Culture: Language: Gesture
Secret Thumb-twiddling Language   (+20)  [vote for, against]
Yeah, okay, so I'm bored...

A bit like Sign Language, but in smaller font...
-- RayfordSteele, Jul 25 2011

The Drasnian secret language http://davideddings...ia.com/wiki/Drasnia
In the Belgariad, the Drasnians have a secret language where entire conversations could be had via innocent handsigns, while talking on unrelated matters [theircompetitor, Jul 26 2011]

Thumb War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_war
Not exactly a language, but twiddling and circling might be strategies... [csea, Jul 27 2011]

very nice.
-- po, Jul 25 2011


What'd you say? Hahahaha!+
-- blissmiss, Jul 25 2011


Do you twiddle your thumb at us, sir?
-- theleopard, Jul 26 2011


you know- thumbs up! [+]
-- xandram, Jul 26 2011


small, but perfectly formed [+]
-- pertinax, Jul 26 2011


[brevity]
-- theleopard, Jul 26 2011


shorthand!
-- po, Jul 26 2011


Reminds me of the customs of the Adem in the fantasy novel "Wise Man's Fear" by Patrick Rothfuss.
-- jutta, Jul 26 2011


Shouldn't it really be called "thumb circling"? Twiddling and circling are not the same.
-- blissmiss, Jul 26 2011


People fluent in sign langauge actually 'whisper' and 'shout,' BION.
-- Alterother, Jul 26 2011


One thumbs down. Apparently the autoboner is Ebert.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 27 2011


Reminds me of Count and Lady Fenris.
-- mouseposture, Jul 27 2011


I suspect a lot of this kind of thing is going to end up redundant as you will probably be able to get an ee-phone app to translate into plain speech, what with the camera and all..

At the risk of one more book reference, the touch language in Iain M Bank's "The Algebraist" as that can be done under cover..
-- not_morrison_rm, Jul 27 2011


Dammit, [!mrn] your anno needed to have either 5 or 6 words.
-- mouseposture, Jul 27 2011


1, 2, 3, 4
I declare a thumb war! [link]
-- csea, Jul 27 2011


where's [wax] when you need him?
-- po, Jul 27 2011


// Dammit, [!mrn] your anno needed to have either 5 or 6 words.//

It does, but in multiples of 5 and 6, it was 60 words, so 5 x 6 twice. No, it wasn't deliberate.
-- not_morrison_rm, Jul 27 2011


This should be easy to do. One direction of thumb motion could be defined as equivalent to a "dot" and the other direction could be defined as equivalent to a "dash" and NO motion would be a separator between consecutive duplicate items, and now you are ready to transmit Morse Code.
-- Vernon, Jul 27 2011


This morning, [Eleventeenthly] was communicating with me by tapping my thumbs together in a Morse code pattern on a noisy train, and he hadn't read this idea.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 27 2011



random, halfbakery