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Crossing fingers as a sign of luck started in early Christianity.

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People used the cross shape as a secret symbol to ask for protection and good fortune.

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It was believed that the cross had special powers to stop bad things from happening.

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In the Middle Ages, people crossed their fingers to make a wish or hope for success.

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Crossing fingers also showed agreement or promise between people.

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Today, people cross their fingers when they want good luck or when they hope something will happen.

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Sometimes, people cross their fingers behind their back to show they are not being honest or don’t really mean what they say.

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Crossing fingers is now a common and simple gesture used all over the world.

Useful Phrases

“Cross your fingers!”

– A way to say “I hope for good luck.”

“Fingers crossed!”

– Said when hoping for a positive result.

“Break a leg!”

– Another way to wish someone good luck.

“Wish me luck!”

– Asking others to hope for your success.

“Good luck charm”

– An object or gesture believed to bring luck.

“Hope for the best.”

– Expect a positive outcome.

“Keep your fingers crossed.”

– Stay hopeful.

Hi, everyone. And welcome to one of your favorite segments【Oh, So That's Why!】《原来如此》. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

In this segment, 安澜 and I will get to the bottom of the origin stories of some of the most common gestures, behaviors and practices in either western culture or just in general.

Today we're going to look at some of you've probably seen in movies and TV shows a few times, crossing fingers.

Oh, yes! It is so common yet people have a lot of misunderstanding about it.

Yeah.

Because a lot of people would say this is just for good luck, but it's not as simple as that.

No.

这个手指交叉and this is distinctively western. In China, we don't have that.

Yep, so crossing fingers is a sign of luck and it started in early Christianity, simply because crossing fingers looks like a cross.

对的, 就是你的手指交叉的时候, 你相当于用手比了一个十字架, so it is stemming from religion.

It is, and it was believed that the cross had special powers.

So if you keep your fingers crossed, it stops bad things from happening.

Therefore, if you make a promise, if you make a wish, you have your fingers crossed, that means it's less likely for bad things to happen.

It's almost like you are using your own fingers to form a cross so that you can pray to god and then you can get his blessing.

Yes, and in Medieval Times, people crossed their fingers to make a wish or hope for success and it really carried on from then on.

Is it one hand or both hands? I've seen both.

It can be both.

It's a doubly wishing for good luck if you're doing it with both hands.

Yeah! You know you can see, for example, like award ceremonies and things like that where people have like both fingers crossed.

Be like, yes. Please, let me be the winner!

A lot of your traditions started in the Middle Ages.

Yeah. And a lot of them have some sort of religious significance. So we still do this. And even when you kind of type a message on a mobile phone, you got the cross-fingers emoji which people still use.

Yes, that is very true就是英文里的打字的时候表情符有一个就是 fingers crossed. It's fingers crossed, right, with an “s”?

Yeah.

So, fingers crossed because you have to use two fingers, your forefinger and your middle finger, your middle finger will be bent on top of your forefinger to form a cross.

So crossing fingers can also show agreement or a promise between people.

Agreement as in?

Basically it’s like, I agree with you. Let's do this. I hope for the best, it’s gonna be successful.

But what about sometimes you see people crossing their fingers but behind their back, they hide their hand behind their back. That is about something different, isn’t it.

That is! So sometimes people cross their fingers behind their back to show that they are not being honest or they don't really mean what they say.

So for example, if you make a promise to someone which you can't keep, then you kind of have your fingers crossed behind your back just to show, okay, I feel a bit bad for making this promise. This promise is not valid because I got my fingers crossed. So it's like almost like a prayer for forgiveness.

This is what I think. It’s actually quite easy to remember.

So if you're showing your cross in front of people, if you're crossing your fingers in front of them, to their face, you are praying for good luck, for blessings from god; but if you are lying and you're being dishonest, you hide it behind your back and you make a cross as in “God, please don't punish me for doing this terrible terrible thing. “

Yeah, That is it!

So for example, let's give our audience, for instance. For example, if 安澜and I are talking, and then, if 安澜asks me something and I say “yeah, I promise that's the truth“. But I'm actually lying to him. In that, I can, one of my hands behind my back and make a cross and go like “I'm really honest, I'm telling you the truth”.

Yeah, and it's just basically you're not being honest at all.

Yeah, crossing fingers, nowadays, it still means that, right, if people show their crossed fingers in front of you, it doesn't have any other hidden meaning negative?

No hidden meaning whatsoever. It's just a way of saying good luck. It's just a way of just kind of emphasizing that you really wish the best for that person.

I see.

But what about in China? Are there any symbols in China, things you do with your hands to show good luck?

I think it's, perhaps, I don't know if this is for everyone, but a lot of people would have praying hands.

Mhm. I always thought that was just for thanks.

You can use it on so many things. You can also like use it for kind of praying for good luck.

Yeah.

I don't think we have a specific gesture, maybe our audience can educate me, but I don't think we have a... really a national gesture for that sort of good luck.

When we wish people good luck, we probably would just say good luck! But in English you say, what was it, fingers crossed.

Yeah, so cross your fingers, which basically is what something you might say to your friends like I'm gonna go to my exam now cross your fingers for me.

Or fingers crossed!  I think these two are pretty much the same, or “tomorrow is the big day, fingers crossed”. “I'm going for a test, fingers crossed”.

Or “keep your fingers crossed”.

“Keep your fingers crossed”.

So if someone says I'm going for an exam, I've got a big interview, it’s like “I'll keep my fingers crossed”.

You can actually say this as you're wishing well for other people, wishing other people, good luck is like, “I will keep my fingers crossed for you”.

Yeah, or you can just say “keep your fingers crossed for me” or “wish me luck”.

Wish me luck. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. As British people would say.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, which I think is pretty accurate really.

When you say fingers crossed in this situation, would you actually cross your fingers or would you just say it?

Um, I would say you kind of also cross your fingers as well.  Or you could also say this in a text message as well. So if you send in a message, you can just kind of say fingers crossed and then you can put it an emoji there. We still use it.

That’s cute.

By the way, I heard when is it bad luck to wish people good luck? I think it was the theater.

It's in the theater.  So in the theater, you would say “break a leg”.

But only in a theater. Nowadays I think we can also say break a leg.

You can say it outside of the theater. But it just means the same thing, just means wishing someone good luck.

Without saying good luck. Because for some historical reasons, we can have another episode for it. And I think we did, in Etymology. 我觉得我们在《词源考古》里面说过这个. So sometimes it's bad luck to say, good luck, they say break a leg, but I guess you can say fingers crossed.

Absolutely.

It's just wishing for good luck. So next time, if you're trying to wish good luck for your friend or for people you know, you can just say fingers crossed.

I probably just say, go get them!

Go get them, tiger!

Perhaps not tiger. Alright, and on that note, we're gonna wrap up. Leave us a comment in the comment section. What would you say to wish people good luck or wish yourself good luck? Or is there a Chinese gesture that I cannot think of that means the same?  Let us know!

So until next time.

We'll see you next time.

Bye!

Bye!