Thumbs up to thumbs: The coolest of digits

Let us celebrate the coolest of digits: the thumb.

An astronaut recently plugged a hole in the international space station with the simplest of objects, his thumb.

Astronauts discovered a 2-millimeter hole in the orbital compartment of the Soyuz MS09. Astronaut Alexander Gerst, from the European Space Agency, performed a basic task, he covered the wound with his thumb.

NASA ground control realized the obvious; this was not a permanent solution. Eventually the astronauts sealed the hole with high-end duct tape, what you or I, or maybe even Tim Allen, might choose to fix a hole in space with.

It reminds me of the Little Dutch Boy who saved the day by sticking his thumb in the dike. Unfortunately, duct tape was not yet invented.

The opposable thumb makes us different from most of the animal world.

Just try typing or hitching a ride without a thumb. Many use a thumb to text.

There would be no twiddling of the thumbs and how hard would it be to play almost any musical instrument?

Mittens keep hands warmer than gloves and it’s easier to hold a ski pole with only that thumb sticking out. Breaking a thumb is probably the most common skiing injury.

Without thumbs, would we get a discount on manicures with only four digits and would shoplifting no longer be called taking the five finger discount?

A thumb is all its own. Most of us probably don’t consider it a finger, but something far different. Fingers clench and thumbs grip.

Middle school would have been very different if there was no thumb wrestling.

Also, in elementary school, most everyone made Thanksgiving turkeys by tracing a hand and making the thumb the head of the bird.

Sports would differ without the use of thumbs. How to grip a baseball, basketball or golf club without it? And the hole in a bowling ball is exaggerated to house this most perfect of digits.

If you’re clumsy, you’re all thumbs. No finger gets a thimble to protect it; that thumb must rate highly.

We vote with our thumbs. Without much imagination, at the Roman Coliseum, you can almost see that king in the front row giving the thumb’s up or thumb’s down to some poor sap fighting a lion.

And Fonzie doesn’t stick up fingers to show his approval.

My favorite Philadelphia museum is the Rodin. Part of the allure is the ability to see Rodin’s thumb prints in the finished work. There is no better way to sign something than with a thumb print.

I’m proud to say, several banks have my thumbprint on file.

Why is it called a thumb drive and why was he named Tom Thumb?

In Boy Scouts, we were taught to measure something at ground level with an extended thumb. Make a six foot scoutmaster a thumb’s length. Then add several thumbs equaling six feet each to get a total height. A tree measuring seven thumbs (or seven, six foot tall scoutmasters) would be 42 feet tall.

The thumb might just be the reason we evolved from apes and aren’t still swinging from the trees.

If I get a vote, I’ll keep my thumbs. It’s all thumb’s up for me. Bill Rettew Jr. is a weekly columnist and Chester County native. While he has never had his thumbs manicured, he is tempted. You may contact him at brettew@dailylocal.com

Try holding a 2-liter bottle without a thumb.