[TeMPOraL]

I'm not stranger to licking my fingers when dealing with cash, or licking stamps and envelopes, etc. but the way some old people do it was always a little mystery to me. I'd see them taking a second or three to quite conspicuously stick their tongue out and slowly lick their finger every single time before turning a page or a banknote. I always figured it's just a force of habit, but they're doing it in maximum power-save mode, and are way past giving a fuck about how gross it looks to everyone around them. I never considered that maybe they really need to do it this way to keep their fingers moist.

(That realization scares me, as it means I too might become an obnoxious finger-licker in a few years.)

[coldtea]

>I always figured it's just a force of habit, but they're doing it in maximum power-save mode, and are way past giving a fuck about how gross it looks to everyone around them.

That's the other thing about it, when it was being done in the past: people weren't so appealed by having bodies, or frightened of life and anything that's not sterile.

So they weren't as grossed out by everything - including a person merely licking their fingers to count some pages or notes...

[anon373839]

> That realization scares me, as it means I too might become an obnoxious finger-licker in a few years.

There's always moisturizer.

[justinclift]

Maybe a key chain instead with a moistened pad that doesn't easily go dry? :)

[rtkwe]

There’s a whole little range of forgotten/dead products for this. It looks just like a tiny pot of Carmex or other lip balm and it coats your finger to make it that tiny bit more grippy to make handling loads of paper easier. No idea what it’s name is haven’t seen it in 20 years since I stopped having to hang around the church offices while my parents did choir practice.

[TeMPOraL]

Honestly, and in line with a reply upthread[0], fresh saliva may be more sanitary. I mean, it has some non-zero antimicrobial properties, plus it doesn't accumulate random stuff that could grow over time.

Yeah, I'm starting to understand why old people may be past the point of giving a damn about the optics.

--

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42036400

[loco5niner]

Please no... at least with cash. Cash is one of the dirtiest things out there. You don't even want to think about how dollar bills get dirty.

Source: bank teller training years ago. We were supplied (always) with little moistening pads at our tills.

[doubled112]

I've seen tons cash come out of bras, socks and other crevices, and I was just working at a gas station. Let your imagination run wild!