# Men's Extra Long Pinkie Nails **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 1999, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904 "1999-05-15T00:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/1 "1999-05-15T05:08:00Z")
What is the story with extra long pinkie fingernails on men?  I have noticed this all over.  Does it have different significance in different cultures such as Asian vs. Hispanic vs. East Indian? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/2 "1999-05-15T05:12:00Z")
Maybe it’s a way to get the really deep boogers out. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/3 "1999-05-15T05:20:00Z")
- - - I seem to recall that in Europe during the middle ages it was expected of upper class men. It was so, I swear I read, that a man could discretely scratch at a woman’s door instead of knocking. I dunno why anyone else has them now. - MC ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/4 "1999-05-15T05:22:00Z")
Okay, this smacks of UL, but I’d heard that it had something to do with cocaine… easier than carrying around a little spoon. lovelee ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/5 "1999-05-15T05:31:00Z")
At one time, sailors grew a single long nail. Later, it was drug dealers. It may also have been common among other occupations or cultures. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/6 "1999-05-15T00:42:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe it’s a way to get the really deep boogers out. Whammy, you misread the question. The question asks about nails, not the fingers. Anyway, I just took a look at my pinkie fingernails, and I don’t know how long “long” is. * * * “[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/7 "1999-05-15T00:57:00Z")
It’s no UL, lovelee, the long pinkie nail is expressly for scooping up a small portion of schnizz and ferrying it to the nostril(s). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/8 "1999-05-15T01:04:00Z")
i dont know about the pinkie fingernails, but i keep my left thumb nail long so i can get into taped up boxes easier…and so i can scratch itches easier when i cut the other 9 nails =). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/9 "1999-05-15T01:38:00Z")
I’ve gotta agree with RTA on this one. I was a patron of several Hollywood nightclubs in the early 80s and that is exactly what long pinky nails were for. Some of these guys deluded themselves into thinking that a cop who might notice a little coke spoon hanging from a gold chain neckless, wouldn’t make the same connection with the long pinkie nail. Most of these morons didn’t make it out of the 80s alive. Natural selection at work, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 1999, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/10 "1999-05-15T02:54:00Z")
Dual purpose; First you dig out the boogers (which get in the way), then you scoop up the dope. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 1999, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/11 "1999-05-16T01:29:00Z")
Oh. My. God. The guy I went out with last night has a long pinkie nail. Now I have a _good_ reason never to call him again. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 1999, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/12 "1999-05-16T09:11:00Z")
Amen, matt\_mcl. Though, (assumptions via the ‘Old Navy’ thread)… he may have no idea what he’s doing, and is just influenced by the evil woman with the funny glasses and that awful dog. The media can be so cruel. lovelee ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 1999, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/13 "1999-05-17T00:58:00Z")
I have been told here in Spain that growing a long pinky nail is a sign that its wearer does not do hard physical labor. This is a working-class custom, it seems. I’ll ask my barber next time I see him about why he wears a long pinky nail. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 1999, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/14 "1999-05-17T07:51:00Z")
Damn it Lawrence, I was gonna turn up this gem of wisdom, and you beat me to it. The custom of having one long pinkie fingernail predates widespread cocaine use. That drug-users adopted the curtom is now wonder, but the real reason is to sport that you don’t do hard physical work. CT ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 1999, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/15 "1999-05-17T11:50:00Z")
[- - - I seem to recall that in Europe during the middle ages it was expected of upper class men. It was so, I swear I read, that a man could discretely scratch at a woman’s door instead of knocking. I dunno why anyone else has them now. - MC] I believe that it was the custom in the days of Louis the 14th. Or, was it the 13th? I just know it was the bastid who called himself the Sun King. * * * “If A=B, B=C, and C=D, do not get a job proofreading” --Quid’s Theorem ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 1999, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/16 "1999-05-17T15:08:00Z")
A buddy of mine grows his pinky nail long so he can use it as a guitar pick. It does improve his technique! And I know for a fact he’s no coke user so there. 🙂 * * * All Hail Unca Cecil, or the next best thing available! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 1999, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/17 "1999-05-18T07:49:00Z")
I seem to recall hearing that in the antebellum South, gentlemen would grow a long pinkie nail for use during fistfights, as a handy eye-gouger. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 1999, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/18 "1999-05-21T06:51:00Z")
To summarize: It sounds like we grow them long for a multitude of reasons: recreation, ritual identification & nose picking to name but a few. In other words, not only have we learned to use tools, we have even started growing them on our bodies. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 1999, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/19 "1999-05-21T22:10:00Z")
John Steinbeck, in _The Wayward Bus_ (1947) describes a creepy bus driver who grows his pinky nail long for no particular reason except the gratification of noticing the other bus drivers doing it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-extra-long-pinkie-nails/2904/20 "1999-08-30T08:37:00Z")
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