, especially the middle, since they share a tendon.

In Brazil we have some cute nicknames for fingers that kids tend to use. They're as follow: Pinkie = Mindinho (not sure what this means but apparently it comes from Holland) Ring finger = Sobrinho (cousin) Middle finger = Pai de todos (father of all) Index finger = Fura-bolo (cake poker, a reference to how kids like poking birthday cakes) Thumb = Mata-piolho (lice killer)

The big toe is usually called "isovarvas" (big toe") in Finnish, but it's also sometimes called "pottuvarvas" (tater toe) :D

I still remember the Dutch kid's rhyme which I learned in the '50s: Naar bed, naar bed, zei Duimelot [Thumb] Eerst nog wat eten, zei Likkepot [the pot licker] Waar gaan we dat halen, zei Lange Jan [Long John] In grootmoederskastje, zei Ringeling [Ring finger] Dat ga ik verklappen, zei het kleine ding (Little thing - although I have vague memories of another name too].

"Thuman" (thumb) reminds me of the German word "Daumen".

The ones in the thumbnail have some pretty similar names preserved in a nursery rhyme in Portuguese. It's a bit like that "this little piggy" play in Englis. It'd start with "dedo mindinho (doesn't have a good correlate to English, but alludes to its small size), seu vizinho (the neighbour), maior de todos (biggest of all), fura bolo (cake poker), cata-piolhos (lice picker)"

Swedish has: tumme (thumb), pekfinger ("point finger"), långfinger ("long finger"), ringfinger ("ring finger") and lillfinger ("little finger"). Interestingly, "pot licker" and "tall man" are very similar for the names for these fingers in a famous nursery rhyme: "slickepott" and "långeman".

In my family we have the "pinky promise", where we wrap our pinkies together to say to each other we'll keep a promise. Not sure if others have this as well

Nice choice...Funny, I heard the song "where is thumbkin" a few days ago after I made the suggestion.

6:32 ALL veins go directly to the heart. Unless the theory was that this particular vein did not merge with other veins on its way.

Pinky, Buddy, Father, Cake Ruiner and the Lice Killer. ^ These are the names taught to kids in Brazil, but just kids use them. I translated it to have rhymes just like in portuguese. Originally, it's: Mindinho (Little Boy - Pinky) Seu vizinho (His neighbour - Ring) Pai de todos (Father of all - Middle) Fura-Bolo (Cake Ruiner - Index) Mata Piolho (Lice Killer - Thumb)

I wear a ring on the ring finger on my right hand and I've had a few German friends ask me if I were married... They wear the wedding ring on the right hand...

The little finder is super important in tennis. 😀

Oh my gosh I manifested a video 🥳

In German the middlefinger is also occasionally called the "Stinkefinger", Stink(ing) Finger.

Don't all veins go directly to the heart?

I've always gone with the toe that went to market, the toe that stayed home, the toe that had roast beef, the toe that had none, and the toe that cried wee-wee-wee all the way home.

The 'Pointer' finger? And fingers are often described as being a family? Does that mean that the fingers could be referred to as "The Pointer Sisters"?

In certain Indian languages, the ring finger is called Anamika, which literally means nameless / anonymous! Also, interestingly, the thumb is called Angutha and a ring is called Anguthi although it's not worn on the thumb!

Its like the Dude Perfect Overtime jingle

The big toe is known as "Der große Willi" (The big Willi [a German name]), "der große Otto" (The big Otto), or "Onkel Willi" (Uncle Willi)

This little piggy went to the market

Since I saw this, I had two ideas. Where did the appendix (body part) get its name? Or maybe other weird named body parts, such as spleen and tonsils (keeping it family friendly, you know 😉) Parts of the leg (hip, thigh, knee, calf)

My understanding is that "pink" originally just meant, literally, "small". I spent years trying to figure this out, because back in the 90's, a friend I respect told me that the word "pinky" should not be used because it was racist. I doubted it, but that was before all the world's dictionaries were so easily accessible online, so it took a lot more footwork to dig up this stuff. But I wasn't going to let it go until I got to the root of it! Many years and some technological advances later, there you go. "Pinky" just literally means the "small" finger.

my family calls the middle finger the social finger

came across the thumbnail right as i was picking my ear 😅

Well, what's the etymology of the Norwegian term for fingers: kleptomanpølser (As if I don't know it...) Kleptomanpølsenavn: tommeltott, pekefinger, langfinger/langemann, ringfinger, lillefinger

Interestingly the phrase "fuck you" has a link with the middle finger. In the Middle-Ages archers commonly used their middle finger to shoot an arrow by plucking the string. The piece of string of a bow was called a yew (likely cuz it was made of yarn or something like that). So to "pluck the yew" meant to shoot an arrow. At some point, archers would get captured by their enemies and have their middle fingers chopped off to prevent them from shooting more arrows. Eventually this became a topic of mockery towards the archers with no middle fingers, as they can not pluck yew anymore and so eventually "pluck yew" evolved into the delightful phrase we all know and use frequently, often accompanied by the middle finger.

0:49 AYO

If I could control my individual toes a bit more, maybe they'd jave names :)

Why do they call them fingers? I've never seen them fing.

Kid named Finger:

In Dutch: Duim Wijsvinger Middelvinger Ringvinger Pink 😉

In Indian context pinky finger also means you have to go to pee when you show it to another person

There are a ton of old names

SomeBODY once told me... 😂

In Hebrew the pointer finger is "Etzbah".

Never knew pinky came from Dutch

I just now realized that if I consciously think about trying to give my left middle finger, I can't get my other fingers to fold right, but if I'm not thinking about it, it happens easily. I do not have this issue with my right middle finger.

Wait who calls the pinkie finger the little finger

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

❤😊❤😊❤

u forgot kid named finger

Lol

I'm a big gay daddy

Agreed @NameExplain. Gaming is indeed one of the most important things we do with our fingers. 💪😎👌

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