Adrian Howard
MostlyBlindGamerWhen you count with your fingers which finger do you use for number one?
Boost for no reason.
Boost for no reason.
Thumb
Index
Other
Poll ended at .
afreytes, 👁️🗨️of🇵🇷@MostlyBlindGamer thumb is zero
Stevo@MostlyBlindGamer Interesting. I use my pinky on my left hand. Thumb is number 5. Thumb of right hand is 6, and 10 is pinky on my right hand. It makes sense to me to do it like that since it's straight left to right.
💀 𝓕airchild 💀
Linux and praxis: part of the resistance 🇵🇸 ☮️
confused mango@MostlyBlindGamer pinkie, anyone uses others? 
Draic inna n-airscél n-amrae@MostlyBlindGamer I am actually surprised and slightly shocked that apparently this is not universal. 
softicecreamlesley@storydragon @MostlyBlindGamer It’s not. It’s very cultural.
Pent Up Games 🔞@MostlyBlindGamer I do thumb, but 4 is really awkward (when I put up the ring finger, the pinky wants to go too) so I'm actively trying to change to thumb-last. I'm doing pinky first, but index first would work.
Mees 🔻@pentup @MostlyBlindGamer pinky and ring finger are controlled by the same muscle (you probably knew this). I stop the pinky from going with it's friend by scrunching up the hand.
@mees @MostlyBlindGamer I didn't! It seems to affect the middle finger a bit, too.
Currently beginning my dive into wikipedia's page about the flexor digitorum communis profundus!!
lina isidora
princess pancake 
@MostlyBlindGamer pretty sure this is a heavily cultural thing that varies a lot
Mike Riversdale
Where did our numbers come from?
Lulu Helle 
@miramarmike @natty @MostlyBlindGamer according to that, I'm middle Eastern method. Sorta. I have Dyscalculia, so I had to figure out a way of sneaky way of counting with my fingers without being ridiculed. I touch my thumb to pinky to indicate 1, then trace thumb across each finger, sticking thumb out to indicate five at the end. If that makes sense?
@natty exactly. It’s much sillier and more fun to ask this than “where are you from.”
refraction 
@natty @MostlyBlindGamer yeah and because of that we're not actually sure cause I think we do both 😅
Soraia@MostlyBlindGamer I'm genuinely surprised so many people voted for thumb! I'm team index finger (left hand). My left thumb is number 5 and my right thumb is number 6. So interesting how there's so much variety!
@MostlyBlindGamer Pinky on right is 1, left thumb is 6.
Imogen
Renata 🇨🇦🐈@MostlyBlindGamer Pinky on the left is 1
I’m left handed
I’m left handed
dingodog@MostlyBlindGamer
Use base-5: start with index, when you get to 5 put your thumb up and your other fingers down. Now thumb+index is 6, etc. You can count to 9 on one hand. If you use your other hand as 10s, you can count up to 99.
Use base-5: start with index, when you get to 5 put your thumb up and your other fingers down. Now thumb+index is 6, etc. You can count to 9 on one hand. If you use your other hand as 10s, you can count up to 99.
Caden@dingodog19 @MostlyBlindGamer if I'm gonna do something wonky like this I usually just treat my fingers as binary digits. that gets you to 31 on one hand, 1023 with both
@tarix29 @MostlyBlindGamer just be careful when you get to 8
@dingodog19 @tarix29 do you mean 4? By my count, that’d be the middle finger. Both starting with the thumb and pinky.
@MostlyBlindGamer @tarix29 of course you are right. To much carrying the 1!
Léana@MostlyBlindGamer The one and only true way to count using fingers is to count in binary.
@IndigoPRNG yes, but which finger is 1?
@MostlyBlindGamer if you open your hands in front of you and read in the occidental left to right order, right thumb is 20 and left thumb is 29 (211 if your polydactyl). 1 is the index.
However you can also have your palm facing away and in this case the right ring finger would be 1. I don’t this it’s comfortable to count from pinky though.
@IndigoPRNG gotcha, because of the pinky and ring finger being connected?
@MostlyBlindGamer yes pretty much
ˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊@MostlyBlindGamer whoops I voted wrong by accident... meant to hit "other"
Russ@MostlyBlindGamer pinkie.
Sam Clemente@MostlyBlindGamer Actually kinda surprised thumb is so popular
@MostlyBlindGamer pinky, but I think I might be odd here.
Donald HobernWhen I'm counting for my own benefit and the number is in the range 0-10, 1-5 are right-little to right-thumb, and 6-10 are left-thumb to left-little. I am right-handed.
If I'm emphasizing numbers while talking, 1-5 is right-thumb to right-little, and 6-10 is again left-thumb to left-little.
@dhobern how interesting that you do it differently depending on context.
I'm not sure it's particularly interesting or useful in itself.
I think my behaviour is affected by multiple things:
Expected number of items - if I know it will be in the range 1-3, I would emphasise the numbers from index to ring finger rather than from thumb.
Physical feedback - I think the reason I start with my little finger when truly counting is that I snap the fingers out from under my thumb which reinforces the sense of moving to a new state.
Social context - probably overrides all else.
milla🧷@MostlyBlindGamer I recently had a somewhat heated disagreement about this with our 3-year-old, apparently someone at daycare starts from thumb while I start from index and thumb is the last one. I can't physically keep my pinky down with all others up...
Moss da Bard 🇨🇦🇧🇧🇲🇽🇬🇱@MostlyBlindGamer
Pinkie, ring, middle, index (4), then thumb
Pinkie, ring, middle, index (4), then thumb
@MostlyBlindGamer index is 1, thumb is 5. I guess it stuck with me from ASL
John TimaeusDepends on what and how I'm counting.
Decimal or hex, index finger following ASL, left hand is the tens or sixteens column.
Binary counting up, thumb.
Binary converting to decimal, left middle finger.
dragonfrog@dragonfrog up and then down? Nice.
jackcole
Bill, organizer of stuff@MostlyBlindGamer I've done both, but I'm not sure what makes me pick one at the time...
@wcbdata for me it’s the people I’m with. Index for anglophones, thumb for Germans.
@MostlyBlindGamer I've been thinking about it, and I think it might be the intent for me... If I'm explaining/teaching, it's thumb, if I'm admonishing or demanding, it's forefinger...
@wcbdata hahaha. OK, the index can start the counting while it starts the telling off.
@MostlyBlindGamer This is cultural, so your results will only reflect that instead of giving a “correct” answer. Americans will say “index”. French will say “thumb”. Japanese, when counting on fingers, show “six” by placing a pointed index finger into the middle of their other outstretched palm.
@softicecreamlesley yrs, I know that. And if you’d read the other replies, you’d know that I know and you might be having more fun.
@softicecreamlesley adding to this, there a non-zero chance you couldn’t read those replies from your instance. But the point of the poll is still to start a silly cultural exchange on the pretense of a simple question.
@MostlyBlindGamer huh. From what I saw was a bunch of people thinking it was universal. And yes, you’re definitely correct that it was silly. 😊
Will 
@MostlyBlindGamer I follow the American Sign Language conventions, including using 2 fingers and the thumb for the number "3". I think British Sign Language doesn't do this?
Flor, trouble@MostlyBlindGamer thumb, but four is the other four fingers extended and then I move my thumb again for five. I've been told that's strange.
I count multiples of six on the other hand, so using only my fingers I can count up to 35 instead of 10.
@gooseliketyping ooh, very handy! Hehehe.
bbbhltz@MostlyBlindGamer Usually thumb, except if I'm in front of students. Then I use the Chinese method because I always have at least one student from China and it can lead to a whole conversation about intercultural stuff and international business, etc.
Best one is getting students to decide if the "making a circle with index and thumb" means OK, Zero, or something awful.
@bbbhltz I love this! What’s the Chinese style like?
I ran into a few scenarios like this in college. Americans and Europeans have a very different idea of when “next week” is, for example.
I ran into a few scenarios like this in college. Americans and Europeans have a very different idea of when “next week” is, for example.
@MostlyBlindGamer could be either. Pinky is a less used option. When using both hands, left hand starts at the same finger the right one ended at.
When signalling to other people, index first.
Orb 2069This being a shibbolith was a plot point in "Inglorious Bastards", IIRC?