Pinky swear

pinky swear

To pinky swear, or to make a pinky promise, is the entwining of the little fingers ("pinkies") of two people to signify that a promise has been made.

In the United States, the pinky swear has existed since at least 1860, when Bartlett's 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.^[1]

Pinky swearing presumably started 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." (「指切りげんまんうそついたら針千本のます」, "Yubikiri genman uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu").^[2] The gesture may be connected to the Japanese belief that soulmates are connected by a red string of fate attached to each of their pinkies.

In Japan, the pinky swear originally indicated that the person who breaks the promise must cut off their pinky finger.^[3] In modern times, pinky swearing is a more informal way of sealing a promise. It is most common among school-age children and close friends. The pinky swear signifies a promise that can never be broken.^[4]

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