Talk:Ring finger

Independence of movement

This article could probably incorporate information about the ring finger's lack of ability to move independently. Why is that, anyway? - Vague | Rant 01:57, Feb 25, 2005 (UTC)

I was just gonna write that. Someone please look that up. Redwolf24 10:04, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Not exactly sure what you mean by lack of ability to move indepenently? I move my ring finger without other fingers moving with ease. I'm not double jointed. --76.233.10.113 (talk) 20:47, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Place your hand on a table with fingers (except for the thumb) curved such that each finger tip and the side of thumb is touching the table. Now lift each finger in turn as high (far from the table) as possible. If you're normal, your index finger will move the greatest distance and your ring finger the least distance. TheScotch (talk) 08:56, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Etymology

I have added the information from László A. Magyar's thesis. I'm afraid some of the finger names might be wrong, because I haven't checked them by myself except English, Japanese, Mandarin, and Latin. Please correct them if necessary. - TAKASUGI Shinji 06:33, 2005 Mar 31 (UTC)

Picture

There should probably be a picture of a hand, to show which one is the ring finger. Thanks! Scope2776 21:35, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

--The picture that is there is not very helpful - the thumb almost looks like a finger. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lxowle (talk • contribs) 01:54, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Other section

As for it doesn't state its sources, for the second one, why don't you look at your bloody hand?

I did. Guess what? I can do it! I'm a medical miracle!82.7.106.54 02:04, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

ring finger in hebrew

the hebrew word for ring finger is listed here as kmitzah with languages that call it a "ring finger". but kmitzah comes from a service the preists would do in the temple in which they would grab flour from an offering of flour. i seriously doubt any relation to rings. Messengeroftruth (talk) 01:00, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Doubtful statement about Germany

1. ARZTFINGER: I'm an educated German and I have never ever heard that word. It either doesn't exist at all or is COMPLETELY unusual. I have deleted it. The common German word is "Ringfinger" (ring finger) as mentioned in the related section.´

2. WEDDING RING WORN ON THE RIGHT HAND: It's not true that Germans wear weddings rings exclusively on the right hand. Actually - however not knowing any statistics - I am sure that indeed the left hand is predominent. I thus deleted Germany in the list of "right hand countries".

3. WEDDING RING WORN ON THE RIGHT HAND: Having lived in Germany for well over 20 years I can attest to the fact that the majority of Germans wear their wedding rings on the right hand while their engagement rings are worn on the left. A glance at the German forums on the subject backs this up. As a side note, when I married my (German) husband and decided to wear my ring on the left hand, everyone including my mother-in-law found my decision curious.78.52.225.122 (talk) 18:34, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

I suppose 3 was an answer to 2? If so - there may be a reason for the disparity. According to this site Dutch Orotestants switch from left to right after marriage, Dutch Roman Catholics do the opposite. In traditionally Roman Catholic Flanders the situation is a bit more complicated: Protestants and Orthodox prefer the wedding ring on the right hand, while Roman Catholics differ according to bishopric: West and East Flanders prefer the left hand, Brabant and Antwerp prefer the right hand. As Germany too has a religious mix (with Protestants dominating in the North, and Bavaria until recently almost exclusively Roman Catholic) I would not be surprised if religion played a part there. --Paul Pieniezny (talk) 16:05, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, found enough on the Internet to completely contradict what the author of 2) said. Only the French wikipedia seems to think that German Roman Catholics put it on the left hand. Probably confusion with the Netherlands. Oh, and be careful when you go to the French article. The reference is to an article which tries to install spyware. --Paul Pieniezny (talk) 17:04, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Wedding Ring Chapter

There is a problem with this chapter - it is duplicated at Wedding Ring. Since the chapter there also suffers from a lack of references, I suggest moving the entire chapter there, with a link from here. I do not know whether that constitutes a merge.--Paul Pieniezny (talk) 17:04, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Left hand vs. right hand

In Norway the wedding ring is usually worn on the right hand's ring finger. Norway is not an Orthodox Christian country, so someone might elaborate which countries that use left/right, and why...? --84.202.16.86 (talk) 14:23, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Just a comment, in Catalonia, though legally part of Spain, it is customary to wear the ring on the left hand. Amb pretty sure the same is true for Valencia too. Maybe this should be included in the article as Spain (most parts) or something like that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.21.180.108 (talk) 19:45, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

"Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley found the difference in the length between women's ring fingers and index fingers tend to be greater for lesbians than straight women. The same study also found that a greater difference in length of men's ring fingers and index fingers for gay men with several older brothers as compared to straight men.[5]"

Just difference in length? Does it make no difference which finger is longer? If, as I suspect, it does, the article should state this clearly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.97.255.176 (talk) 11:25, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Ring Finger is 7th from the right and 4th from the left

With palms up, the ring finger is the 7th from the right and the 4th from the left. 2601:589:4705:C7C0:2CB9:1829:FE1B:E64B (talk) 12:47, 20 May 2016 (UTC)

Introduction

The current introduction was a little confusing - the text & infobox is about the a fourth finger with discussion of the cultural associations, but the lead was more about the cultural concept rather than the anatomical feature with that common name. I've recast it to be a bit clearer and in line with the articles on other fingers. Andrew Gray (talk) 18:59, 16 July 2019 (UTC)

FYI: Merger of related pages

There is consideration of a merger of the pages First finger, Second finger, Third finger and Fourth finger into a new page. Please discuss at Talk:First finger#Merge (2023), and

not here. — HTGS (talk) 23:11, 15 November 2023 (UTC)