# I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!



## rusita preciosa

When you want to express your support, what "gesture" do you use in your language?

English: I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Russian: I'll hold my fists for you.
я буду за тебя держать кулаки (кулачки) [ya budu za tebya derjat kulaki (kulatchki)] - I will hold my fists (little fists) for you


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## ilocas2

In Czech it's holding of thumbs or fists. I found some occurences of holding of fingers on Google too, though it doesn't sound naturally to me.

držet palce - to hold thumbs
držet pěsti - to hold fists
držet prsty - to hold fingers (rare)

Budu ti/vám držet palce/pěsti/prsty. - I will hold you _(in dative case)_ thumbs/fists/fingers.


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## DearPrudence

In *French*, same as in English, we cross our fingers:
*"Je croise les doigts pour toi"* _(literally: I'm crossing my fingers for you)

_Edit: and we cross the forefinger and the middle finger.


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## tFighterPilot

Hebrew: אחזיק לך אצבעות aḥzík lekhá\lakh etsba'ót - I will hold fingers for you(male\female)


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## rusita preciosa

tFighterPilot said:


> I will hold fingers for you


So, how many and which fingers do you hold?


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## aruniyan

Tamil,
no gestures, _unakkaaha *ThOl* koduppEn_.  means,_ I will give my shoulders for you_,  indirectly meaning, i will support you.

ThOl= Shoulders


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## Perseas

In Greek,

we don't use "fingers" to express support, backing; we say "είμαι στο πλευρό + gen. of person" /'ime sto ple'vro/. Literrally it means "I am on somebody's rib/flank".


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## arielipi

@#5 Its known to be two, so we dont suggest that(or four, if you want both hands)


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian:
Držal bom pesti za vas (male)
Držala bom pesti za vas (female, me)

Croatian:
Držat ću prste za vas


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## rusita preciosa

jana.bo99 said:


> Slovenian:
> Držal bom pesti za vas (male)
> Držala bom pesti za vas (female, me)
> 
> Croatian:
> Držat ću prste za vas


could you pls translate?



> @#5 Its known to be two, so we dont suggest that(or four, if you want both hands)


Which fingers? Like a V (victory) sign (index and middle)?


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## Tamar

> Which fingers? Like a V (victory) sign (index and middle)?


Oh, I thought you were kind of joking at first -we cross the index and middle finger (the middle on top of the index). 
I understand from your question you do the same


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## Encolpius

rusita preciosa said:


> Russian: I'll hold my fists for you....



*Hungarians *do not use their fingers, they clench both their fists and say: *Szorítok.* [lit.: I'll "clench"]
I wonder if other nations use the similar gesture as well.
rusita preciosa you did not describe what gesture russians show. Maybe the same as Hungarians. What do you mean by "hold"?


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## Outsider

Although the idiom and the gesture of crossing one's fingers are known in Portuguese (perhaps through foreign influence), I'd say the most idiomatic way to say this is along the lines of *vou torcer por ti* or *vou ficar torcendo por você*, literally "*I'll be twisting for you*". Or maybe "crossing" would be better than "twisting"; perhaps crossing one's fingers is implied after all.


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## rusita preciosa

Encolpius said:


> rusita preciosa you did not describe what gesture russians show. Maybe the same as Hungarians. What do you mean by "hold"?


Quite honestly, I don't think we have the gesture itself. I think it is just a figure of speech: "I'll hold my hands in fists for you". It would be interesting to hear from other Russian speakers though...


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## _Utente

rusita preciosa said:


> я буду за тебя держать кулаки (кулачки) [ya budu za tebya derjat kulaki (kulatchki)] - I will hold my fists (little fists) for you


Rusita, for me it sounds as if somebody is ready to start boxing for my sake, and for some unknown reason is being metaphorical. That is, it sounds for me absolutely unacceptable. I don't know, maybe it's a regional thing? (I'm from St-Petersburg).

I would use the expression "скрестить пальцы", but I'm not sure if it has quite the same meaning and use. This is rather an expression of hope, than of support ("я скрещу пальцы, чтобы всё пошло правильно" — "I'll cross my fingers, and everything will go OK"; "ну, скрестите за меня пальцы, я пошёл!" — "so, cross your fingers for me, I go!"). Besides, I don't think it is used very often (but it's absolutely "natural" in Russian, and has no "foreign" shade).


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## rusita preciosa

_Utente said:


> I would use the expression "скрестить пальцы"


I've never heard it in my life, but I also haven't lived in Russia for several years. It could be a modern calque from English - generational difference rather than regional (Moscow vs. St Pete). Good thread to open in the Russian forum.


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## jana.bo99

rusita preciosa said:


> could you pls translate?
> 
> Which fingers? Like a V (victory) sign (index and middle)?



Translation of:

Prsti (prste) means two or more fingers.
Somebody does it with two fingers (forefinger and middle finger, like V -victory)

I should go on the football game to see, how they do that.


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## itreius

Hm, are you sure it's supposed to be _držati prste_? I only remember the idioms _držati fige_ and _držati palce/palčeve_.


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## _Utente

rusita preciosa said:


> It could be a modern calque from English


Or an older one from French. I don't know.


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## ElFrikiChino

We Italians are boring, we just cross our fingers like almost everybody else (and often we also make the gesture itself while saying it).

EFC


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## jana.bo99

itreius said:


> Hm, are you sure it's supposed to be _držati prste_? I only remember the idioms _držati fige_ and _držati palce/palčeve_.



I am sure only that I say: "držat ću prste za tebe" 
"Držati palce" is good (from now on). It is easier, because I can do it with one finger only (with thumb)

"Držati fige" is not fine enough for me.


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## sinopoli

For interest, in South Africa we also say "cross thumbs"


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## mataripis

Tagalog: umaasang magtatagumpay ka sa hangarin mo.( as you shake his/her hands)


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## rusita preciosa

sinopoli said:


> For interest, in South Africa we also say "cross thumbs"



Is there a gesture associated with that? How does one cross thumbs? Just hoock them?


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## sinopoli

rusita preciosa said:


> Is there a gesture associated with that? How does one cross thumbs? Just hoock them?


Rusita,

I am so sorry, I only just saw your query, my notificaton system has not been working.

No, we just say I'm crossing thunmbs" or I'm holding thumbs".

я извиняюсь

Ernie


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## ger4

German: _Ich drücke dir die Daumen. _Lit.: 'I press for_you the thumbs'


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## 810senior

*Japanese:
*
that expression reminds me of 指切りする(jubikiri suru:cut one's finger)
Its literal meaning is brutal but this expression points at the action to make one's finger crossed with the other. (real meaning is "make a promise")
I don't know how to say something similar to above English idiom in Japanese.
We say 幸運を祈るkouun o inoru(lit. to pray one's lucky/chance) not including any part concerning the body...


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## mersiboku

jana.bo99 said:


> I am sure only that I say: "držat ću prste za tebe"
> "Držati palce" is good (from now on). It is easier, because I can do it with one finger only (with thumb)
> 
> "Držati fige" is not fine enough for me.



No one in Croatia says "držat ću prste za tebe" that's just literally translated from english
as someone already mentioned *"držim ti palčeve" *("držati fige" is also very common expression)

in Polish is similar (they also hold thumbs rather than fingers  )* "trzymam ci kciuki"*


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## Dymn

Same as English too:

Catalan: *creuar els dits*
Spanish: *cruzar los dedos
*
"To cross the fingers"


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## ger4

Estonian:

_pöialt hoidma 
pöialt _= thumb (partitive singular) 
_hoidma _= to hold

_Ma hoian sulle pöialt _
Lit.: I hold to-you thumb


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## bibax

Find pictures for the expression hold thumbs or drücken die Daumen. We use the gesture quite often in the Czechlands. We nearly never cross our fingers.


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## SuperXW

Chinese don't have such a gesture. So I want to ask you guys.
Is this related to religion or superstition? Is this like asking for blessings from God?

This is worthy to mention though: to express support, or to encourage somebody, the fixed expression we use is 加油, literally "Add petrol/oil!" which is often difficult to be translated.


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## AdelStar

SuperXW said:


> Chinese don't have such a gesture. So I want to ask you guys.
> Is this related to religion or superstition? Is this like asking for blessings from God?
> 
> I don't think it has anything to do with religion, rather superstition. Wikipedia says it traces back to pre-Christian times.


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## v slim shady

In Vietnam we don't use finger, we use hand


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## Armas

Finnish: _pitää peukkuja_ = to hold thumbs. Thumb in standard Finnish is _peukalo_, but in this expression we always use the colloquial _peukku_.

Crossing fingers in Finland means the person is lying.


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