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Xander
06-16-2005, 10:16 PM
This is going to sound weird but..I'm actually really curious..why do we have finger and toenails? I mean what is their purpose? I bite my nails and lots of people cut them short, so it's not like we actually USE them for anything. I mean if we didn't have them, would it make much difference?

Psychotic
06-16-2005, 10:17 PM
To make girl fights more entertaining.

Rye
06-16-2005, 10:18 PM
This is going to sound weird but..I'm actually really curious..why do we have finger and toenails? I mean what is their purpose? I bite my nails and lots of people cut them short, so it's not like we actually USE them for anything. I mean if we didn't have them, would it make much difference?

Yeah, I am a serious nail biter, my nails are awful. So I wonder why we do have them. We probably have them from when we actually had to hunt for food with minimal weapons..

Chris
06-16-2005, 10:18 PM
To protect the fragile finger skin. OBVIOUSLY. :greenie:

Master Quan
06-16-2005, 10:19 PM
I think they derive from some sort of claws that we may have had at some point.

The Anarchy Angel
06-16-2005, 10:19 PM
Nails?
a) good weapons
b) protect the ends of our fingers and toes to stop any harm coming to the fleshy bit
c) an extra part of out body to decorate with colours and stick-on jewels

Oh the joys.

Yamaneko
06-16-2005, 10:20 PM
To pick and eat the ticks off each others backs.

Cruise Control
06-16-2005, 10:21 PM
God gave us fingernails so we could open the soda cans he knew we would invent.

Reles
06-16-2005, 10:21 PM
Actually nails are for scratching yourself. Everyone itches from time to time and it'd be annoying if you couldn't scratch without fingernails.

Destai
06-16-2005, 10:22 PM
I dont bite my nails. I bit them once to see what it felt like and it didnt seem very interesting. Nails are useful for adding pressure to your fingers. Theyre firmer than plain skin.

TasteyPies
06-16-2005, 10:22 PM
To pick our noses.

Dr.K
06-16-2005, 11:16 PM
I'd say, by evolutionary terms, as a weapon. I can see someone who has sizeable nails doing better generally in combat than someone who has a lump of flesh and bone. That's only my reasoning though, and is thus probably lame.

SomethingBig
06-16-2005, 11:23 PM
Mr. Cavemen prolly needed Mrs. Fingernail for digging and murdering.

Resha
06-16-2005, 11:25 PM
To scratch with?!?!?! *thinks* Not sure...

Jojee
06-16-2005, 11:27 PM
I bite my nails too ^^ But having them are really useful and come in handy!

...lol, handy.

Anyway. Nails are more useful than hair, yes.

Shoden
06-16-2005, 11:29 PM
gah ingrown toenails they give you so much pain and agony

nails exist to use to scratch

44 caliber
06-16-2005, 11:30 PM
To pick stuff up with.

My pointer finger nail was ripped off & I tried to pick up a quarter off of a table and I couldn't do it. It was frustrating. :mad2:

DHEvil
06-16-2005, 11:30 PM
Evolution *Pfft*.

Fingernails are there because it protects the skin, to scratch yourself and etc etc we've heard all that.

Toenails are there because we can stub our toes. Toenails act as somesort of guard from that.

Rini
06-16-2005, 11:30 PM
Nails are funny. But useful when I feel itchy or want to scratch my boyfriend xD

SomethingBig
06-16-2005, 11:31 PM
They're actually sex tools.

Orestes
06-16-2005, 11:53 PM
Finger nails rate up there with pubic hair.

Poopcannon
06-17-2005, 12:02 AM
Nails are there to give support to our extremeties (fingers and toes) while walking and picking stuff up (with your hands and feet respectively...). They also help to stop you from breaking the very top of your fingers and toes (although they havn't helped me recently...)

Rase
06-17-2005, 12:05 AM
According to my sister, to scratch me with.

Destai
06-17-2005, 12:27 AM
They're actually sex tools.Im going to be awake all night trying to figure that one out.

Cuchulainn
06-17-2005, 12:32 AM
Im going to be awake all night trying to figure that one out.
I wouldn't experiment on that theory all night if I were you...could get messy & cut your family tree to a stump.



On the Q, Google is you friend


"Why do we have fingernails?"

"Our fingernails are similar to claws or hooves found in other
animals. More generally called “digital appendages”, they are enlarged
keratinized structures (the same stuff that horns are made out of)
that protect the tips of the fingers and toes in most vertebrate
species, or aminals with backbones. Fingernails are broad, and
slightly curved, and mostly cover the top surface of our fingers.

In other species, this structure is slightly different - for example,
crocodiles have a thimble-shaped structure that covers the whole tip
of their digits, whereas hawks and owls have talons, highly recurved
claws specialized for prey capture, and horses and cows have hooves
that protect their feet.

So, the reason we have fingernails is simply that everyone in our
family tree has some sort of digital appendage that probably served to
protect fingertips in our distant ancestors, and each group has
evolved modifications that best fit their needs for a particular
environment. Fingernails in monkeys, apes and humans always cover only
one side of the fingertip and thus they protect but don’t limit the
motion or sensitivity of our fingertips."

Madame Adequate
06-17-2005, 12:34 AM
Opening soda cans, picking up coins, and clawing out eyes are just three of the many and varied uses for nails!

Toenails remain unfathomable. I fail to see what possible protection they could hope to offer. Indeed, if you hit your toe hard enough for it to need protecting, you'll probably end up driving the nail up into your toe or shattering it or something. Grisly.

Yuffie514
06-17-2005, 02:41 AM
weapons out of anything, weapons out of nails! i cut mine's and make them look like kitty claws :D .

Shlup
06-17-2005, 03:22 AM
I use them for scratchin'.

Captain Maxx Power
06-17-2005, 11:34 AM
I believe nails help against infection, much like hair in the nostril they trap dust and the like we pick up from touching stuff rather than it being deposited on our fingers. They are also generally useful for gaining access to food, in our case the best thing I can think of would be Bananas, our nearest cousin's favourite snacktime treat. I really don't buy the whole used in combat thing. They're flimsy, blunt and cause only superficial damage.

Devourment
06-17-2005, 11:37 AM
I use mine for... NOTHING!

RedFoxIHavdaGunIlCU@0800
06-17-2005, 11:53 AM
we have nails because we would look stupid without them

bigbri2k5
06-17-2005, 11:57 AM
to protect that soft skin undeneath.(it hurts like hell if you pull it off)
that makes sense to me but what is the point in eyebrows? the girls in my school pluck them and redraw them in pencil wtf?

Madame Adequate
06-17-2005, 12:50 PM
to protect that soft skin undeneath.(it hurts like hell if you pull it off)
that makes sense to me but what is the point in eyebrows? the girls in my school pluck them and redraw them in pencil wtf?

Eyebrows help keep rainwater out of one's eyes.

And those girls will, like as not, look dumb.

Meat Puppet
06-17-2005, 01:52 PM
used to strum guitar strings

Devourment
06-17-2005, 02:17 PM
used to strum guitar stringsDon't you use a plectrum for that? ;)

For finger picking guitar strings.

Jack
06-17-2005, 02:26 PM
To make "bedroom time" more fun/dangerous/ridiculous

Polaris
06-17-2005, 02:28 PM
I don't use coz I don't have!

Poopcannon
06-17-2005, 05:04 PM
used to strum guitar stringsDon't you use a plectrum for that? ;)

For finger picking guitar strings.
You don't use a plectrum for Spanish guitar...

Ashi
06-17-2005, 06:51 PM
I use them to grab tiny things and do things to tiny things my fingers can't do. Like get the small thing that holds earrings on and off so the earring actually stays. Putting keys (or the thing at the end of a zipper) inside a keychain, I could never do that with my nails cut short. Also need them to get the plastic off of dvd box covers, could never do those without having to find something sharp if my nails couldn't do any damage. Sometimes I have trouble taking my contact lenses out if my nails are too short, but it's just as difficult if they get too long. I also paint them and make them look pretty to match whatever I'm wearing.

Also, don't you notice that if you cut your nails a little too short, your finger starts to hurt? My sister says hers bleed if she cut the nail too short. Maybe it's better to ask why is the skin under the nail too soft and delicate and need cover?

The Anarchy Angel
06-17-2005, 07:07 PM
Because it never formed properly

boris no no
06-17-2005, 07:13 PM
i cannot see how people can bite their nails! ewwwwww icky!!
i liek to sharpen mine so i can scratch people xD
MEOW! :love:

ZuZu
06-17-2005, 07:15 PM
I bite my nails and lots of people cut them shortMe too. And I have said this before that I rip my toe nails off.

I use my "nails" to catfight :D

Zeldy
06-17-2005, 08:39 PM
I love my nails, there so long :love:
Ive never bit my nails xD
We use nails everyday, opening cans.. i usually use my nails to pick thins up a bit until i actually grab it with my fingers... omg that sounds wrong >_<

Ryth
06-17-2005, 08:46 PM
1) To scratch with.
2) To help pick stuff up with it helps you hold stuff somehow
3) Protection of the fleshy stuff underneath.

Old Manus
06-17-2005, 08:46 PM
In Soviet Russia, nail bites YOU

rubah
06-17-2005, 09:15 PM
You might as well ask 'why do we have lips.'

44 caliber
06-17-2005, 09:17 PM
In Soviet Russia, nail bites YOU
In Soviet Russia, car drives you!