Six Odd Things, #6: Snap!

[muckefuck]

#6: I can't snap my fingers

I consider myself relatively adroit, but there are some physical things I've simply never been able to do and this is one of them. I know how snapping one's fingers should work, I've seen it demonstrated, I've practiced, and at the end of the day I'm still left rubbing my fingers quietly against each other.

Years ago, however, I discovered a substitute: By placing my the nail of my pointer or middle finger under my thumbnail and then releasing it sharply, I can get pretty much the same auditory effect. Of course, my nails need to be relatively long for this to work; ever since I last trimmed them, I've been unable to do it.

To my surprise, there's actually a name for this movement. It's called a fillip (perhaps onomatopoetic, perhaps related to flip), which the OED defines as:

A movement made by bending the last joint of a finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it (so as to propel some small object, or merely as a gesture); a smart stroke or tap given by this means.

Try it sometime!

Comments

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

Huh. I knew "fillip" in an alternate definition (kind of synonymous with "small embellishment" in my brain) but never as the motion (which seems to be the obvious earlier definition). Cool.

Sorry about your horrible snapping deficiency, though.

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

I can't snap either. Except beans, asparagus, and, in theory, turtles.

[tanagers.livejournal.com]

I can't snap either. I shall now try filliping. This might help the shame I feel in front of my second graders!

[nashobabear.livejournal.com]

It helps to read the text BEFORE the test ...

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Do you want to change your answer now?

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

you trimmed your long fingernails? :(

WHY ???

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Don't worry: I saved them all for you.

[nashobabear.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd like to go back and change A LOT of answers, for the last 50 years.