[Ads-l] pinky-swear

Mark Mandel mark.a.mandel at GMAIL.COM
Sat Oct 6 20:31:28 UTC 2018


Considering the rhymes, I have to assume censorship in publication.

Mark Mandel


On Sat, Oct 6, 2018, 3:34 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Doug Wilson notes that Wikipedia has a pertinent entry.
>
> Pinky swear (Pinky promise)
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinky_swear
>
> ...
>
> Year: 1848
> Book: Dictionary of Americanisms. A Glossary of Words and Phrases,
> Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States
> Author: John Russell Bartlett  ...
> Section: Appendix
> Quote Page 406
> Publisher: Bartlett and Welford, New York
>
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082311667?urlappend=%3Bseq=440
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> PINKY. (Dutch, pink.) The little finger. A very common term in New
> York, especially among small children, who, when making a bargain with
> each other, are accustomed to confirm it by interlocking the little
> finger of each other's right hands and repeating the following
> doggerel:
>
>
>
>
> * Pinky, pinky, bow-bell, Whoever tells a lie, Will sink down to the bad
> place, And never rise up again.*
> [End excerpt]
>
> ...

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