Word Usage – When Someone Is Pointing Angrily to Your Face

sentence-meaningword-choiceword-meaningword-usage

Let's say someone has got something to say about you to your face. As you know, in many cultures, it is rude to refer to someone with the forefinger (especially when it comes to anger or an argument!) Now, let's imagine you're from such a culture and a person is referring to you with their index fingers in a very angry way!
How would you warn them?
I have made up some sentences and I wonder which one sounds natural to you to be said to such a situation?
If none of them works here, then I would appreciate it if you let me know about the most natural way to say that.

  1. Don't point at me.
  2. Don't point to me.
  3. Don't point at me with your finger.
  4. Don't point to me with your finger.

Best Answer

Pointing a finger at someone may indeed be rude. Pointing a finger to someone is usually not rude at all.

The reason is that these imply different contexts. Pointing at someone is an aggressive gesture often indicating accusation.

The prosecutor pointed at the defendant as she addressed the jury. "Ladies and gentleman," she exclaimed, "the state will show that this is the man who committed the vile murder on the night of October 7th!"

Pointing to often merely indicates selection.

The two captains had the boys line up along the goal line. Each then took turns pointing to one of the boys to call him over onto his team.

This use can subtly change the nuance of an implied action:

"Mrs. Capshaw, can you show us the man you saw entering your neighbor's house the night of the murder?" the prosecutor asked.

Mrs. Capshaw nodded and pointed to the defendant. (selection)
Mrs. Capshaw nodded and pointed at the defendant. (accusation)

As for the answer to your question, it mostly depends on how aggressive you want to phrase your response. A simple request might be:

(Please) Don't point your finger at me.

or, alternately, you can take Canadian Yankee's suggestion of

Get your finger out of my face!

with a range of possible options in-between.

Related Topic