Why do people have long pinkie fingernails?

Answer 1

Purpose of Long Pinky Fingernail

One theory is that it is simply to look cool. Or to clean ears, since it's safer than a Q-Tip. Or for nose picking.

In some Asian cultures, men will grow a long pinky nail to indicate wealth and status, since it proves that they obviously do not do manual labor.

And last, a long nail is often useful for mundane purposes, and the pinky nail is least likely to get in the way, and the easiest to avoid breaking.

• Drugs- cocaine, heroine, coke.
• Booger scoop and earwax excavator. Gross, yes, but sure keeps that coke from falling off.
• In the old days in China, long fingernails were a sign you were rich and didn't do manual labor. Now they grow out the pinkie as a sign of culture, breeding and wealth. No doubt there's some truth to this. A bit of browsing turns up photos of ornate fingernail protectors worn by ladies of the imperial Chinese court. Bizarre though such talons may seem to some, one could argue that as an indicator of culture, breeding, and wealth they beat having to buy a Jaguar and read Proust.
• My Chinese students (all about 18 to 22) told me the nails are long so the little finger reaches past the last knuckle joint on the ring finger. If it does, you are rich and intelligent!Maybe, but if I'm Anna Nicole Smith trying to size up a prospective soul mate, I'm going to need to see more than a pinkie nail.
• My 76-year-old uncle keeps one pinkie nail long and sharpened to open envelopes.
• A sharpened, hardened nail is a dangerous weapon and can be a sign of prison time. Or of a man who opens a lot of envelopes.
• General scratching and ear cleaning. The longer nail also works well when trying to pick up something lying flat on a table, like a coin. Definitely seeing a common thread here.
• My pinkie finger on both my hands is a bit longer than the other nails. Used for instruments.
• The cashier at Subway had one nail grown long. I asked him why and he said he had a running competition with one of his friends as to who had the longest fingernail. This, on so many levels, is why I never eat at Subway.
• A Google search produced some interesting ones: that Picasso kept a long little fingernail for mixing paints, and that Turkish men commonly keep such a nail for opening cigarette wrappers.
• On a Beijing subway I saw a guy with a long pinkie nail clean his nose and his ears with it. Right after he wiped his nail on the hand rail, someone grabbed it. Wonderful place, Beijing subways. OK, I think we got it. Theory, at least in some parts of Asia: sign of culture, breeding, and wealth. Practice, regardless of locale: booger scoop.

ANDThey have long fingernails because they use them to pick cocaine up, and sniff them. I've seen a lot of people in the news having long fingernails, due to the fact that they are sniffing drugs illegally.

in the greek culture, its used as a symbol of wealth. it means you dont have to work hard, and that you dont wear down your