My 8-year-old niece went for her first guitar lesson recently, and her music teacher suggested an exercise in which she was to lay her hands palm down on a flat surface and wiggle each finger in turn. When I tried it, I found that my ring finger on both hands was much less able than any of my other digits (including my thumb); I could barely lift it off the surface, let alone wiggle. When I put my knuckles on the surface in the form of a fist and extended each finger in turn, the ring finger was the only one I could not lift from the surface at all. Why is this? Presumably if I鈥檓 ever tortured and about to lose a finger, I should request that it be my ring finger鈥�
Sally Goble, London, UK