White spots on your nails
White spots on your nails were counted as lies in old Massachusetts lore, and an American mother still taught her daughter the same rule. Elsewhere the flecks stood for new clothes or good fortune.
This page only describes folk beliefs. If the sensation keeps coming back or worries you, please see a doctor.
What it may mean
In Massachusetts, a 1903 encyclopedia says, the number of white specks on your fingernails showed how many lies you had told. The idea has lasted. A student interviewed for a California folklore archive grew up hearing from her mother that each white spot under a nail stood for a lie, and she still thinks of honesty when she looks at her hands. It is a strict accounting, and most people would run out of nail. Daily life runs on small untruths: "I'm fine," "I love it," "five minutes away," "no trouble at all." Many are kindness, some are habit, and a few cost more than they save. Sorting them is harder than counting specks. Other places read the same marks very differently; in Japan, a new spot meant new clothes on the way.
Depending on how you saw it
A fleck working its way out
A fleck rides outward as the nail grows, and one near the base is trimmed off a few months later along with that stretch of nail. What mark of a past week are you letting grow out on its own?
Many specks on a girl's nails
Among the Karadartsy of Turkey, the old encyclopedia records, many white marks on a girl's fingernails foretold marriage to a man who owned many sheep. Every place counts wealth in its own way. If you had to measure a good match in something, what would you count?
A warning in China
In China, and in New England too, the same encyclopedia says, white specks on the nails were taken as warnings of coming evil. The very same mark stood for good health and money in parts of Germany. When a small sign appears, which way do you read it first: warning or good news?
Why it happens in nature
Fingernails grow slowly, only a few millimeters a month, so any mark near the base can take months to reach the tip and be trimmed away. Small white flecks on the nails come and go as the nail grows.
What folk beliefs say
Massachusetts, United States
In Massachusetts, the number of white specks on the fingernails was supposed to show how many lies you had told.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 270. View the page
United States
An American mother told her daughter that she would get one of the white spots under her nails for every lie she told, a warning the daughter still remembers when she looks at her hands.
Source: Carla Frankenbach (collector), White Spots for Lies (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2013), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
Japan
In Japan, a white spot on a fingernail was a sign of bad fortune, but a new spot was a sign the person was about to get some new clothing.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 270. View the page
Germany; China; New England
In some parts of Germany, the white specks were considered fortunate, indicating good health and money, while in China and in New England they were omens of coming evil.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 270. View the page
Turkey (Karadartsy)
Among the Karadartsy of Turkey, many white marks on a girl's fingernails signified marriage with a man owning many sheep.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 270. View the page
To reflect on
Which small untruth do you tell most often, and who is it really for?