Fingernails
Created | Updated Oct 20, 2010
Fingernails, along with toenails, are the most curious ongoing growing elements on Earth people. Unlike obvious growths that have to be trimmed, like hair or lesions, fingernails are comprised of solid, extremely palpable material that wouldn't appear at first glance to be something that needed to be cut off. But most intriguing about fingernails is the doctrine of fingernail etiquette collectively followed by most civilized societies.
This etiquette system largely involves the "right time" and the "wrong time" to cut, bite or pick off one's nails. If you're driving and you're alone in the vehicle, you can throw your trimmings anywhere you please. Even passengers in neighboring vehicles won't think it out of line if they see you throw a fingernail onto your floor. However, if you're driving and you have a passenger, he or she will have to be a relative or a really close friend to not think you're gross. If you're the passenger, it's usually bad manners to throw fingernails around no matter whose car it is; if it's your car and someone else is driving, you're okay provided the driver is, again, a relative or a really close friend. (Hopefully it will be one or the other if you're letting them drive.)
Fingernail etiquette takes years to really get the hang of. For instance, if you're in a fast-food restaurant with your cousin, you can pick your fingernail off and throw it wherever you please. But if you're in a fancy restaurant with your sweetheart, it would be considered disgusting unless you've been with them for over a decade. (If you've been together for over two decades, it's considered bad manners to not do these sorts of personal, intimate things around each other.)
This etiquette system largely involves the "right time" and the "wrong time" to cut, bite or pick off one's nails. If you're driving and you're alone in the vehicle, you can throw your trimmings anywhere you please. Even passengers in neighboring vehicles won't think it out of line if they see you throw a fingernail onto your floor. However, if you're driving and you have a passenger, he or she will have to be a relative or a really close friend to not think you're gross. If you're the passenger, it's usually bad manners to throw fingernails around no matter whose car it is; if it's your car and someone else is driving, you're okay provided the driver is, again, a relative or a really close friend. (Hopefully it will be one or the other if you're letting them drive.)
Fingernail etiquette takes years to really get the hang of. For instance, if you're in a fast-food restaurant with your cousin, you can pick your fingernail off and throw it wherever you please. But if you're in a fancy restaurant with your sweetheart, it would be considered disgusting unless you've been with them for over a decade. (If you've been together for over two decades, it's considered bad manners to not do these sorts of personal, intimate things around each other.)
