Whenever I hear someone talk about upcoming events that they hope to go well, I usually hear them say "knock on wood". I never knew the origin of the saying or what it meant really. All i knew is that alot of people said, I don't think they even know why. The term "knocking on wood" is used as an expression to avoid the tempting of fate. One explanation of this is that in ancient mythology trees and wood had spirits, or fairies in them. If the spirits were good, it was good considered good luck to knock on the wood so they would know you were there, and would not be startled by you.If the spirits were bad, the knocking noise would distract them long enough for you to get away. There is also a Christian belief that has to do with the Cross that Jesus died on. They also believed that knocking on the cross or any other piece of wood would prevent the devil from hearing what you had just said. All in all, it seems to be a harmless supersitition that many people hold on to. No one wants bad luck to intrude on their day, so they try to control the unkown with a saying whether it works or not. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/221200.htmlhttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-it-mean-to-knock-on-wood.htm
Monday, April 18, 2011
Knock on Wood!
Whenever I hear someone talk about upcoming events that they hope to go well, I usually hear them say "knock on wood". I never knew the origin of the saying or what it meant really. All i knew is that alot of people said, I don't think they even know why. The term "knocking on wood" is used as an expression to avoid the tempting of fate. One explanation of this is that in ancient mythology trees and wood had spirits, or fairies in them. If the spirits were good, it was good considered good luck to knock on the wood so they would know you were there, and would not be startled by you.If the spirits were bad, the knocking noise would distract them long enough for you to get away. There is also a Christian belief that has to do with the Cross that Jesus died on. They also believed that knocking on the cross or any other piece of wood would prevent the devil from hearing what you had just said. All in all, it seems to be a harmless supersitition that many people hold on to. No one wants bad luck to intrude on their day, so they try to control the unkown with a saying whether it works or not. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/221200.htmlhttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-it-mean-to-knock-on-wood.htm
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This theory may or may not be true, but i am a huge Yankees fan. Every time an annoucer tries to say something about a streak i still get up and knock on wood. But it is usually 50-50 so i dont think it actually works but i still get up to do it just in case.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the origin either. I usually just knocked on wood because it would give false confidence that what I just said either would/wouldn't happen. I just know that so far any time I have knocked on wood, it has been a good experience and no harm has happened. =)
ReplyDeletePretty interesting. I never knew the origins of this expression either, yet I still find myself doing it. Nice post
ReplyDeleteI like this post because I always say the phrase "knock on wood" and never really knew what it meant or how the phrase came about. Even though I know it doesnt work I probably will continue to use the phrase.
ReplyDeletei like the post also. without knowing it, sometimes i would just say something and find wood to knock on just in case... why take a chance?
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