# Wishbone



## Encolpius

Wishbone is a V-shaped bone between the neck and breast of a chicken, duck, etc. _*When the bird is eaten, this bone is sometimes pulled apart by two people, and the person who gets the larger part can make a wish.*
_
Hungarians do not use wishbone as a good like charm and do not make wish after eating a chicken. I wonder if that is a British custom only. Thanks a lot.


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## Juan Jacob Vilalta

We do that in France. With the little finger.


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## Hyper Squirrel

It's also done in America.


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## Mishe

In my family we also do it.


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## Miguelillo 87

Here in Mexico we don't do it, I was aware of this tradition but only for haveing seen it on American TV shows. Here we use an eyelash.


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## Trisia

I've seen people do it over here in Romania, but not often. I think my parents told me about it first, so it's probably not something recently imported, but I'm not sure.


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## la_machy

¡¡Yo sí he jugado a pedir deseos con el huesito del pollo, usando el meñique!! Por lo menos, en Sonora sí se hace, no todos pero algunos sí lo hacemos.



¡Saludos!


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## winegrower

Here, in Greece we have the chicken-bone game with a small variation. It has the strange name-yâdes , which, I just checked, comes from turkish and means to remind. Actually it is like a memory game where after the bones are pulled apart, the first player who accepts an object from the other's hand without saying I remember, loses.
We also have the eyelash game in the variety described by Miguellilo, with the finger tips.


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## Miguelillo 87

la_machy said:


> ¡¡Yo sí he jugado a pedir deseos con el huesito del pollo, usando el meñique!! Por lo menos, en Sonora sí se hace, no todos pero algunos sí lo hacemos.
> 
> 
> ¡Saludos!


 
Bueno parece que esto del huesillo ¡Ya traspasó fronteras! jeje 

Bueno y aprobechando la ocnversación ¡¡Suerte a todos!! Good luck everybody!! Bon chance à tous!!


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## sokol

I don't know this habit from Austria - I've never seen it done in my family nor with friends in Graz and Vienna.


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## Lupen The Third

Never seen this habit here in Italy and maybe nobody does it 

Greetings,
ルパン三世


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## Adolfo Afogutu

Sí, yo lo conocía como huesito de la suerte. Encontré dos nombres que están en el DRAE para referirse al dichoso huesito:

*espoleta**2**.*
 (De _espuela_, por la forma).
* 1.     * f. Horquilla formada por las clavículas del ave.


*fúrcula**.*
 (Del lat. _furcŭla_).
* 1.     * f._ Zool._ Hueso de las aves con aspecto de horquilla, formado por la soldadura de ambas clavículas.


Saludos


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## la_machy

Adolfo Afogutu said:


> Sí, yo lo conocía como huesito de la suerte. Encontré dos nombres que están en el DRAE para referirse al dichoso huesito:
> 
> *espoleta**2**.*
> (De _espuela_, por la forma).
> *1. *f. Horquilla formada por las clavículas del ave.
> 
> 
> *fúrcula**.*
> (Del lat. _furcŭla_).
> *1. *f._ Zool._ Hueso de las aves con aspecto de horquilla, formado por la soldadura de ambas clavículas.
> 
> 
> Saludos


 
No sabía. 
Muy interesante, Adolfo. 
Pero creo que me gusta más _*'huesito de la suerte',*_ (Whishbone)


Saludos


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## rusita preciosa

It is done in  Russia.

Also, we knock together hard-boiled eggs; luck to the person whose eggshell didn't break.


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## Mishe

winegrower said:


> Here, in Greece we have the chicken-bone game with a small variation. It has the strange name-*yâdes* , which, I just checked, comes from turkish and means to remind. Actually it is like a memory game where after the bones are pulled apart, the first player who accepts an object from the other's hand without saying I remember, loses.
> We also have the eyelash game in the variety described by Miguellilo, with the finger tips.



In Serbian this game is called jadac (pronounced ya-dats).


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## Chaska Ñawi

My friends in Argentina make bets over the wishbone instead of wishes.  My god-daughter won 40 pesos from her father one day when she ended up with the larger half.  Apparently it doesn't have to be money, though; you can bet anything you like on the outcome.


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## Tagarela

Hyper Squirrel said:


> It's also done in America.



If you mean USA with _America_...I have never heard of anything like that in Brazil, perhaps it's an old habit or common in other parts of the country where I have never been.


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## Grefsen

Encolpius said:


> Wishbone is a V-shaped bone between the neck and breast of a chicken, duck, etc. _*When the bird is eaten, this bone is sometimes pulled apart by two people, and the person who gets the larger part can make a wish.*
> _
> Hungarians do not use wishbone as a good like charm and do not make wish after eating a chicken. I wonder if that is a British custom only. Thanks a lot.


Here in California I have been doing this since I was a small child. Typically we also let the "wishbone" dry for some time before we attempt to pull it apart.


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## sundreez

The tradition dates back to the fourth century BC, with the Greeks and Romans. Pulling the dry turkey or chicken bone until it snapped ("lucky break"),  believing the winner's wish or dream would come true.


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## Abu Rashid

Australia - Yes.


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## Mishe

sundreez said:


> The tradition dates back to the fourth century BC, with the Greeks and Romans. Pulling the dry turkey or chicken bone until it snapped ("lucky break"),  believing the winner's wish or dream would come true.



I'm afraid turkey wasn't available until the 16th century in Europe, so it had to be a chicken or a duck bone.


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## DearPrudence

Juan Jacob Vilalta said:


> We do that in France. With the little finger.


Sorry to post just to say that I don't agree but I've never seen that in *France *and only saw it in American series (actually persons I asked didn't even know what to call the "wishbone" in French (as a matter of fact, I don't either)).
Never heard of that tradition with the little finger either.


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## sundreez

I don't understand how the little finger can be used that way.


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## Encolpius

sundreez said:


> I don't understand how the little finger can be used that way.



In 'Allo, 'Allo the two blokes held the wishbone with their little fingers and pulled the bone apart which eventually broke and the one who had the longer part could make a wish. I hope that helped.


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## Already-Seen

> Sorry to post just to say that I don't agree but I've never seen that in *France *and only saw it in American series (actually persons I asked didn't even know what to call the "wishbone" in French (as a matter of fact, I don't either)).
> Never heard of that tradition with the little finger either.


Really? We used to do that in my family too. We also used our pinkies to break the bone.


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## Hakro

In *Finland* we do this, but I don't believe it's an old tradition. At least I couldn't find the word in any of my older dictionaries, only in the newest ones.

Wishbone is usually translated directly into Finnish "toivomusluu" but the correct zoological term is "hankaluu" (furcula), which is probably based on the similar form of the bone and the crutch ("hankain") in a rowing boat.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Sorry to post only to say I know no-one in France who doesn't know how to call a wishbone in French (by the way, it's a _bréchet _).
And I agree with Déjà-Vue and JJV: if we do it (it's not my case), we have to do it with our little finger (pinkie! I didn't know this word, thanks! ).


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## mickaël

KaRiNe_Fr said:


> Sorry to post only to say I know no-one in France who doesn't know how to call a wishbone in French (by the way, it's a _bréchet _).


You know at least one 
I've never heard of that and nor have people close to me. But I didn't grow up in a family who really likes superstitions and all that kind of things. So ...


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## itka

> You know at least one
> I've never heard of that and nor have people close to me. But I didn't grow up in a family who really likes superstitions and all that kind of things. So ...


We met the ONE ! 
My family didn't like superstitions at all, but ...I wonder how you can live (and eat) in France without knowing this one... I have seen people doing it everywhere in France a lot of times, though I don't usually practise it myself.


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## SDLX Master

We do it here too.


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## Nonstar

Perhaps dying out round here, but it does exist in Brazil. Also, the eyelash thing.


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## Plzenak

As far as I know, we in the Czech republic don´t do that (I don´t know if all Czechs , but my family doesn´t).


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## Lugubert

I have never encountered any similar thing in Sweden. And I'm 67 ys. old.


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## Kitcitwapien

In Canada, we do it. At home, we often have one drying near the sink. My wife and I pull it apart to decide who is going to do the dishes


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## ampurdan

As far as I know, we don't do this thing in Catalonia and I'd say neither do they in the rest of Spain.


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## Mary Therés

Also in Ireland and with the little finger.


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## Vanda

Tagarela said:


> If you mean USA with _America_...I have never heard of anything like that in Brazil, perhaps it's an old habit or common in other parts of the country where I have never been.


 
Tata, você é muito novinho! 
Yes, we do have - or had - this habit. Me and my sisters used to fight to have the wishbone when we were kids, we were 6 for just a wishbone. It was a common habit for Brazilians, but after reading Tagarela's I understand maybe the young generation don't do that anymore. What a pity! But I know that people in the interior of the country (at least in my state) still do have this habit.


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