Keep your fingers crossed!
Did you ever watch a movie or TV show where one of the characters crossed his fingers when he said something? Have you ever wondered what that meant?
Crossing one’s fingers has two meanings in American culture, depending on the situation. The first meaning is a positive one. It is a wish for good luck. We cross our fingers to express hope that a job interview, a test, or some such situation will turn out favorably for us. Crossing the fingers of both hands would be the equivalent of a double wish, or wishing extra hard that things turn out. It is believed that this custom of crossing fingers comes from the Roman Catholic practice of making the sign of the cross as a way of asking for blessing or protection. Making the sign of the cross involves not only the hands, but the arms, so it is very obvious when somebody does this. But crossing one’s fingers is easy to do secretly, quickly and quietly.
The other meaning of crossing one’s fingers is negative. Someone might cross his fingers as a kind of protection for telling a lie. We all know that we should tell the truth, and that lying is bad, so the popular belief is that we can protect ourselves from divine punishment if we cross our fingers when we tell a lie. Crossing our fingers then becomes an indication that we don’t really mean what we are saying. Sometimes in a movie, you might see one character crossing his fingers behind his back when he is making a promise or saying something to somebody else. Seeing the crossed fingers gives us a clue that the character is either lying or insincere.