What's the meaning of "put (one's) finger on something" in this sentence? What's the best summary of this text? What do you say if you want to sum it up in one or two sentences?
A lot of readers, wanting to put their finger on why the affluent world they live in makes them so uneasy, will want to cheer.
Source: The sentence comes from the opening paragraph of a book review in The Guardian.
Best Answer
I feel the other answers have missed a lot of the subtlety of the phrase.
It's not merely to point something out.
It's a recognition or demonstration of Insightfulness depending on the usage.
To put your finger on something is to reach the most vital point of the argument and do it with precision, typically pushing past any complexity to reach the crux of the problem.
In the context of being "unable to put my finger on it", it's a comment that insight into the problem isn't being forthcoming.
It stems from a family of metaphors around the idea of pinning or nailing things in place so that they are easier to work with.