Pinky swear

To pinky swear, or to make a pinky promise, is a traditional gesture most commonly practiced amongst children involving the locking of the pinkies of two people to signify that a promise has been made.[1] The gesture is taken to signify that the person can break the finger of the one who broke the promise. The tradition appears to be a relatively modern invention, possibly as a continuation of older finger traditions.[2][3]

Pinky swear

Prevalence worldwide

In the United States, it is most common among school-aged children and close friends and has existed since at least 1860, when Dictionary of Americanisms listed the following accompanying promise:

Pinky, pinky bow-bell,
Whoever tells a lie
Will sink down to the bad place [sic]
And never rise up again.[4]

Pinky swearing has an equivalent in Japan, where it is called yubikiri (指切り, "finger cut-off") and often additionally confirmed with the vow "Finger cut-off, ten thousand fist-punchings, whoever lies has to swallow thousand needles." (指切拳万、嘘ついたら針千本呑ます, "Yubikiri genman, uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu").[5]

Recently in South Korea, the hooked pinky has been followed by a "seal", wherein the thumbs touch each other while the pinkies are still hooked.[6][7]

In Belfast it is referred to as a "piggy promise".[2]

In Italy a similar tradition is called "giurin giurello" or "giurin giuretto".

References
  1. Radiography of the Upper Extremities. CE4RT. 2014.
  2. Roud, Stephen (2010). The Lore of the Playground: One Hundred Years of Children's Games, Rhymes and Traditions. Random House. ISBN 9781905211517.
  3. Roud, Steve (October 29, 2010). "The state of play". The Guardian.
  4. "Pinky". Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms. googlebooks. 1860. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  5. Daijirin
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28pUzpLVpYo
  7. "The Korean Promise 👍"약속" (yaksok) | K-Drama Amino". aminoapps.com. Retrieved Aug 6, 2020.
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