At the diner I worked at for years, my many male Guatemalan coworkers all had these. It made me think ‘coke spoon’ but I never heard/saw any evidence they did coke. They told me it was to scratch themselves, and they always did this gross thing to each other where they would scrape/flick each other painfully on the scalp or inside the ears with the long nail.
I’ve had a few friends kid me about my coke nail, but really, my left pink comes in contact with almost nothing, and its nail is usually the last to break. I don’t really trim my nails, but I will at times make a point of trimming my left pinky nail because it is noticeably longer than the rest, and I don’t want any flak.
I’ve seen this phenomena in many different countries, primarily in Spain, Germany, and Brazil. And as the OP said primarily with young professional guys. I asked one guy once and was told that it was a sign of not having to work hard labor. When out in the bars on the weekend, girls would know that they are professionals and not laborers.
I keep my right hand pinkie nail kinda long. I use it when playing guitar. It is my flink nail. Though my other nails on the right hand are long as well for finger picking.
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The pinky is the perfect size to scratch inside my ear, it just needs a little bit of a nail. That’s the purpose of the pinky finger. It is true that that one never breaks but sometimes when I’m trimming I do skip the pinky so I have an ear scratcher. Is it really that noticeable that I don’t always trim that one nail?
Yeah, it can be totally cultural. It’s an extremely common fashion in China, among people who would never dream of doing any kind of drug.
Fellow electrical engineer has a long pinky fingernail. He says he uses it as a screwdriver for tweaking small potentiometers.
Having never seen coke use except in movies or on TV, I am having a hard time envisioning how one uses a long pinky nail as a coke spoon without the coke falling off/out. How is this supposed to work?
IIRC in The Great Train Robbery (the book by Michael Crichton) there was a scene where an officer is questioning someone and notices a long pinky nail. He mentions them sometimes being kept by theives (good for picking locks) and sailors (some superstition for good luck). Does anyone else remember that?
I do. I love that movie.
To clarify my OP, I don’t see this in colleages. I see it in clients (or their parents, rather). Quite a different demographic than what you’re mentioning. This demographic tends toward a more solid form of cocaine.
Well I guess that explains the one my dad had. Figures.
I knew some middle aged hippies in the early nineties that had the coke nail, but did not do coke. However, they did other drugs and as I understood it, it was kind of an identifier so that the right people would know that these guys might want to buy some drugs. Perhaps it is similar with the “rock” aficionados.
Ayuh, it’s a Japanese thing too, and there are no coke spoons involved.
Today’s Japanese phrase of the day is 穴の掃除(ana no souji), literally “hole cleaning.”
A nice long pinky finger will grab those hard-to-reach nuggets, or pesky wax build-up, the odd bit of lint and, if no toothpicks are available after a meal…I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this… 
Stirring must be painful.
Imagine you have a pimp nail. Now hold your hand palm side up and extend only your pinky finger. Use the nail like a little shovel, and raise your finger straight up to your nose. Voila.
As said earlier, traditionally it’s for snorting coke.
It is very predominant in Indian men, too. My dad to this day keeps his pinky nails long, and I know he doesn’t do any drugs. Now he is a teetotaler, even! He uses it mainly for picking his nose (eeww) and for scratching various orifices.
I on the other hand keep my pinky nails long because as others have mentioned, they don’t break. I don’t care about anyone thinking it’s a coke nail. I think most people I care about know I don’t do any drugs and probably would never do anything stronger than pot, anyway (I’m rather strait-laced when it comes to that).
So, he uses it for tweaking, then?
Thank you. That makes a lot more sense than what I was envisioning – getting the pinky into the nose, nail first but “spoon” side up.