Just for information’s sake, in many european countries and South Africa it is known as “Clutching Thumbs” or “Grasping Thumbs.” Your fingers don’t have anything to do with it. I was confused for awhile when having to resort to sign-language because of language break-downs…occasionally people would hide their thumbs in their fists and look at me hopefully. I thought they were about to hit me, not trying to say “With luck the tram will start moving again soon.”
Link to the Mailbag Answer being discussed: What’s the origin of keeping your fingers crossed?
Please, if the person starting a new topic here would provide the link to the Mailbag Answer being commented on, it makes it easier for others to follow the thought. And cuts down on duplication, as well.
Tomcat, you dog, you beat me to it. Except in Germany one “presses thumbs” (drucken die Daume) by pressing your thumbs against your index fingers. The thumbs remain scandelously exposed.
How the heck does that tie into crossing fingers?
Presumably, a variation on the same tradition, although that’s just a WAG on my part. After all, a tradition that’s several thousand years old could be expected to have produced local variants (notice how I didn’t say “deviants” because I know what you’d do with THAT.)