Thumb Tribe

Term used in Asia to describe avid users of cellphones and other handheld gizmos.

South Koreans Ha Mok-min and Bae Yeong-ho recently became the first Mobile World Cup champions, according to The Times’s Choe Sang-Hun. Teams from 13 countries competed in the event to send the fastest and most accurate text messages:

Then they went thumb to lightning thumb, in five battles with names like “The Monsters’ Swamp” and “Race of Death.” When it was over, Ms. Ha and Mr. Bae were proclaimed the world’s fastest texters. An American team came in second, an Argentine team was third.

Since their return home with $50,000 in prize money each, Ms. Ha and Mr. Bae have become something approaching heroes to what Koreans call the “thumb tribe” — youngsters who feel more comfortable texting than talking.

The term thumb tribe has been in use across Asia for a number of years. The phrase appears to have originated in Japan, and Wordspy notes that the Japanese term for thumb tribe is oyayubizoku.

According to The Guardian, prior to its association with text messaging, “thumb tribe” was used to describe those who played pachinko – a Japanese game similar to pinball.