Talk:Crossed fingers

message: Lots of cultures don't use these gestures in these ways, or only use them in one or the other -- for instance, in Switzerland while crossed fingers are used to cancel a lie, for good luck people press their thumbs. For that matter, neither of the UK references mention crossing fingers for lying, only for good luck, so crossing them for lying might be a German custom that only arrived in the US in the 19th century. Chronodm (talk) 19:25, 5 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  US / English-speaking world perspective 

message: --CopyToWiktionaryBot 04:35, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  2007-02-1 Automated pywikipediabot message 

message: …that a possible origin is that it mimics crossed legs, (historically) representing abstinence, the only way for a woman to guarentee not becoming pregnant, and therefore originally represents good luck for this reason. I can't seem to find the source, though. Anything to this? — Lenoxus 04:37, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  I've read… 

message: "Another key use for crossed fingers is anal penetration, with sufficient lubrication it is one of the most common ways to stretch out ones sphincter."
I removed that part of the article, not only because it lacks any reference, but also because it is not relevant enough to warranty its presence on the article. Feel free to place it back with proper reference. There was a link purpotedly to be a reference, but turned out to be a broken link.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.132.73.47 (talk) 13:57, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citation needed  

message: This seems ludicrously questionable to me. The cross was already a powerful symbol in Europe pre-christianity and it seems far more likely that it was coopted, much like everything else christian. This article is extremely lacking. 122.149.59.153 (talk) 11:01, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Right you are.  See http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1801/whats-the-origin-of-keeping-your-fingers-crossed for example.  I've made edits to the article to reflect this information.  Please review them. Cerberus (talk) 21:28, 19 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Christian Source 

message: If you look at the index and middle finger relative positions in the last supper painting in this wiki page, its not at all the same as the title image of crossed fingers, the positions that is in common use today. In the biblical image, there is no "crossing", the middle finger is just curved and gives an illusion of a slight cross when you look at it from the side.  Shiraz S (talk) 11:43, 23 November 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. I have removed the irrelevant image. --Macrakis (talk) 18:31, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Finger positions in common use of crossed fingers and supposed biblical use seems different 

message: I have removed references which do talk about judges saying "may God have mercy on your soul" but don't mention crossed fingers. I will check more of them later.
As for the Darrow quote, he is not literally claiming that judges are making a gesture of crossed fingers. The exact quote is: "...with most punishments lawmakers and executioners do the best they can even to accomplish this end [to destroy the victim's soul]. When judges blithely and sonorously add to the sentence: 'And may God have mercy on your soul,' they have their fingers crossed", this is obviously just a figure of speech for saying that the judges don't really want mercy for the victim. I have left this in the article for now, but will remove it absent some convincing refutation. --Macrakis (talk) 18:31, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Claim about judges 

message: In Japan, crossing fingers and saying "engacho" is like saying "(you're) dirty!". It's used among kids when someone touches or does something disgusting. Among adults it's used in a somewhat discriminatory fashion. I'm not Japanese or an expert, which is why I didn't add this in the article itself. Can someone confirm this? 77.125.96.213 (talk) 19:30, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Engacho in Japanese