# "Break a leg" - WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400 "2005-04-21T13:18:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/1 "2005-04-21T13:18:06Z")
Wondering if anybody knows the origin of the term “Break a leg” as used to convey “Good luck” to entertainers. I can’t think of any possible circumstances where breaking a leg would be desirable, unless someone was trying to get workman’s comp. Since that obviously has nothing to do with the meaning, anyone here able to help? ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/2 "2005-04-21T13:24:28Z")
My understanding is that stage performers are suspicious folk. (Don’t ever say “Macbeth” backtage during a show.) Anyway the idea is saying “have a great show” would jinx the whole thing - so its reverse psychology. “Break a leg” is meant as an expression of support. Now as to why its “break a leg” as opposed to “have a heart attack” or “trip and break your nose”, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/3 "2005-04-21T13:28:31Z")
Ah, superstition. I should have figured as much. Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![olpeculiar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@olpeculiar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olpeculiar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/4 "2005-04-21T13:34:45Z")
I haven’t got an origin for you, but here’s a little background. Entertainers - live stage professionals specifically - can be exceedingly superstitious people. Superstitions such as… A) Never whistle on stage B) Never say the name “MacBeth” in a theatre, other than in the context of the script C) Never say “good luck” to a performer …are just a few of the ridiculous beliefs that have evolved. Even though the “whistling” thing (and probably others) has some historic basis for caution, it is completely outdated now and has long since collapsed to a mere superstitious belief. It is believed to be bad luck to wish a performer, “Good Luck!” Supposedly you’d put the whammy on them or some such nonsense. So, if you really want to wish the performer well, then naturally you’ll tell them to go “Break a leg” (or “blow a fuse” for the lighting people, or “miss a cue” for the stage manager, etc…). Over fifteen years of professional theatre work here, and I’ve seen a lot of superstitious nonsense. But we’re all professionals, so most of us go along with it just to appease the few wackos who completely come unglued when you a ---
**Author:** ![olpeculiar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@olpeculiar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olpeculiar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/5 "2005-04-21T13:38:56Z")
(Sorry for the double post - I tabbed to the “submit” button accidentally. This is the complete post.) I haven’t got an origin for you, but here’s a little background. Entertainers - live stage professionals specifically - can be exceedingly superstitious people. Superstitions such as… A) Never whistle on stage B) Never say the name “MacBeth” in a theatre, other than in the context of the script C) Never say “good luck” to a performer …are just a few of the ridiculous beliefs that have evolved. Even though the “whistling” thing (and probably others) has some historic basis for caution, it is completely outdated now and has long since collapsed to a mere superstitious belief. It is believed to be bad luck to wish a performer, “Good Luck!” Supposedly you’d put the whammy on them or some such nonsense. So, if you really want to wish the performer well, then naturally you’ll tell them to go “Break a leg” (or “blow a fuse” for the lighting people, or “miss a cue” for the stage manager, etc…). Over fifteen years of professional theatre work here, and I’ve seen a lot of superstitious nonsense. But we’re all professionals, so most of us go along with it just to appease the few wackos who completely come unglued when you actually say “MacBeth” out loud. I once had a director insist that I leave the theatre, go out into the lobby, turn around three times and spit in order to break the curse of mentioning the name of “The Scottish Play”. (I didn’t do it, so she went out and did it herself. No kidding.) If you’re think that theatre people are strange, then you’d be right. - Old Peculiar. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/6 "2005-04-21T13:40:32Z")
I always heard it as “never whistle _back_stage.” Also, never put a hat on the bed! ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/7 "2005-04-21T13:42:21Z")
Sounds like baseball. Lucky streaks, lucky bats, never washing your “whatever” while you’re hitting well, never comment that a pitcher has a perfect game/no hitter/shutout going. ---
**Author:** ![olpeculiar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@olpeculiar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olpeculiar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/8 "2005-04-21T14:10:07Z")
Well, the whistle thing stems from when riggers used to whistle to signal each other. If there was a rigger on stage whistling to a rigger 70 feet up in the grid, he might be signalling the rigger above to lower or drop an item from the high steel. From this, the idea stemmed that it would be very bad for a non-rigging type person to whistle, lest that person inadvertently initiate an action that shouldn’t be happening at that moment. In other words, the non-rigger might accidentally signal a rigger above to do something. The idea is completely antiquated now, but because rigging type activity can take place on either side of the proscenium, whistling anywhere on stage is generally considered taboo. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/9 "2005-04-21T14:34:33Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Also, never put a hat on the bed! That isn’t just a stage superstition. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/10 "2005-04-21T15:15:34Z")
So if it’s bad luck to wish good luck, then if you want to wish someone good luck you need to wish them bac luck. But if wishing bad luck is good luck, then it must be bad luck. So if you want to wish someone good luck by wishing them bad luck, you need to wish them _good_ luck becaus that would be bad luck; and therefore, good luck. But if wishing good luck is bad luck, and thus good luck, then it’s bad luck. But if it’s bad luck, then it must be good luck… _ad nauseum_. ---
**Author:** ![olpeculiar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@olpeculiar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olpeculiar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/11 "2005-04-21T15:36:52Z")
Johnny - you make these superstitions sound, almost - oh, what’s the word? - ridiculous. NAH!! ---
**Author:** ![Re\_PT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Re\_PT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Re_PT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/12 "2005-04-21T15:46:11Z")
Working in the theatre, I understood that the phrase came from the name for the rope operating the tabs (main curtains) which was the leg. Having so many curtain calls that the leg broke was what was being wished. I have heard of at least one other but cannot for the life of me remember it at the moment. PT ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/13 "2005-04-21T15:59:01Z")
Doesn’t the “break a leg” superstition go back to Shakespeare’s time? IIRC, stages used to be hazardous. It was, indeed possible to break a leg while giving a performance. It wasn’t uncommon to ward off bad luck by wishing it on the person, not just in the theater. People honestly believed that by wishing for one thing, they’d get the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/14 "2005-04-21T16:27:02Z")
Many superstitions work this way. You can fool the Devil if you don’t call things by their right name. You can ward off the Evil Eye by misdirecting it. However, “break a leg” turns out to be a modern expression. [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bre1.htm) > [@](#): > > A key factor is that most of the stories assume that break a leg is an old expression, whereas it’s actually quite modern. The earliest known example in print refers to a show with that title in 1957. The saying must, of course, be older for it to have been borrowed for the title and there is anecdotal evidence from theatrical memoirs and personal recollection that it has been around since the 1930s, but not before. > > Similar expressions are known from other languages: the French say Merde! (a term that has been borrowed by dancers in the English and American theatre) and Germans say Hals- und Beinbruch, “neck and leg break”, as ways of wishing someone good luck without any fear of supernatural retaliation. It is sometimes said that the German expression is actually a corruption of a Hebrew blessing hatzlakha u-brakha, “success and blessing”, which may have been borrowed via Yiddish. Whatever its source, the most plausible theory is that Hals- und Beinbruch was transferred into the American theatre (in which Yiddish- or German-speaking immigrant Jews were strongly represented) sometime after World War I. ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/15 "2005-04-21T16:45:49Z")
If you really want to wish an actor good luck, you say, “Break a leg, both arms, your nose, a clavicle, and your spine.” I can’t remember who said that, but it’s that guy who’s posting this. ---
**Author:** ![olpeculiar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@olpeculiar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olpeculiar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/16 "2005-04-21T16:58:49Z")
> [@Re: PT](#): > > Working in the theatre, I understood that the phrase came from the name for the rope operating the tabs (main curtains) which was the leg. Having so many curtain calls that the leg broke was what was being wished. > > I have heard of at least one other but cannot for the life of me remember it at the moment. > > PT Hmm - could be, I suppose, although it’s hard to ignore the superstition aspect. I’ve never heard of the operating rope on a lock rail or a pin rail referred to as a leg - things may be different in England. This side of the pond, the legs are the (typically black velour) masking that runs about 10 feet wide, hanging vertically on either side of the stage. The legs run parallel to the plaster line, and there is typically a series of 3 or 4 (or more) running up- and downstage. They block the view backstage from the audience, but still form passageways for performers to get from the wings to the stage. ---
**Author:** ![Re\_PT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Re\_PT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Re_PT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/17 "2005-04-21T17:01:35Z")
Here we are - a fuller answer complete with cites (admittedly mainly web pages) now I’ve had the time. [Having so many curtain calls the curtain rod (leg) broke](http://www.idiomsite.com/breakaleg.htm) John Wilkes Booth: > [@](#): > > From Dave Wilton’s Etymology Page : [http://www.wilton.net/etyma1.htm](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 [Bending the knee](http://www.footlights.com/art7d.html): Hope that the show would be so good that the actor would be obliged to bend their knee (break their leg) in a deep bow. [Getting paid…](http://www.kevrobertson.supanet.com/page3.htm) > [@](#): > > In the early days of Vaudeville, the producers would book more performers than could possibly perform in the given time of the show, since ‘bad’ acts could be pulled before their completion… Therefore, in order to insure that the show didn’t start paying people who didn’t actually go on, there was a general policy that a performer did not get paid unless they physically performed on stage. So the phrase “break a leg” referred to breaking the visual plane of the legs that lined the side of the stage. i.e. Hope you break a leg and get on-stage so that you get paid. The earliest useage is disagreed upon: From [www.theatrecrafts.com](http://www.theatrecrafts.com) > [@](#): > > …since the earliest usage of the phrase dates to the 1920s…the best that can be said is that the origin is unknown. From worldwidewords > [@](#): > > …it has been around since the 1930s, but not before Most sites seem to think that the German fighter pilots phrase is probably the most likely but they all say that it’s pretty sketchy. Hope this is useful, or at least fairly interesting! PT ---
**Author:** ![Re\_PT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Re\_PT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Re_PT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/18 "2005-04-21T17:10:54Z")
> [@olpeculiar](#): > > I’ve never heard of the operating rope on a lock rail or a pin rail referred to as a leg - things may be different in England. Yep - I was wrong. I meant the curtain rod not rope. Mea culpa[sub]but I’m not sorry[/sub] 🙂 > [@](#): > > This side of the pond, the legs are the (typically black velour) masking that runs about 10 feet wide, hanging vertically on either side of the stage. That’s what they’re called here as well. Mind you what with all curtains now being called tabs, not just tabs (the curtains which pull up and to the side a la old time music hall, complete with gold rope and tassles) I woudn’t be surprised if various other widgets had alternative names… PT ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/19 "2005-04-21T17:15:14Z")
In addition to not saying the word “MacBeth” in the theater, if you’re somehow involved in a production of the show, you must not say the name, either. “The scottish play” is generally accepted as the euphemism, though others are used. My friends at UCR called it “Haggis.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400/20 "2005-04-21T17:22:25Z")
> [@Re: PT](#): > > Most sites seem to think that the German fighter pilots phrase is probably the most likely but they all say that it’s pretty sketchy. In fact, a “leg” was what German air crews called their ammunition cannisters. When fighter pilots would leave, their crews would tell them to “break a leg” – i.e., open their cannisters, meaning, be able to shoot at the enemy. On the allied side, fighter ammunition was packed in belts measuring nine yards long. Fighter crews would encourage pilots to “give them the whole nine yards…” Okay. I’m leaving. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/break-a-leg-wtf/300400.md?page=2)