Last May I saw children in a Yorkshire Pennine primary school playing a
dueling game which began with a hand grip, fingers joined, thumbs sticking
up. The thumbs were then flipped back and forth over each other as the
players chanted:
One two three four
I declare a thumbs war
Five six seven eight
Try to keep your thumb straight.
The contest then began. But I am a bit hazy about whether this consisted in
just a brute force push with the thumbs until one or other submits or
something a little more involved and skillful.
Shortly after seeing this for the first time I was excited to see it played
by Arnold Schwarzeneger and Jamie Lee Curtis and their family right at the
end of the 1994 movie True Lies.
More recently I saw a reference to Thumb Wrestling in Alan Milberg's 1976
Street Games. But there it was just a picture with no description.
Anybody else seen this in the UK? Or played it? Or read about it? And
assuming it's an American import, when was it first recorded there? And can
we date its arrival here? Surely it didn't come with the movie?
Gareth Whittaker
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