Numbers

Pinky Swear

How It's Used

"'Heidi,' It turns out, got a bum rap. For 32 years now, she has been sports television's answer to Eve, the woman who lured weak-minded programmers away from the path of righteousness, which, in this case, happened to be the final minutes of a Raiders-Jets game.

"On the evening of Nov. 17, 1968, the Swiss miss, scheduled to appear promptly at 7, knocked the NFL off the air. The entire East Coast missed a stunning two-touchdown comeback by the Raiders. NBC never lived the incident down. Overcoming the enormous odds of being both female and fictional, 'Heidi' became one of the biggest sports figures of her generation.

"A prominent columnist started handing out Heidi awards for the worst TV bloopers of the year. The networks drew up Heidi-based policies. They swore, double-swore and pinky-swore that they'd never leave a game that way again. Heidi had taught them a lesson. She was their original sin."

"Don't expect provincial auditor Erik Peters to be called in to solve the downloading dispute between Queen's Park and the city of Toronto over whose numbers are correct. Despite claims to the contrary, the provincial government won't agree to it. They don't want to be embarrassed any more than they have been over the Premier's 'pinky swear' that the trade of services was revenue neutral."

"Disclaimer: The secret revealed in this column has been previously revealed by the original bearer of the secret; all confidentiality agreements -- even pinky promises -- are therefore null and void...

"I came up with a rule. 'It's okay to tell parents secrets,' I said [to my eight-year-old daughter, Anna]. Even if a friend swears you to secrecy, you can tell your parents. I told her that parents were sort of like 'base' when you play tag. A free zone. You could come to parents with secrets, dump them there, and trust that your parents would do the right thing. I went on and on about this, making the rule up as I went along...

"I told Anna her secret was safe with me. 'All right,' she said. We were toe to toe on the hammock, each dangling a leg over the edge. 'Now, this is the truth,' she said. 'You can't tell anyone, okay?' I made a pinky promise. 'Okay, last year Morgan loved Ronnie,' she said. 'He was her boyfriend!'

"'Oh,' I said, trying to sound impressed. 'Well, did Ronnie know about this?'

"'No way!' she said. 'Don't you dare tell him!'

"'Of course not,' I said, closing my eyes and enjoying the warmth of the sun. My little girl was, it seemed, still a little girl after all. The new secrets were as innocent as the old."

President Barack Obama: I just got a promise. I want a promise from every single one of you that you guys are going to work hard in school each and every day. Give me that promise. You promise?

Audience at a rebuilt school in New Orleans: Yes.

President Obama: You give a pinky promise?

Audience: Yeah.

President Obama: Pinky promise. All right, you know, that’s a big promise there. So, I’m counting on you guys. I’m going to come back and check on you guys to make sure you’ve all been working hard, all right?

“As University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist pointed out on his blog, the issue stems from a change to the law in the 1980s that eventually produced something known as the 'pending list.' Essentially, record companies no longer had to get a compulsory license every time they wanted to use a song for, say, a compilation album. Instead, they went ahead and used the song without waiting for authorization or making payment, adding the song to a list of music that is pending authorization and payment. If you're questioning whether you read that right, that basically means the record industries could use songs as long as they pinky swore they would get authorization and pay the artist for it eventually.”

Also Known As (AKA)

Pinky Promise

Links