Most of us have heard of the pinky promise or pinky swear. To those of you who don’t know, you may be wondering, what is a pinky swear? Basically, it is the act of hooking pinky fingers together to seal a deal or promise. In some areas, people kiss the hand to seal the deal. It is also possible for the swear to go three ways, as shown on the right.
Traditionally, the swear is considered the highest promise of all promises and the pinky wuld have to be severed if the promise was broken. In modern times, this is much more informal and common among school-age children and close friends. The pinky swear cannot be broken or countered by crossing of the fingers, either. It can only be broken if all parties agree or the majority agree to break it.
So, the origin?
For all you manga lovers out there, this most likely comes from Japan. In anime, this is called a yubikiri (指切), Japanese for “Finger Cut-off”. (For those of you who know of hara-kiri, that also involves cutting. See the similarities?) Apparently, it is common in manga and even has a Japanese word for it. For this, I believe it to come from Japan.
Don’t quote me on it, though!
If you think you know where it comes from, tell us below!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s also what Koreans ALWAYS have done to signify a promise.
Yes, because everything was invented in Korea.
haha and everything invited in korea is small….
In Japanese culture, there is an idea that souls are bound together by red strings on the pinky. Women who were forced into arranged marriages would cut off their pinkies and give it to the one they truly loves, so that the string that bound their souls would never be broken.
yeah that sounds like a fucking great idea…
It must be Japanese or Asian because my Japanese mother and I had pinky finger promises back 60 years ago. So when I saw it recently on TV among non-Japanese, I was a bit surprised.