pointing, not with finger

[Amy Dahlstrom]

Hello Algonquianists,

I'm a discussant at an upcoming conference on gesture, and one thing I 
thought I would mention to the (extremely diverse) audience is the 
practice among at least some of the Algonquian peoples of pointing with 
the lips or with the chin, rather than pointing with the finger.

I would like to ask you all how widespread this practice is.  And for 
native speakers (native pointers? :-) ), do you have any intuitions 
about why pointing with the finger is avoided?  Would it seem rude to 
point with the finger?  Or inappropriate in some other way?

thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!

Amy

P.S.  if you hit "reply" remember that you are replying to the whole 
list! :-)