The Kind of Convo’s You May Have When You Work at Home

So my brother, who is also self-employed, called me for a short chat earlier today. Nothing too important. One item that came up during our conversation was that he happened to come across an article about how the lengths of our fingers can predict our personalities and lifestyle.

However, he didn’t really read the article so he couldn’t tell me what, if any, life-changing significance there is to the unique length of my digits. His point was that he wanted to know if my hand was like his, because his wife’s was not. And we discovered it must be genetic, since we both have our ring fingers longer than our index finger.

Before hanging up he told me to text him a pic of my hand and he would do the same, so we could visually confirm it. (You know… the usual kind of stuff that self-employed people who work from home, do…)

Eric happened to call at the moment I was taking my hand pic to send to my brother. Great timing, I thought, since I had the opportunity to ask him which finger was the longest, 2nd longest, etc. on his hand. And he said “I’m glad to know you both are working so hard today.” Point taken.

Nonetheless, his finger lengths are similar to my brother’s wife’s hands. So what does it mean?

Well, I did do some quick research and here’s what I found out. (Disclaimer: this is not any scientific explanation at all… so don’t use my words if you’re writing a thesis or something!)

My synopsis: It really doesn’t matter!! There were so many differing opinions amongst the various websites. But one thing remained the same — how our fingers get their lengths while in the womb. During this time, our fingers sprout and elongate, their growth is affected by the prevalence of the hormones testosterone and estrogen. The fetal ring finger has many receptors for both hormones on it, and the index finger has fewer receptors. Therefore, the testosterone lengthens the fetal fingers, while estrogen stops their growth.

Ah, what? So my hands, with its long fingers, depict a more masculine inclination? And Eric… well his is opposite. I called my brother and said, “How can Eric be feminine? That’s like impossible… just look at him.” And he said, “Well, Lynne, he is a basketmaker after all.” Another point taken.

(just teasing Mr. Basketmaker y’all….)

To conclude, we both decided that all the supposedly “scientific studies” were bunk. Except for the Italian study that said because of my ring finger length, I would tend to be the more successful entrepreneur and be a real go-getter. I like that. Especially since while Eric is working hard at his convention, I’ve pretty much been lounging in the lounge chair all day, snacking on things I shouldn’t be snacking on and watching things I shouldn’t be watching. Now I don’t feel so guilty for being a slug… my fingers clearly depict a hard-working woman! I must relax…

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