To make a pinky promise, or pinky swear, 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. The gesture is taken to signify that the person can break the finger of the one who broke the promise.[citation needed] The tradition appears to be a relatively modern invention, possibly as a continuation of older finger traditions.[1][2]
In North America, it is most common amongst school-aged children or adults and close friends and has existed since at least 1860, when the Dictionary of Americanisms listed the following accompanying promise:
Pinky, pinky bow-bell, Whoever tells a lie Will sink down to the bad place And never rise up again.[3]
Pinky swearing has origins in Japan from 1600 to 1803, where it is called yubikiri (指切り, "finger cut-off") and often additionally confirmed with the vow "Pinky swear, whoever lies will be made to swallow a thousand needles." (指切り拳万、嘘ついたら針千本呑ます, "Yubikiri genman, uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu.")[4]
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.[5][6]
In Taiwan, stamping after hooking pinkies has been commonplace for over 30 years.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
