Volume 2, Number 13
August 1996
A column by Ed Rochelle
'Finger Licking ...'While I was growing up I can remember observing a phenomena that I found hard to understand. I watched people lick their pointing finger and use it in a specific way. No, I don't mean when they were trying to determine the current wind direction. In fact, I tried that many times and was a total incompetent. The only way I could find out which way the wind was blowing was to throw something up in the air that was reasonably light and watch which way it was blown. That was sure fire to be accurate every time.I can remember watching my grandparents read the Sunday papers. Just prior to turning the page, they would lick their pointing finger. At first I thought it was one of the things they did as a ritual. Probably from the 'old country'. That was as easy explanation for any behavior of theirs that seemed odd. I realized that there were other times that they would engage in this behavior. While my grandfather would count out his folding money he would do the same thing. In fact, anytime he wanted to leaf through something, he would use the finger licking method. As time went by, I realized that he wasn't the only person who knew of and used this method. My observations of this phenomena also made me realize that it wasn't limited to just males. Both sexes equally participated in what seemed to be a ritual. In recent years I have become a member of this secret society that uses a tongue moistened pointing finger. I didn't formally join a club or association. It came upon me in a slow fashion. I remember thinking the first time I caught myself performing the act, that it was just what my grandfather did. My initial experience occurred around the time I was 50 years old and that was my first clue in solving the mystery. If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll share my findings on the finger licking research. It seems that one of the prices we pay for the way of life we live is the slow wearing away of the ridges in our skin at the tips of our fingers. By the time we reach 50 it has happened to us all. One of the side effects of this erosion is the loss of tension that the ridges of skin provide. Without this tension we apply a smooth finger tip to flat surfaces that need some resistance for us to 'page' through them. There is no cure for this other than to wear rubber gloves when we need to perform this task or a rubber thimble like device on our pointing finger. No one ever told me to prepare for this as I grow older. How Come?
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