5 ms·

I've never heard the term "Newbie Fingering", but it certainly would have a different connotation in the UK. I believe fingering is what Americans would call g

I've never heard the term "Newbie Fingering", but it certainly would have a different connotation in the UK. I believe fingering is what Americans would call getting to third base.

richrichardsson 4y ago
Even at 18 years old when I first got a taste of Unix at university the `finger <username>` command made me snigger. But I was (and still am to some degree) very puerile.
pestatije 4y ago
Third base? I'm not native english speaker, can someone explain?
- cyberge99 4y ago
  Placing ones fingers upon or within another’s genitalia (private body parts).
- falcolas 4y ago
  First Base: Kissing Second Base: Fondling above the waist Third Base: Fondling below the waist Home Run: Sex
  - ipnon 4y ago
    A double whammy idiom of American English wherein you have to understand baseball to perceive the meaning. Do Europeans have idioms regarding soccer?
    - bilekas 4y ago
      In Ireland kissing was called `scoring` .. "Did you score ?" Looking back it, seems really strange.
      - bee_rider 4y ago
        That expression is also used in the US. I don't think it is soccer specific, the objective of almost every game is scoring.
    - HWR_14 4y ago
      I feel like UK (and Indian, Australian, NZ, Pakistani...) English must have idioms concerning Cricket.
    - piaste 4y ago
      "[Scoring] an own goal" comes to mind, and I think "hat trick" comes from football too. Italian has a few more as wlel.
  - jmkb 4y ago
    See also: https://xkcd.com/540/ https://xkcd.com/540/
  - exolymph 4y ago
    Huh, I wonder if it varies regionally? Or maybe by generation? Millennial here, when I was using this system Second Base was fingering, handjobs, etc., and Third Base was oral.
michaelbrooks 4y ago
It's also used a lot in the guitar world as guitarists practice their "fingering technique"
yamtaddle 4y ago
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol) > Prior to the finger program, the only way to get this information was with a who program that showed IDs and terminal line numbers (the server's internal number of the communication line, over which the user's terminal is connected) for logged-in users. Earnest named his program after the idea that people would run their fingers down the who list to find what they were looking for.[1] > The term "finger" has a definition of "to snitch" or "to identify" I sometimes wonder about folks in the not-so-distant past of the 1980s and earlier, who seemed to be able to operate just fine with words that had both ordinary and indecent meanings, without feeling the need to call out (or else, defensively avoid) every case in which the former might be mistaken for the latter if someone were trying really hard make such a mistake. All I can figure is a rise in lazy accidental-pun/double-entendre humor on various TV shows made us hyper-sensitive to it (think: Beavis and Butthead, for an early example). Call it the "that's what she said" effect.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Test0129 4y ago
  I don't know. Finger was still pretty funny in the 90s. Even in the early to late 00's I remember having a good laugh over a professor telling us to practice fingering him. It's very antiquated English (I'd estimate pre-1970) to say you're "fingering" the bad guy, or "I was fingered by the police for the crime". In fact, I can only think of it's proper use in the context of matlock-type crime dramas and black-and-white noir films. I don't think there's a thing to blame here. No hypersensitivity or anything. It's funny and it's been a sexual pun for decades (possibly even centuries). I wouldn't even go so far as to say it's a lazy pun. The joke even exists in stringed instrument circles. It's almost an universal constant for sexual innuendo in several fields. It's actually a perfect case study for naming. You should always check for double entendres you didn't intend or secondary meanings. Another perfect case study is Experts Exchange which in the URL spelled "expert sex change". I don't think hypersensitivity made that apparent. I think we all have a national lampoon level of humor occasionally and these things are conduits of it.
jjgreen 4y ago
Australia too, the comedian Celia Pacquola has a whole routine on "if we have nose-rings, ear-rings, then why don't we have finger-rings?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMctPwaIA2E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMctPwaIA2E
zach_garwood 4y ago
What would be the equivalent of getting to third base in Cricket?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
siver_john 4y ago
If I'm reading your comment correctly, then fingering has the same connotation in the U.S. as well, it is also synonymous with third base. (Also have never heard the term either.)
trollied 4y ago
The post definitely needs rewording!

I've never heard the term "Newbie Fingering", but it certainly would have a different connotation in the UK. I believe fingering is what Americans would call getting to third base.

richrichardsson 4y ago

Even at 18 years old when I first got a taste of Unix at university the `finger <username>` command made me snigger. But I was (and still am to some degree) very puerile.

pestatije 4y ago

Third base? I'm not native english speaker, can someone explain?

cyberge99 4y ago
Placing ones fingers upon or within another’s genitalia (private body parts).
falcolas 4y ago
First Base: Kissing Second Base: Fondling above the waist Third Base: Fondling below the waist Home Run: Sex
- ipnon 4y ago
  A double whammy idiom of American English wherein you have to understand baseball to perceive the meaning. Do Europeans have idioms regarding soccer?
  - bilekas 4y ago
    In Ireland kissing was called `scoring` .. "Did you score ?" Looking back it, seems really strange.
    - bee_rider 4y ago
      That expression is also used in the US. I don't think it is soccer specific, the objective of almost every game is scoring.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    I feel like UK (and Indian, Australian, NZ, Pakistani...) English must have idioms concerning Cricket.
  - piaste 4y ago
    "[Scoring] an own goal" comes to mind, and I think "hat trick" comes from football too. Italian has a few more as wlel.
- jmkb 4y ago
  See also: https://xkcd.com/540/ https://xkcd.com/540/
- exolymph 4y ago
  Huh, I wonder if it varies regionally? Or maybe by generation? Millennial here, when I was using this system Second Base was fingering, handjobs, etc., and Third Base was oral.

michaelbrooks 4y ago

It's also used a lot in the guitar world as guitarists practice their "fingering technique"

yamtaddle 4y ago

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol) > Prior to the finger program, the only way to get this information was with a who program that showed IDs and terminal line numbers (the server's internal number of the communication line, over which the user's terminal is connected) for logged-in users. Earnest named his program after the idea that people would run their fingers down the who list to find what they were looking for.[1] > The term "finger" has a definition of "to snitch" or "to identify" I sometimes wonder about folks in the not-so-distant past of the 1980s and earlier, who seemed to be able to operate just fine with words that had both ordinary and indecent meanings, without feeling the need to call out (or else, defensively avoid) every case in which the former might be mistaken for the latter if someone were trying really hard make such a mistake. All I can figure is a rise in lazy accidental-pun/double-entendre humor on various TV shows made us hyper-sensitive to it (think: Beavis and Butthead, for an early example). Call it the "that's what she said" effect.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Test0129 4y ago
I don't know. Finger was still pretty funny in the 90s. Even in the early to late 00's I remember having a good laugh over a professor telling us to practice fingering him. It's very antiquated English (I'd estimate pre-1970) to say you're "fingering" the bad guy, or "I was fingered by the police for the crime". In fact, I can only think of it's proper use in the context of matlock-type crime dramas and black-and-white noir films. I don't think there's a thing to blame here. No hypersensitivity or anything. It's funny and it's been a sexual pun for decades (possibly even centuries). I wouldn't even go so far as to say it's a lazy pun. The joke even exists in stringed instrument circles. It's almost an universal constant for sexual innuendo in several fields. It's actually a perfect case study for naming. You should always check for double entendres you didn't intend or secondary meanings. Another perfect case study is Experts Exchange which in the URL spelled "expert sex change". I don't think hypersensitivity made that apparent. I think we all have a national lampoon level of humor occasionally and these things are conduits of it.

jjgreen 4y ago

Australia too, the comedian Celia Pacquola has a whole routine on "if we have nose-rings, ear-rings, then why don't we have finger-rings?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMctPwaIA2E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMctPwaIA2E

zach_garwood 4y ago

What would be the equivalent of getting to third base in Cricket?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

siver_john 4y ago

If I'm reading your comment correctly, then fingering has the same connotation in the U.S. as well, it is also synonymous with third base. (Also have never heard the term either.)

trollied 4y ago

The post definitely needs rewording!