Q: Origin and extension of "Finger-Fehler"

[Wilson Gray]

By "pronounce the /g/," do you mean pronounce "finger" as "fing-ger"
rather than as "fing-er"?

BTW, in at least some parts of the South, the German-style
pronunciation is used. In my birthplace, ordinary folk say "fang-uh."
The pronunciation,  "fing-uh" is hardly rare in the non-South. (Are
locations like Saint Louis, SouthSide Chicago, or South-Central Los
Angeles really "the North," WRT black speech?)

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 2:00 AM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: Q: Â Origin and extension of "Finger-Fehler"
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>
>>
>> I assume "Finger-Fehler" was created for chess. Â When did it become
>> extended to describe a typing error?
>>
>> Or is this the wrong list because it's German?
> -
>
> If it's used repeatedly in English, it's English, I guess, at least sort of.
>
> I just did a superficial Gugelblick.
>
> Of course "fingerfehler" is English-language (and interlingual) chess
> jargon for a long time, just like "zugzwang", "j'adoube", "en passant", etc.
>
> Outside chess, I see the expression from 1982 (ostensibly) at G. Books,
> from 1994 at G. Groups. Also from 1965 (ostensibly) at G. Books (with
> disgusting snippet) apparently referring to a typing error but in a
> chess context.
>
> "Fingerfehler" (= "finger error") ~ "lapsus digiti" ~ "slip of the finger".
>
> There is an alternative "Handfehler" ~ "lapsus manus" (sometimes "lapsus
> manu" [error?]) ~ "slip of the hand".
>
> Cf. "Zungenfehler" ~ "lapsus linguae" ~ "slip of the tongue", the model,
> maybe, at least in English.
>
> Also "lapsus calami" ~ "slip of the pen" = "writing error", "lapsus
> clavis" ~ "slip of the key" = "typing error" (this apparently more
> popular in Romance languages, and only recent).
>
> I suppose the use of a Germanism instead of a Latinism likely is
> influenced by the chess term.
>
> I've never heard/read "fingerfehler" in non-chess-related English
> myself, but it seems transparent enough, I guess.
>
> Do Anglophones usually pronounce the /g/? It seems to me that at least
> some do, but it's been a while since I've heard it and I may misremember.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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