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"Break a leg" is a well-known saying in theatre which means "good luck". It is typically said to actors before they go out onto stage to perform.
The expression reflects a theatrical superstition in which wishing a person "good luck" is considered bad luck. The expression is sometimes used outside the theatre as superstitions and customs travel through other professions and then into common use.
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There are several theories for origin of the expression. All are heavily debated. The origins listed below are some of the more popular explanations for the origins of the expression. They cannot, however, be conclusively proven.
The earliest known example in print refers to the title of a play from 1957. Naturally, the saying is much older for it to have been borrowed for a title and there is anecdotal evidence from theatrical memoirs and personal letters as early as the 1920s. Break a Leg. World Wide Words. Retrieved on 2007-04-24.Break a Leg. idiomsite.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-24.
In the U.K., the most common idea of origin for the expression comes from tradition. Historians know from the time of King James I and Shakespeare\'s King\'s Men that actors would, on occasion receive tips on top of their salaries. Rather than receiving tips directly from the company or theatre, tipping was left to the audience. During the final bows or curtain call, audiences would throw money, usually coins, onto the stage depending on how well they enjoyed the performance. In some bad performances they would throw rotten vegetables, but in the good cases, money. Actors would then \'take a knee\', effectively breaking their leg line, on stage and pick up the money. As a result, when you wish someone to \'break a leg\' it refers to wishing them success in their performance so in the end they would have to kneel down and collect a welcoming tip. Theatre evolved and the tradition of tipping changed. This tradition led to the tradition of throwing flowers on stage, as well as presenting flowers.
Breaking one\'s leg is not a good thing to hope for - therefore - by some superstition - if "good luck" causes bad luck, then the perceived bad luck of breaking one\'s leg causes good.
This theory is thought to be an extension of the Traditional Theory. For the curtain call, when actors bow or curtsy, they place one foot behind the other and bend at the knee, \'breaking\' the line of the leg. In theatre, pleased audiences may applaud in which time encore bows sometimes occur. On Broadway this is considered the highest compliment to an actor. In wishing someone to \'break a leg\' you are ultimately wishing them to bow many times effectively causing them to break their leg line. A continuation of this theory is a joke where you wish someone to bow too many times that they \'break a leg\'.
In the time of Ancient Greece, people didn’t applaud. Instead, they stomped for their appreciation and if they stomped long enough, they would break a leg. Or, some would have it that the term originated during Elizabethan times when, instead of applause the audience would stomp their chairs – and if they liked it enough, the leg of the chair would break. Theatre Superstitions. Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
In the time of Ancient Rome, gladiators would fight to the death as a form of popular entertainment in the colosseumRoman gladiators; roman history, roman civilization. Bates College. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.. Spectators would sometimes shout "quasso cruris", the Latin equivalent of "break a leg". This essentially would be wishing them "good luck" by requesting they keep their lives and only cripple the other opponent by breaking his leg.
A translation from the German phrase "Hals- und Beinbruch" ("neck and leg fracture"), which comes from the Yiddish phrase "Hatsloche un Broche" (הצלחה און ברכה) ("success and blessing").Mark Israel, \'Phrase Origins: "Break a leg!"\', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 4544), (29 Sept 1997) The phrase has also been adopted from German into Polish language as połamania nóg, "breaking of legs", with the word połamanie, meaning fracturing, połamania being the genitive case. In Polish, życzyć, "to wish", governs the genitive case, thus the underlying structure is życzę ci połamania nóg, roughly translated as "I wish you a fracture of the legs". Both in German and Polish, the phrase is most typically used to wish a student good luck before an exam.
The Turkish version of the phrase, "Şeytan\'ın Bacağını Kır(mak)", literally translated as "(to) Break the Devil\'s Leg", is typically applied to situations where someone achieves something they had been failing at previously, i.e. "He has finally broken the Devil\'s leg". This ties in to the theory of avoiding bad luck by crippling the source of misfortune itself, and has been used for centuries by regular folk and public performers such as ortaoyunu artists alike. It has found a renewed use in modern Theater, where actors about to go on stage are wished good luck by being told to "break the Devils\' leg".
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 Theatre after the murder, breaking his leg in the process Break a Leg. Dave Wilton. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.. While Booth\'s roles as an actor are not well remembered, wishing an actor to "break a leg" is to wish them a performance worthy of remembrance. However, the fact that actors did not start wishing each other to \'break a leg\' until the 1920s (more than 50 years later) makes this an unlikely source. Re: Break a Leg. Phrases.org. Retrieved on 2007-04-24. Also, it is believed that Booth did not break his leg on the stage but when he fell off his horse trying to escape.[citation needed]
There are many non-literal references this expression could be referring to.
A very whimsical theory is the Groundling or Peasant Theory. In the times of Shakespeare, theatres such as the Globe Theatre were open-air amphitheaters. People who could afford to, sat in the covered balcony seats while those unable to afford the balcony seating prices had to crowd the front of the theatre in the open. Mockingly, these audience members were referred to as Groundlings (today\'s "nose hair section" audience status). Transfixed by well done performances the \'Groundlings\' would drool. Actors would wish each other good luck by saying, "may you give such a stirring performance that you fall on the ensuing spot of the drooling Groundlings, and break a leg".[citation needed]
In some areas, the phrase "break a leg" itself has fallen into bad superstitious repute. In Australia, the term "chookas" can be used instead, and in the UK, "fall down backwards" may also be used. The origins of these terms are as unknown to us as is the origin of "break a leg".
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