Tuesday, February 21, 2006

which one is correct?

You wanna say that you can count something using fingers (viral vittu enna koodiya alavu). How do you say that?

1. count with fingers
2. count by fingers
3. count on fingers

which is the correct usage?

J

6 comments:

expertdabbler said...

viral vittu ennina nu
thamizh la azhhaga sollamey:D

my choice is
"count on fingers"

ana english therinchavanga kitte confrm pannikavum :D

J said...

Thala :-) Tamizh theriyaathavangha kita solrathuku thaan kaetenae :-) btw, such a quick response. cool :-)

J said...

ohhh Thanks, JS! First time commenting here ...yehhhh :-)

Whoosh 2 said...

Its "Counting with your fingers"..

Here is the reasoning:

The act of counting is actually done in your head and your fingers are actually providing the "support" that you need.. So, theoretically speaking, the fingers are "with" you during the counting process..

"Count by fingers" isnt proper usage of the english language.. :(

"Count on fingers" isnt correct as the counting cannot be done "on" something physical.. Count on fingers would be a correct usage to talk about a "count" ( a number ) on a finger.. Eg: The count of rings on my finger is five!!

My five cents :)

J said...

Ohh Coool ra..nice explanation. Thanks Thanks!

J said...

Dumbs - :-)