Date:  Wed, 8 Oct 1997 16:09:30 EDT
From:  "http://www.usa.net/~ague" <ague[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]REDRCK.ENET.DEC.COM>
Subject: Re: pop one's fingers

>>A friend of mine, African-American, reports that "finger popping" means
>>that one is going out for the evening, as in "Are you going out
>>fingerpopping tonite?" No specific activity is referred to, though dancing
>>is a common meaning. My friend was born in St. Louis, to parents from
>>Alabama and Kentucky. She says that she has heard and used the expression
>>most of her life.

This is exactly the same meaning I got from the Hank Ballard hit tune of the
late fifties, that a party was about to happen.

    Hey now, hey now, it's finger pop - poppin' time,
    Finger poppin', poppin' time,
    <mumble> feels so good, and that's a real good sign.

    Here comes Sally, here comes Sue,
    Here comes <mumble> and Bobby too.

etc.

Of course, as teen-age males, way before Weird Al's time, my friends and I
swore that Hank was actually singing a particular four letter word in place
of "pop".

-- Jim