Three, Four or Five?

Most everyone has noticed that cartoon characters only have 4 fingers, actually it's 3 fingers and a thumb but that's kind of splitting hairs so we'll just go with the 4 finger idea. The reasoning behind the 4 finger deal goes way back to the first cartoons that were drawn by hand so in an effort to expedite the drawing process they went with 4 fingers and rationalized the decision by saying 5 fingers on a rounded character made their hands look like a bunch of bananas. Now for the exceptions to the 4 finger rule...in Japan the number 4 means death and missing digits also have other meanings so if western cartoons are exported to Japan they need to have all 5 fingers, there goes the cost savings! Then there are the 3 finger types which are meant to denote either an alien or a mutant like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now you probably know more about cartoon character's fingers that you ever wanted to know.