What do "Hindsight's 20/20" and "Knock on wood" mean? I know that neither of them have anything to do with each other, but I don't know what they mean. Help me, I'm an idiot...
2006-07-16 19:11:19 · 14 answers · asked by Allygirl 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
The wikipedia article suggests that the actual origin of "knock on wood" is less spiritual and more mundane --the game of tag. To touch woods means to be safe from tagging in the game and the general meaning means that touching woods means you are safe from misfortune. The idea of immediately touching wood might stem from the general paranoia of misfortune occuring as soon as you mention it (my guess, not wikipedia).
Hindsight is 20/20 is pretty well explained already. Just think of it as an equation.
backwards+sight= perfect vision
Another similar expression I like is the tongue-in-cheek idea of the "retrospectroscope", which is supposed to let you see backwards in time. Technically, any telescope can do that. When you look at a star you are seeing the light that it emitted years ago, so you are literally seeing the past.
2006-07-16 21:38:36 · answer #1 · answered by Wyld Stallyns 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hindsight is 20/20 . (20/20)is a scale on witch sight is based no. 20 being the best or perfect each 20 represents a eye left and right hindsight means to look back at a situation or event, thing,so let,s say you and a Friend were talking about a trip you took to the high desert where the temperature go from the nineties in the day and the forty's at night. you say to your Friend we should have taken a cotes I thought we were going to freeze to death.and he says hindsight is 20/20. meaning it is clear looking back what should have been dune or any one knows you should have brought a cote after freezing. Knock on wood is a superstition that is suppose to bring good luck to the person that knocks or keep bad luck away.
2006-07-17 03:39:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Hindsight's 20/20" means that it's always to see the positive and negative aspects of an event after it's happened. Plays on the measurement of vision--perfect vision is 20/20.
"Knock on wood" is an expression said for good luck whenever someone posits an idea that could turn out bad or wrong. Based on superstition.
2006-07-16 19:17:37 · answer #3 · answered by MJQ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Hindsight is 20/20" -
Well, 20/20 vision means that you can see things perfectly.
Hindsight is when you look behind you.
Overall, this means that you can see and understand the past perfectly (as compared to the future).
"Knock on wood" -
This expression is a way to "unjinx" yourself. For example, if someone has the chicken pox and you say "Oh, luckily I've never had the chicken pox," an appropriate response would be this phrase to ward off bad luck.
2006-07-17 11:38:50 · answer #4 · answered by Ladybug 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hindsight's 20/20 means: looking back on the fact after you do something stupid, wrong, etc., you think about what you'd have done differently and better so as not to have the same result
knock on wood: basically said after saying something too premature like, "I am so going to buy this car!" then you knock on wood or say the phrase as a way of not jinxing yourself
2006-07-16 19:16:15 · answer #5 · answered by Kryztal 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
20/20 is generally regarded as perfect eyesight or vision - so after something happens (hindsight) you can always see the results.
Knock on wood is a good luck thing - supposedly you keep from jinxing yourself by knocking on wood - used when you are taliking about something you are counting on happening
2006-07-16 19:19:25 · answer #6 · answered by Norman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hindsight's 20/20: when you look back at something you did, you can easily see where it went wrong.
Knock on wood: good luck.
2006-07-16 19:15:02 · answer #7 · answered by Lucas! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hind sights 20/20 would mean that if I could have seen perfectly how this would have turned out i could have done it differently as it's usually used when we found out something we didn't like after we already did it and knock on wood is just something people do when they say something and then realize they may have jinxed them self so they knock on wood so it won't happen now whether that helps to knock on wood who knows but i do it myself
2006-07-16 20:30:31 · answer #8 · answered by katlady927 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well in the first place your not a idiot to the first question that means after you done some thing and you think about it then you said i wish i did it another way and the 2nd one means you knock on wood for good luck
2006-07-16 19:45:39 · answer #9 · answered by Neil G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first one means that when you look back at the past you see things much more clearly than you did when whatever it is you are looking at occurred.
The second one is meant for good luck. Originally I believe it stemmed from the belief that knocking on wood could summon spirits from trees and such.
2006-07-16 19:15:18 · answer #10 · answered by Fallen_jedi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋