| Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| "break a leg" | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 20 2006, 01:36 PM (114 Views) | |
| pianojerome | Apr 20 2006, 01:36 PM Post #1 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
Anybody know where this phrase comes from?
|
| Sam | |
![]() |
|
| JBryan | Apr 20 2006, 01:37 PM Post #2 |
![]()
I am the grey one
|
Vaudeville, I believe. It was meant as a good luck gesture because the thought was the contrary nature of life in general would mean that if you wished someone to break their leg they could be assured they would not. In other words, wishing them bad luck was good luck. |
|
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it". Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody. Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore. From The Lion in Winter. | |
![]() |
|
| John D'Oh | Apr 20 2006, 02:00 PM Post #3 |
|
MAMIL
|
I've been told that in Shakespeare's time the phrase 'to break your leg' meant 'to take a bow' Another alternative is that, in the old days the audience would bang their chairs instead of applaud, so 'to break a leg' would have indicated either much enthusiasm or much drunkenness, or maybe both. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
![]() |
|
| justme | Apr 20 2006, 02:06 PM Post #4 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
From Dave Wilton's Etymology Page : http://www.wilton.net/etyma1.htm Superstition against wishing an actor Good Luck! has led to the adoption of this phrase in its place. Popular etymology derives the phrase from the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth, the actor turned assassin, leapt to the stage of Ford's Theater after the murder, breaking his leg in the process. The logical connection with good luck is none too clear, but such is folklore. There is no evidence, however, to suggest that this is the true derivation, and since the earliest usage of the phrase dates to the 1920s, there is much to suggest that it is not. The best that can be said is that the origin is unknown. A DICTIONARY OF CATCH PHRASES (see below) suggests that there may be a connection with the German phrase Hals und Beinbruch, an invitation to break your neck and bones. The German phrase is used by aviators and is equivalent to the English phrase Happy Landings!. Both phrases arose about the same time, the early twentieth century, but the connection between the German aviation community and American theater is unclear, so they may be unrelated. A DICTIONARY OF SLANG AND UNCONVENTIONAL ENGLISH, published some eight years before the above, does not list the theatrical meaning. Instead, it lists an obsolete meaning of "to give birth to a bastard child," from circa 1670. |
|
"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3 | |
![]() |
|
| dolmansaxlil | Apr 20 2006, 02:07 PM Post #5 |
![]()
HOLY CARP!!!
|
There is some support for the idea that Break a Leg is influenced by the German translation of a term they use meaning "neck and leg break" - a phrase that is also meant to wish luck. There aren't any direct connections to prove that's where our phrase came from, but since the German wish came before ours, it's probable that the influence is true. There are a gazillion other theatrical superstitions that I find amusing. No fresh flowers on stage. Don't wear green on stage. Use the phrase "The Scottish Play" to refer to MacBeth in a theatre. Never whistle in a theatre. No mirrors on stage. Don't receive flowers before a performance. Never peek through the closed curtain before the performance. The "Ghost Light". No peacock feathers on stage. Never utter the last line of the play during a dress rehearsal. Lots of fun superstitions, which directors, actors and companies follow to varying degrees. I, personally, used to get great joy from wandering around a stage whistling while holding a bouquet of fresh flowers, then screaming "MACBETH" while looking into a mirror... |
|
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
![]() |
|
![]() ZetaBoards gives you all the tools to create a successful discussion community. Learn More · Sign-up for Free |
|
| « Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic » |









10:54 AM Jul 11