Photo: Sarah Chai

What does a string on a finger mean?

tvtropes.org - String-on-Finger Reminder - TV Tropes

Why do men hide their feelings?

Why Do Men Hide Their Emotions? There's no argument that women are more likely to show their emotions than men. From an early age, men are...

Last updated May 7, 2020

What is the most common love?

Eros is a primal love that comes as a natural instinct for most people. It's a passionate love displayed through physical affection. These romantic...

Last updated Jun 9, 2019

Do you really know who the “One” is? Your true Soulmate?

Promotion

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StringOnFingerReminder

He finally remembered that he had a trope to illustrate.

If someone wants to remember to do something, they'll tie some string around a finger and keep it there until after they've done it. The string can work because seeing the string will make them remember why they put it there. However, one way to play with this trope is for the person to forget anyway and then try to figure out what they tied the string on there for. Likely to be used by Forgetful Jones or an Absent-Minded Professor. This trope was especially prevalent in the days before computers, but now that computers are portable and do a much better job of reminding you than this old method, this is a mostly Forgotten Trope. This has nothing to do with Strangled by the Red String or Red String of Fate, which are both about relationships. See also Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!.

Examples

open/close all folders

A couple of 1960s Kellogg's Corn Flakes commercials has Yogi Bear tying a string on his finger, telling the viewer "Don't forget to get thumb!"

Anime & Manga

An episode of Ranma ½ involves Akane helping Ryoga study so he can take a test and obtain his high school diploma (his absurd amounts of No Sense of Direction, obsession with getting Ranma (which made him wander the world) and being Book Dumb all conspired against him), but being so obsessed with clobbering Ranma and the fact Ranma is constantly pestering him because he's spending time with Akane, the poor girl forces him to promise not to fight and ties a neckerchief around his hand (a Japanese version of this trope) as a reminder. At the end of the episode in a moment that makes Ryoga burst out in Manly Tears, he decides he's too dumb and vengeance-obsessed to be able to keep his promise and follow through with what he wanted, takes off the kerchief, and wanders away.

Comic Books

Monica's Gang: Used in a short Chuck Billy story, as pictured above. It starts with Chuck failing to remember why he tied a string around his finger in the first place, spending the whole day asking people if they had anything to do with it. He finally remembers what he had to do during bedtime, which was to save his best friend, who was in a Literal Cliffhanger the entire time. A Penadinho storyline has Frank trying to remember why he tied a string around his index finger. When he finally gives up and undoes the knot, his finger falls to the ground, reminding him that the string was only there to keep the severed limb in place.

Film — Live Action

In It's a Wonderful Life, forgetful Uncle Billy has string tied around multiple fingers. One finger is supposed to help him remember to talk to the bank examiner, but the audience doesn't find out what the other strings are for.

Literature

In the young children's book Arent You Forgetting Something Fiona, Fiona the elephant has a poor memory, unlike the rest of her elephant family. When she signs up for a new exercise class, she ties a string around her trunk to remember where she's going, but forgets anyway. Thinking the string is a festive ribbon for a party, she buys a gift for her best friend, whose birthday isn't for another month. When she finally gets to the exercise class, the string makes a useful headband. The young children's series Gossie And Friends includes Peedie, a forgetful gosling. At the end of his book, after he's learned to be (somewhat) less forgetful, he has a string tied around his tail. In House of Many Ways, Peter needs to tie different colours of string to his fingers because he can't remember left from right. Then he appears with several strings around almost all of his fingers in order to navigate the titular House.

Who is the first kisser in the world?

First Recorded Kiss (circa 1500 B.C.) A scene of the Mahabharata with Gopis, Daughters of the Cowherds, and Krishna. Scholars debate whether...

Last updated Feb 25, 2022

How can we conceive twins?

Fertility treatment Some fertility drugs work by stimulating a woman's ovaries, which can sometimes cause them to release more than one egg. If...

Last updated Apr 16, 2020

Promotion

In the Scaredy Squirrel book "Scaredy Squirrel at Night", it lists the symptoms of sleep deprivation. One of them is forgetfulness, which is illustrated with a picture of Scaredy with a string around a digit of his paw. In Don't Forget the Oatmeal, a Sesame Street book, Ernie writes down a shopping list for his and Bert's trip to the supermarket, but since he forgets to write down "Oatmeal", Bert ties a string around his finger to help him remember. Cookie Monster goes to the supermarket around the same time as Ernie and Bert due it having a big sale on cookies. When Cookie reaches the cookie aisle, he eats every cookie in sight, making a huge mess of the store. Ernie and Bert help Cookie clean up and remind him to pay for the cookies he had broken and eaten, and when they arrive home, Bert still has the string around his finger, realizing that he and Ernie forgot to buy the oatmeal. Referenced in Summer Knight, the fourth Dresden Files book. To protect Murphy from a magical fog that causes forgetfulness, Harry casts a protective charm using a string tied around her finger as the focus, because of its symbolic association with memory.

Live-Action TV

In "It's All In Your Head" from Bear in the Big Blue House, Bear has a bunch of strings on his paws. One is to remind him to tell the kids of the Big Blue House that they're going to the fair, another is to remember to pack snacks, another to get a basket to put them in, and one to remember to clean up the house before they leave. In the The Book of Pooh episode, "Brain Drain", Eeyore has a string tied to his hoof to help him remember something, but he can't remember what it was. Eeyore's friends believe that Eeyore has a Brain Drain, and do everything in their grasp to jog his memory. At the end of the episode, Eeyore looks at the string, and remembers that he tied it to his hoof to help him remind Rabbit to pick his strawberries. The Cheers episode where Cliff went into the hospital had the gang miss a chance to visit him. Sam was busy and Norm claimed to feel nauseous when he entered a hospital. Woody, on the other hand, tied a string around his finger to remember and forgot why he tied it. However, we never find out what he tied the other string for. Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor uses this as a gag in "The Face of Evil", during a brief interim between Sarah Jane and Leela where he has no companion and talks to himself instead: The Doctor: (stepping out of the TARDIS and seeing a

(pulls out his hanky, which already has a knot tied in it)

Do narcissists have a favorite victim?

A closet (or covert) narcissist is the type who does not want to be seen to be openly chasing the limelight, so they tend to choose victims who...

Last updated Dec 3, 2019

How does a narcissist express his feelings?

Narcissists try to boost their self-confidence by imagining that they're completely self-sufficient and unaffected by feelings. They can't feel...

Last updated Jul 7, 2020

Promotion

The Doctor: Wonder what that was for! (mugs to camera) (stepping out of the TARDIS and seeing a jungle planet ) I think this is not Hyde Park. Could be a nexial discontinuity. Must remember to overhaul those tracers. Put a knot in my hanky...(pulls out his hanky, which already has a knot tied in it)Wonder what that was for! (mugs to camera) In the Mork & Mindy episode "Mork Runs Down", Mork ties a string around his neck and says that it's his species' way of remembering things. Mindy says that humans tie it around their fingers. Mork: That's how we used to punish cattle rustlers. There was an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 where TV's Frank tries to remember who Merritt Stone is and he has strings all over his fingers. A Bert and Ernie sketch on Sesame Street has Bert arriving home to find that Ernie has string tied around all ten of his fingers. Pointing at the first finger, Bert asks what the string on that finger is for. Ernie replies that it is to remind that he has a string on the next finger. Bert then asks him what that string is for, and Ernie says it is to remind him he has a string on the next finger. This proceeds through all of Ernie's fingers until they reach the last one. When a very exasperated Bert asks him what that string is for, Ernie says it is to remind him to buy more string.

Radio

In The Navy Lark Seaman "Fatso" Johnson once went around for an episode with a bit of string tied around his finger, unfortunately he couldn't remember tying it there so all it did was remind him he had forgotten something (at the end of the episode it was revealed: It was to remind him to buy string).

Video Games

Parodied in Kingdom of Loathing with the "invisible string" item — using it ties it around your character's finger, which the game admits "would probably remind you to do something if you could see it".

Web Comics

Jade Harley of Homestuck ties several colored strings around her fingers, each of which reminds her of a different thing. She removes most of them much later when the absurdity of SBURB makes them pointless.

Web Original

The Google Keep app's reminder feature has an icon of a finger with a string tied like a figure eight loop. The mascot for the ReminderFox browser add-in for Mozilla Firefox is a fox with a string tied around its finger.

Western Animation

tvtropes.org - String-on-Finger Reminder - TV Tropes

On which day black thread should be tied?

It is auspicious to wear black thread on your right or left wrist. When you wear black thread you should recite gayatri mantra everyday to maintain...

Last updated Mar 15, 2022

What is the fruit of Jesus?

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” – Galatians 5:22-23. Oct 22,...

Last updated Jul 17, 2018

Promotion

What's moving too fast in a relationship?

A sure sign that a relationship is moving too quickly is if you have trouble making decisions without your partner early on. It's not uncommon for...

Last updated May 13, 2021

Promotion

What ladies love most in a relationship?

12 Things Every Woman Wants When She's In A Relationship With You An Innate Closeness. Being close can mean different things at different times....

Last updated Jan 25, 2022