Monday, October 01, 2007

am i the only one who did not know this?

When you snap your fingers, almost all of the snapping sound comes from the contact of your middle finger with your palm, not from the release of your middle finger from your thumb. (If there is anyone else who was unaware of this, you can block your middle finger from hitting your palm to confirm that this is so.)

7 comments:

travis ballstadt said...

That's how I taught our 6 year old to snap her fingers. She couldn't get it until I told her that, and for some reason that just made it click for her.

ca said...

Oh my gosh, I have never been able to snap my fingers before, and this is why! ...I feel stupid now.

jessica said...

You snap with your middle finger? I use my ring finger and never even thought about using a different one. Weird.

Bad Runner said...

It seems to me that it doesn't come for hitting your palm, exactly. I think it comes from popping the little pocket of air that is behind your coiled ring and pinkie fingers. Try holding your ring finger up when you snap and even though you are hitting your palm just as hard with your middle finger, you won't get much sound, because that little chamber of air is missing.

Ken Houghton said...

Dan's got it, and, no, you weren't.

Eszter said...

Dan's right, as far as I know. Took me years to develop this important skill, from what I recall from way back when.

Monsoon said...

Interesting! Snapping is not a problem, but I cannot make that clicking sound with my tongue or whistle!!!