MovieChat Forums > Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2014) Discussion > The finger nail cutting metaphor

The finger nail cutting metaphor

posted 9 years ago by Bob_Brooker
5 replies | jump to latest

Seligman:

Well, I divide humanity into two groups:
The people who cut the nails on the left hand first and the people who cut the nails of the right hand first. My theory is that the people who cut the nails of the left hand first, they're more light-hearted. They have a tendency to enjoy life more because they go straight for the easiest task and save their difficulties for later.

I wonder who of you starts cutting the nails of their dominant hand first? If you do, would you see any significance in it?

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Last movie watched: Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (6/10) - theatrical cut

[–] atsuinakada 9 years ago

Bob_Brooker,

I think your wording is way better. Saying "the dominant hand" makes more sense since not all people are right handed. And what about the ambidextrous? How would this have any meaning in those cases? Or those born without limbs or lost them at some point? I thought it was an interesting thought and could have some truth to it, but not necessarily significant. Seligman tended to be overly deep/analytical at times, which could border on annoying or make for stimulating conversation.

[–] JellyFish19 9 years ago

What about the people who never cut their nails and just bite them?

[–] CaraBelubin 8 years ago

I looked at my hands (i'm right-handed) at this moment and burst out laughing because of this BS. Seligman was clearly seeing the world only in black & white.
There are so many shades of grey he didn't had the slightest clue of ...
I.e. back to my hands and the reason i laughed: The nails on my left hand had an appropiate lenght (yes, i started cutting on my non-dominant hand) while the nails on my right hand were way to long since i was to lazy to cut them for over several weeks ...  

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sorry for bad spelling and grammars, english isn't my language

[–] Bob_Brooker 8 years ago

Your example is an extreme case but still within the boundaries of the metaphor. You went for the easy task and never even considered the more difficult one. So what does that tell us about you? ;-)

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Last movie watched: Children of Men (10/10)

[–] CaraBelubin 8 years ago

Not was Seligman derived. It's not more light-hearted when someone goes after the easy part of a task first and then discovers that the second part is to heavy to fullfil ... 

btw now the nails on my right hand a tiny little bit shorter than the nails on my left hand (because i only clipped the right hand nails) ... 

So what does that tell us about you? ;-)

I'm not doing things like the majority of people ... *hehe* 
Seligman would despair over a person like me, i would make his worldview sway! 

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sorry for bad spelling and grammars, english isn't my language