Pinky Promise

yubikiri genman uso tsuitara harisenbon nomasu yubi kitta = Pinky promise, if I lie, I will drink 1000 needles, and cut my pinky finger.


Pinky swears are used as a way to form a pact or as a declaration of friendship between children. While the practice is considered cutesy and juvenile to older persons, children often take this kind of gesture seriously, as if their very lives, or worse, friendships, hang in the balance of words spoken over interlocked fingers.

Usually this gesture is accompanied by a rhyme or "oath" spoken in unison by the pinky swearers. This can vary by region.

While North American children tend to use the chant "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," Japanese schoolchildren use the following "oath":

more...http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PinkySwear