General Question

asmonet's avatar

What are those rubber finger thingies?

Asked by asmonet (21455points) May 23rd, 2009

You know… old people stick them on their hands when they need to turn many, many pages. They’ve got nubby bits. Wtf, are they called?

And don’t say rubber finger thingies.

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

43 Answers

Jeruba's avatar

“Rubber fingers.”

Don’t know about the “old people” part, but back in my days as an office worker, anyone who had to turn a lot of pages used them. And that included plenty of 18-year-olds pricing and checking invoices, posting inventory, and doing accounting and bookkeeping.

janbb's avatar

“thingies?”

syz's avatar

Finger cots

(Although I refer to them as tiny little sad condoms)

jrpowell's avatar

Finger cots?

jrpowell's avatar

What she said.

Jeruba's avatar

Oh, yeah, cots. That’s their real name. I always heard everyone call them rubber fingers, but “finger cots” is what it said on the box.

asmonet's avatar

Awesome.

I have never seen anyone under the age of 50 use one, 50 isn’t too old, but it ain’t 20. :P

Jeruba's avatar

Maybe that’s how old you have to be to remember working in offices where people handled huge quantities of paper.

Tobotron's avatar

French ticklers lol

syz's avatar

(My introduction was in the medical field – they’re sometimes used for inserting suppositories.)

jrpowell's avatar

Funny thing. My grandma was a ER nurse and we had a bunch around the house. My sister told me that they weren’t condoms. Looking back I think she may have been insulting me.

asmonet's avatar

@Jeruba: Maybe, then again, tell that to the 15×15 ft sq. room I handled at my last job, full of logs, paperwork, and everything.

@syz: You win this thread for condoms.

I’m curious though if there are specific ones, the ones I’m thinking of are like one, you buy and keep for a long time, And it had nubby spiky bits to help with page turning.

Kayak8's avatar

Finger cots and rubber fingers really are two different things. Rubber fingers are the nubbly things used to turn pages (so you don’t have to lick your finger to get the pages apart).

Finger cots are smooth rubber and are used to protect finger wounds or are used in place of rubber gloves when you don’t need to cover your entire hand.

PandoraBoxx's avatar

@asmonet, phew! Glad you added the page-turner clarification. For a moment I thought you were considering proctology as a career…

jbfletcherfan's avatar

@syz Ouch!!! That’d be a little rough around the edges, I’d think.

Yes, finger cots work better than Tacky Finger. That stuff doesn’t work so hot.

syz's avatar

@asmonet Take a look at that link – they have industrial ones that are used for working with equipment that has sharp edges. It never occurred to me that there are so many types.

asmonet's avatar

Aha! Rubber fingers is correct!

asmonet's avatar

@syz: I saw, it weirded me out.

Kayak8's avatar

@eponymoushipster

Don’t you use dill dough as a starter for pickle bread?

syz's avatar

I guess thimbles would be the ultimate version of these.

And this site is just bizarre. Who knew?

@eponymoushipster Sadly, I had a similar thought when they were talking about the nubby ones.. Guess I’m a perv

@Kayak8 He he he

eponymoushipster's avatar

@Kayak8 that would put a bun in the oven.

@syz wait, that would make me a…ohyou!

eponymoushipster's avatar

@syz that site is like safe sex for Christian kids.

Kayak8's avatar

@syz

Maybe thimbles are the middle-ages precursor to rubber fingers . . . new idea for Ren-fest accessories . . .

@eponymoushipster
don’t drink and park, accidents cause people

Dr_C's avatar

@asmonet , @eponymoushipster i was shocked when i saw the thread thinking that Asmo of all people would know what a dildo was…. but after reading the description i think it sounds a bit more like a french tickler.

AstroChuck's avatar

Old people? I’ll have you know many young postal carriers use them to finger through the mail.
The USPS provides them for us and they’re called “rubber thumbs.”

Dr_C's avatar

more like this

Edit: just fixed the link

syz's avatar

@Dr_C your link doesn’t work

eponymoushipster's avatar

@AstroChuck that’s why i wash my hands after handling mail – all the fingering.

RedPowerLady's avatar

I worked in an office at college. Both myself and my 40ish supervisor use the rubber fingers. And we didn’t have a bunch of paper to sort, they were just handy especially during special projects. It is just much easier and more sanitary than licking your fingers. I was 20–24. This was only a couple years ago. Just wanted to help dispel the “oldies” myth”

AstroChuck's avatar

…although, I don’t use them, personally. They make your thumb sweat.

vegelizabeth's avatar

I worked at a newspaper company inserting ad’s into the local paper, and i used “rubber fingers” to turn pages and count newspapers faster. It makes it a lot easier to sort through everything.

syz's avatar

@Dr_C Wait, how do you keep those on? That picture makes it look like you’d have to go fishing…..

JTube's avatar

Wow, I’ve never heard of this! Seems pretty useful for those who need it, just a tiny bit strange. :)

Dr_C's avatar

It takes some practice…

Darwin's avatar

I was going to say that the guy at the post office who likes kids liked to give them to my kids when they were little and had to go with me, and he wasn’t particularly old, but AstroChuck already admitted to it being a post office thing.

There is a new kind which is designed for cleaning your pets teeth. It is called a finger toothbrush .

asmonet's avatar

Alright, alright – so you don’t have to be old to use them. But the only times I’ve seen anyone with them it’s been an older person, like…eighty year old librarians. :P

YARNLADY's avatar

They are also used (were?)in banks and casinos to quickly count the bills. I believe that it done by machines now.

crisw's avatar

I am far from 80, and I use them when running my flap sander so that I do not sand my fingers off!

Dr_C's avatar

@Darwin they also have finger toothbrushes for humans.

asmonet's avatar

Says the puppy.

Dr_C's avatar

@asmonet yes but a rather cute puppy :)

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