"Matzatz" is used to denote using one's lips or mouth to take in a liquid as in a nursing baby (Isaiah 66:11) which is why the word for a pacifier ("dummy" for those who speak a Queen's English) is a "Motzetz" in Hebrew. During the Talmudic period, it came to mean anything having to do with soaking up. Although as a parent we sometimes use our finger to quiet an agitated child, we all know (except for the child) that they aren't going to get much nourishment from your finger. When a person is "Matzatz min haetzba," he is pulling nothing out of that finger, which means he has no basis for what he is saying. It's a well known fact that if you do this too often, your fingers will dry up altogether.

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