"This is a one, this is a two, this is a three..."

There's a common mind-game out there that we played mulitple times on the trip. The leader (who know's the "trick" of the game) holds up a fist and goes "This is a one." Then he puts out one finger and says "This is a two." Then the next finger (so 2 fingers are raised) to say, "This is a three." And it continues until all 5 fingers are raised, but the pinky is finger #6. The next part of the game the leader raises a finger and asks, "What's this finger?" And from the previous explaination, the player would respond accordingly, but it never is what he said it was because there's a trick to the game (which I won't give away incase anyone hasn't played this game!). As a player who doesn't know how to play the game, you'll get confused when the next time he starts the game he uses different numbers for different fingers-saying the pinky finger is a 3 and the thumb is a 6!

Through our culture we're told that certain fingers represent certain numbers. When taking piano lessons you're taught the thumb is finger 1, pointer finger 2, etc. Through observing this game, I realized that this is simply naming of the fingers. The value of the numbers is irrelevant and it is simply a nominal process.