National Thumb Appreciation Day

For the entire day today, do everything with your fingers and don't use your thumbs! Okay, maybe not the whole day but just for fun spend a little bit of time not using your thumbs. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Open a door with a round door knob.

Write your name with a pencil.

Button a shirt.

Pick up loose change.

Try counting dollar bills without using your thumbs.

Try starting your car.

Hold and swing a hammer.

Squeeze a tube of toothpaste.

Hold a golf club and drive the ball. (How far did it go without the proper grip?)

Tie your shoes.

Pick up a glass and take a drink. You can't do it. What you could do before with one thumb and four fingers, now will take your using both hands (eight fingers) to accomplish the same thing.

Throw a baseball. Then try to hold a baseball bat. After doing this you will realize that the entire game of baseball would be non-existent without thumbs.

It's amazing how difficult it is to not use your thumbs!

Photo credit google images creative commom domain.

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Make a list of idioms or phrases that have the word "thumb" in them. For example, "rule of thumb". This idiom probably came from carpenters and woodworkers who used the width of their thumbs as a means to measure things.

Others you might use are , "sticks out like a sore thumb", "have a green thumb", "go sit on your thumbs". Try and determine what these phrases mean and come up with some more of your own.

What are some things that you can do without your thumbs? How about what you can't do without your thumbs? I think you'll find the can't do list much longer than the can do one.

Photo credit google images creative commom domain.

Thumbs are brave. They unwaveringly hold skinny little nails while a hammer comes flying their way to hit the nail. And I didn't think about this before, but thumbs can hold their breath a long time. Have you ever seen a small child suck their thumb for hours at a time? When the thumb finally pops out, it may be a little wet and wrinkly, but it isn't blue from lack of oxygen. Very athletic the thumb. Enter the idea of Thumb Wars.

Thumb Wars have been going on for decades in Junior High School lunchrooms across America. They are a fun way to battle boredom, as well as a way to choose "who goes first" in games. It goes like this. First choose your opponent. Choose wisely (Little Billy should not go up against "Big Bubba"). Both of you bend your fingers into a "hook" shape. Now lock them together with your opponent's. Hold your thumbs up high and say "1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a Thumb War!" and let the game begin! Move your thumbs around to try to pin your opponent's thumb. Bob and weave to keep your thumb from getting pinned. First player to pin their opponent's thumb is declared the winner!

I just have to say this here. If you find this sort of thing entertaining, you must REALLY be bored!

Photo credit google images creative commom domain.

This mode of transportation, widely known as hitchhiking, has been around for generations. The thumb was the means used for getting a driver's attention, thereby securing a ride for the rest of the body. You would walk along the side of the road with your thumb up and out usually pointing in the direction you wanted to go. Eventually someone would see your thumb and give you a ride.

Whoever gave hitchiking it's name evidently was a non-respecter of thumbs. Thumbhiking is much more accurate. Once again, a blatant form of "digit discrimination".

Photo credit google images creative commom domain.

Be creative with your thumbprint! Ink up your thumbs with a stamp pad, then make thumbprints all over a sheet of paper. Let the ink dry, then use fine-point markers to turn each print into a crazy character or creature with personality! Give them hair or hats, add faces, arms, and legs. Turn your thumbprints into your own silly creations.

Oh, and a sidenote here. Why not enlist the help of some small children when you do this. Trust me, you won't look quite as weird doing this project if people assume that you are doing it for 'the kids".

Photo credit google images by Shutterstock creative commom domain.

In order for you to get the upper hand, your thumb needs to be involved. You can't pick up, grasp, grab or hold onto very many things without your thumbs. Even typing this information requires the use of my thumbs on the space bar.

"He's all thumbs" is meant as a derogatory statement, implying that someone is clumsy or a klutz. Although we can't get along without the two God created us with, more than two would be a hindrance. After all, the thumb is a take charge kind of digit. Captain of the hand team. You can't have two captains running the same team without there being a power struggle somewhere along the line.

With our thumbs, our hands can be givers (as we hand something over to someone else) or takers (as we grab something from someone). With our thumbs intact our hands can be offensive or defensive. Because of their dexterity our thumbs become all things to all fingers.

The much maligned, often ignored and certainly under-appreciated thumb doesn't get the respect that it deserves. But thumbs, now with a holiday of your own, it is your time to shine!

Thumbs up everyone! Let's give our thumbs a hand!

Photo credit google images creative commom domain.

Throughout the ages the thumbs up signal has meant many things; from airplane take-offs to raising the boom on a crane. In ancient Rome the thumb signal of up or down by the Emperor meant life or the alternative (we won't talk about that here, after all this is a celebration) for Gladiators in the Coliseum.

A thumbs up has special meaning here on Squidoo as well. It is a sign, approval, a like, a Squid Like if you will, from your fellow lensmasters that they approve of what you have submitted and actually like your work. Sort of a verification and an encouragement. So really, here on Squidoo this National holiday should prompt a thumbs up liking frenzy up and down the board. A day when the normally shy, introverted, and even the sometimes standoffish lensmasters who have liked very few and the super active thumber uppers go on a mission to give lots of thumbs ups to lenses that they like. Not random drive by likes, but real likes (with comments) for their fellow lensmasters.

I don't know about you, but I get a kick out of giving someone their 20th like, hoping that it took them to 100% on their lens. I also enjoy giving the milestone likes, such as the 50th and 100th.

I haven't gotten around as much as I should have, but on this particular day I am making an effort to give out some "thumbs ups" to some really fine writers in keeping with this auspicious holiday and in honor of our most dependable and needed digit, the thumb. So fellow lensmasters, dust off that popular digit, and go give a big THUMBS UP today.

Photo credit google images creative commom domain.

Photo by Brass Castle Arts.

http://brasscastlearts.blogspot.com/2011/01/general-tom-thumb-1838-1883.html