this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
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Fun fact: the fact that spreading your pinky when drinking looks posh is due to a genetic condition that run in European aristocracy
I can't find a source personally but there seems to be a bit of internet controversy on the subject.
A clip from TikTok said it was a secret signal for having syphilis. We can discount that just because of the source.
It could be from Rome or Europe, for reasons ranging from cleanliness to small hot cups.
Eesh. The Internet is useless these days.
my radical hypothesis is that it just fuckin turned into a thing organically, and that not everything needs one specific reason that dates back to friday the 10th of 1702 at roughly five past noon.
I know people with this condition so it's at least plausible. But, yes, I should check my sources
Hey kids, this looks like the perfect spot for your weekly installment of
FUN FACT TACO TRIVIA CORNER!
In 19th century Mexico, during the long tenure of President Porfirio Diaz, when the country's middle and upper class looked across the pond towards Europe for fashion and culture, proper etiquette dictated that tacos should be held and raised towards the mouth with three fingers on one side, the thumb on the opposite, and an outstretched pinky finger.
Even a lot of Mexicans nowadays don't know about this, you tell them and they will laugh in a getdafukouttahere! sort of way, fuhgedadoubit!
No one does that except for people believing it's a thing the upper class/nobility does. Which of course they don't. Try to find video of the Nobel price dinner for example and see if any of the royalty poke their pinky out while drinking. Not that I'd worry about emulating those unelected sponges, but if there's one thing they do know, it's etiquette.
Which doesn't contradict my theory that it never was official etiquette but people in the middle ages saw their royalty do it and picked it up. The royals did it because of the genetic condition and now that they aren't that incestuous anymore, the condition is gone and since it never was consciously done, there is no reason anymore to do it.
You're right, it doesn't contradict your statement and the middle/lower classes picking up on it may in fact have happened the way you described. I could have expressed that better. Sorry about that.