POINT

Pointing puts an idea into another's mind. (Paraphrasing a comment by Rita Carter [1998:141; see Usage below])


Gesture. 1. Extending an index finger (or less frequently, other body parts such as the lips) to indicate the presence or location of objects, features, or forces. 2. Stiffening a forefinger to direct attention to people, places, or things. 3. A stabbing motion of the index finger, as given in anger.

Usage: Pointing has two two distinctive usages, one emotional (as in anger) and the other cognitive (as in pointing to show mom a butterfly on the wing). We point with the second digit to turn another person's attention to something we, ourselves, see, hear, or smell.

Referential point. Because it refers to the outside world, the referential point is a high-level, language-like gesture. In babies, the referential point first appears at ca. 12 months of age, in tandem with the first use of words. (N.B.: Prior to the appearance of speech, pointing is a reassuring indicator of an infant's probable language ability.) While animals such as honeybees, e.g., can refer to environmental features, only humans point them out with fingers.

Angry point. At close quarters, pointing at another human being is almost universally considered an aggressive, hostile, or unfriendly act. Because it focuses so much attention upon the recipient, close-quarters pointing is frowned upon throughout the world (see Anthropology 4. below). "The pointed finger of deceit," I wrote in CRIME SIGNALS (2008, p. 10), "was seen by millions who watched Baltimore Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro testify before a U.S. congressional hearing on March 17, 2005. In his opening statement, Palmeiro aggressively stabbed his index finger at members of the panel and said, 'I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any clearer than that. Never.' " (Six months later Palmeiro tested positive for the steroid drug stanozolol.)

Anatomy. We may extend all four fingers (the thumb has its own extensor muscles) in a coordinated way, by contracting the forearm's extensor digitorum muscle. Our index finger, however, has an extra forearm muscle (extensor indicis), which enhances the neural control of its muscular ability to point.

Anthropology. 1. Kiowa Indians point at objects with pursed lips (LaBarre 1947). 2. The Cuna Indians of San Blas, Panama use a pointed-lip gesture as a means of pointing (deixis) and of greeting others (Sherzer 1973). 3. Pointing with protruded lips is also found in the Philippines, and in parts of Africa and South America (Morris 1994:156). 4. Pointing a bone to direct psychic energy is commonly used by sorcerers when casting a spell.

Evolution. A relatively recent gesture, pointing may trace back ca. 2.4 m.y.a. to neural circuits evident in the brain of our oldest-known human ancestor, Homo habilis (see HUMAN BRAIN). In tandem with mime cues, referential pointing may have helped set the stage for the debut of speech in Nonverbal World. Today, the point remains an effective means of communication, and has been extended for use in certain consumer products (e.g., in the tapered pointer stick, the laser pointer, and the computer mouse).

Observations. 1. An excited toddler extends her index finger toward a chirping bird, as mother watches and smiles. 2. A Brazilian Indian points to show an anthropologist where she forages in the rain forest. 3. An angry manager frowns, compresses his lips, and jabs his index finger at the low sales figures on a flip chart.

Salesmanship. One signal of a prospect's skepticism: "The index finger is raised slightly for a second, then lowered" (Delmar 1984:46).

U.S. politics I. On January 26, 1998, President William Jefferson Clinton pointed his index finger aggressively at the American people and stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

U.S. politics II. In his November 7, 2018 press conference in the East Room of the White House--after the midterm elections returned Democratic power to the U.S. House of Representatives--a visibly upset Donald Trump used aggressive, pronated, palm-down, hyperextended index-finger-pointing gestures to direct anger toward press members who asked questions he did not wish to hear or answer. CNN's Jim Acosta received the lion's share of Trump's angry-finger cues. To see the presidential point, please click HERE.

U.S. politics III. In 2018, Donald Trump, angered by a newspaper article that he claimed made him look "weak," crumpled up the article and threw it at his vice-president, Mike Pence (see TEAR APART). Pence then angrily ". . . leaned toward the president and pointed a finger a few inches from his chest" (https://theweek.com/mike-pence/1002422/mike-pence-reportedly-once-lost-it-after-trump-threw-a-crumpled-newspaper [accessed July 9, 2021]).

Word origin. Point originates from the ancient Indo-European root, peuk- ("to prick"); derivatives include pugilism, punctuate, and puncture.

RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Pointing and other deictic movements have been called illustrators (Ekman and Friesen 1969). 2. Pointing is part of an infant's repertoire by 15 months of age. Children point at objects and gaze at their mothers, but "the mother herself is never pointed at" (Anderson 1972:208). 3. "Prespeech is frequently combined with more complex and individuated finger movements, including pointing with the index finger" (Trevarthen 1977:252). 4. The pure point follows the hand-reach: "Initially it is used like an indicating reach. But like most new forms, pointing [typically with vocalization and gazing back at the mother] explodes in usage soon after the first appearance (Bruner 1978:207). 5. "Pointing emerges at 9 months but is not integrated with vocal activity until 14 months" (Murphy 1978:371). 6. According to Vygotsky, the pointing gesture originates from infantile attempts to grasp objects in a mother's presence (Gray 1978). 7. The forefinger point (1), which evolved to aide in cooperative hunting, is used worldwide to indicate direction, "usually in response to a query" (Morris 1994:85). 8. In the forefinger point (2), "The forefinger points directly at the companion"; the stiffened finger resembles a "symbolic weapon, about to stab the victim" (Morris 1994:85). 9. Morris (1994) lists 51 forefinger gestures, compared with 8 thumb, 19 arm, and 17 fist cues.

Neuro-notes I. The earliest pointing is clearly emotional, as babies point to share their excitement with adults nearby (see EMOTION). The gesture itself, however, is controlled by newer, more advanced, non-emotional modules of the forebrain's neocortex. Nerve fibers from its primary motor areas link directly to motor neurons, enabling the index finger to move deliberately and with great precision. The long nerves descend in a "mental expressway" which bypasses ancient brain-stem paths and fall directly onto the digit itself. Thus, pointing shows direct cortical control, as its neural pathway detours around primeval interneuron routes of the spinal cord (i.e., the cord's paleocircuits, utilized by older hand signs such as the palm-down, the palm-up, and self-touch).

Neuro-notes II. A pointed finger shows that advanced centers of the neocortex have been engaged. As a skilled gesture, pointing involves a. the supplementary motor area (which programs the sequence of arm, hand, and finger movements), b. the premotor cortex (which orients the arm movements), and c. the primary motor cortex (which programs the direction the gesture takes). In turn, the frontal neocortex receives visual information about persons, places, and things from the posterior parietal lobes. While the left lobe is involved in language processing, the right lobe processes spatial information to guide our pointed finger in the proper direction. (Like aphasia [the inability to speak], apraxia includes an inability to point. That both disorders may be brought on by injuries to the left side of the neocortex demonstrates the similarity between voluntary pointing and speech.) (N.B.: Despite severe damage to the brain's neocortex, we are still able to utter obscene words and make angry gestures, such as the middle-finger jerk [digitus impudicus, i.e., "give the finger"]. Gestured and verbalized expletives are motivated by the limbic system working through motor patterns stored in basal ganglia of the primitive reptilian brain.)

Finger of blame

Metaphorical gesture. One of many linguistic expressions that use the pointed human index finger as a metaphor. Other noun phrases include "pointed finger of accusation," "command," "freedom," "God," "lawlessness," "leadership" and "scorn." The "pointed finger of blame" phrase, itself, is widespread, e.g., in Irish Gaelic ("an locht a chur ar dhuine"), French ("pointer un doigt de blame") and Spanish ("dedo acusador").

Usage. 1. Verbally, the phrase may be used to describe a person's or group's responsibility for mistakes, bad decisions or wrongdoing. 2. Nonverbally, an extended index finger may be used as a gesture to identify wrongdoing persons or groups. 3. The widespread use of finger-of-blame locutions attests to the power of nonverbal pointing (see POINT).

See also WORD.

YouTube Video: Bill Clinton's infamous pointing gesture as he says, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman . . ." As the famous line by Shakespeare goes, "Me thinks he protest too much."

Copyright 1998 - 2021 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
Photo of Raphael Palmeiro testifying before a U.S. Congressional hearing on March 17, 2005. Note the pointing index finger, aimed at committee members, as Palmiero says, "I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never" (Givens 2008:10). (Picture credit: unknown.)