how did the phrase "break a leg" about? and how on earth could that mean 'good luck'??

Answer 1

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 a leg'.

Answer 2

"Break a leg

Meaning: A wish of good luck, do well.
Example: Break a leg in your game today.
Origin: "Break a leg" is sourced in superstition. It is a wish of good luck, but the words wish just the opposite.
It was once common for people to believe in Sprites. Sprites are actually spirits or ghosts that were believed to enjoy wreaking havoc and causing trouble.

If the Sprites heard you ask for something, they were reputed to try to make the opposite happen. Telling someone to "break a leg" is an attempt to outsmart the Sprites and in fact make something good happen. Sort of a medieval reverse psychology.

Of course it has became a popular wish of luck for theater performers." http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOrigins.htm

Another poignant reference to actors was that actor John Wilkes Booth broke his leg while jumping off the balcony onto the stage after assassinating President Lincoln.

Answer 3

Meaning

Said to actors for good luck before they go on stage, especially on an opening nights.

Origin

Theatrical types are well-known for their belief in superstitions, or at least for their willingness to make a show of pretending to believe them. The term 'break a leg' appears to come from the belief that one ought not to utter the words 'good luck' to an actor. By wishing someone bad luck, it is supposed that the opposite will occur. Other superstitions are that it is bad luck to whistle in a theatre, to say the final line of a play during dress rehearsal, or to say the name of 'the Scottish Play' in a theatre's green room.

The word 'break' has many meanings - the OED lists 57 distinct uses of it as a verb alone. That gives considerable scope for speculation over what is meant by the phrase. The most common interpretation of 'break' in this context is, 'to deviate from a straight line', as in the cricketing term, 'off break'. That is, unstraighten the leg by bending at the knee, by bowing or curtseying.

'Break a leg' also means, 'make a strenuous effort'. There are many references to the phrase used that way, which pre-date the earliest theatrical good luck charm meaning. For example, from The Hammond Times, Indiana, 1942:

"Whatever the army or navy want, the Continental Roll [and Steel Foundry] will turn out ... Or break a leg trying."

From the Evening State Journal, Nebraska, 1937:

"With all the break-a-leg dancing there are many who still warm to graceful soft shoe stepping."

So, it is possible that when an actor is told to 'break a leg', he/she may just be being exhorted to put on an energetic, exciting performance.

There are many other possible derivations in circulation, mostly referring to the 'good luck' message. In diminishing order of plausibility, 'break a leg' these are:

Put on a performance good enough that you will have to bend your knee in a bow or curtsey to acknowledge the applause.
Impress the audience so much that you will need to bend down to pick up the coins they throw onto the stage.
Pass out onto the stage to receive a curtain call (the side curtains on a stage are known as legs).
Go on stage and have your 'big break'.
Evoke the powers of the celebrated actress Sarah Bernhardt, who had one leg.
A reference to John Wilkes Booth, who broke his leg when jumping on stage, attempting to flee after shooting President Lincoln.
It is tempting to believe the phrase to be ancient and to imagine it whispered to Tudor minstrels as they went on stage at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. There was an earlier meaning of 'break a leg' of that vintage (1670), which was 'to give birth to a bastard'. This is now entirely out of use and is not related to the theatrical version. The current meaning is nothing like as old. The term originates in the American theatre in the 20th century and all the earliest references to its use are from US sources.

Answer 4

I guess it originated in the theatre?I remember someone telling me that in theatre that things mean the opposite.So if breaking a leg means bad luck,then it's good luck because it's the opposite.

Answer 5

I don't know, but it is a superstition of actors to say it to one another for good luck before performing.