pointing, not with finger

[Robert Brightman]

Hi Amy:
Granville Lake late 70s thru at least 90s:  lips common [I noticed this 
when people had hands full]  didn't observe chin; finger is rude -- one 
explained by referring to paakahk jokes but this prob extemporized; 
dunno about hand gesture, Cheers!

On 3/6/13 5:54 AM, Amy Dahlstrom wrote:
> 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! :-)
>