Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/15/germans-battle-in-traditional-pull-my-finger-competition.html
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My inner 12 year old is extremely dissapointed.
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i was seriously expecting a different “pull my finger” competition.
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Same. However, my mind does immediately go to the combination of beer, physical strain and muscle memory and I must assume the effect is more or less the same more often than anticipated.
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Indeed!
Since we have a global audience here, and someone else brought it up, I’m interested in:
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Where you live(d), did you know a fart was coming when you pulled that finger?
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If not “Pull my finger”, what phrase was used?
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Bavaria, though north of the region where fingerhakeln is from:
- No
- Nothing. That whole concept of “pull my finger” is so specific that I don’t think equivalents exist elsewhere. Also fart humour isn’t really a thing among children. Thankfully.
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UK
- no
- nothing
Fart jokes very much a thing.
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
No. Toilet humor isn’t a things here.
I learned this, as an adult, when watching a movie that I don’t even remember which one it was.
I don’t remember any jokes, but it’s common to complain with humor and mock people who do this in public. Passing gas is extremely rude.
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Yeah, sorry, I’m a loser then. I just don’t see the appeal
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Yikes. I strained a tendon in my hand pulling a door open with just one finger. Yes, I’d imagine that dislocations are pretty common
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- Colorado, USA, and i am sure the first time i didn’t know. but after that, of course.
- “Pull my finger” was definitely the exact phrase used.
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Neither do I, tbh.
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Regarding Flatulence Based Humour…
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Damn! I wish I knew that when I spent a few weeks in Brazil last decade. I’m a gassy dude, but imma discreet as possible in public.
Forgot to answer my survey:
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Knew about if very early. My dad was famously gassy, too.
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“Pull my finger”.
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It’s nice to be a Preis
But it’s higher to be a Bayer
(Doch Gott sei dank, i bin a Frank)
I’ve known about this sport for a while, and even had a colleague here in Munich that had done it. But it’s not my cuppa. My fingers ache with arthrosis just thinking about it.
Still, I love Bavaria, especially Upper Franconia (Oberfranken). I may live in overly expensive Munich now, and I do love the large English speaking community here of fellow Yankees, Brits, Irish and Canadians, but Bayreuth and Bamberg were my first taste of life in Europe.
Oh, and for @csilvest, I grew up near Dubuque (Iowa, USA) and it was in 4th or 5th grade that older kids waiting for the bus taught littler kids this. But here in Germany, perhaps it’s because it’s not as strongly condemned as in the USA that flatulence rarely gets the same ha ha reaction, and the whole “pull my finger” is only thanks to Hollywood comedies a thing at all.
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Back on topic (if the sport really is the topic) it reminds me of some traditional Inuit sports featured in the Arctic Olympics.
Try the mouth pull:
Or the ear pull:
Basically games based on endurance and the ability to tolerate severe pain, a valuable attribute in traditional arctic life.
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