Editor's Corner

I was looking at some of the questions that I have from you readers, which sit in my file for times like this (when I have a moment to do some research). The questions of the day are:

What do these phrases mean? Where are they from?

• Knock on wood
• Touch wood

From Wikipedia:

Knocking on wood (also phrased touching wood) is an apotropaic [KC – “protective magic”] tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating that one is doing or intending to do so, to avoid "tempting fate" after making a favorable prediction or boast, or a declaration concerning one’s own death or another unfavorable situation. [KC – I had to laugh at this, “one’s own death or another unfavorable situation,” you know, like a hangnail or running out of toilet paper.]

Here is where I found widely different answers about where the phrase originated and who uses it. Religious sites give credit to Christianity and the “wood” is related to the crucifix. Then, as with numerous Christian customs, historians go back further and relate touching wood to paganism. Two or three of the articles specifically mention Celtic people touching wood to call on the spirits of the trees.

There were a couple of articles, including the one in Wikipedia, that said the phrase is still used in modern language because of a kind of tag called “Tiggy Touchwood,” in which players are safe from being tagged if they are touching wood.”

The phrase or action of “knocking (or touching) wood” appears all over the world. Here are a few of the items from the Wikipedia article:

• In Azerbaijan and Turkey, when someone hears about a bad thing they usually (along with gently pulling one earlobe) knock on wood thrice to prevent that happening.
• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Serbia there is also the habit of knocking on wood when saying something positive or affirmative about someone or something and not wanting that to change.
• In Denmark the saying is 7, 9, 13 / syv, ni, tretten (usually accompanied by knocking under a table), as these numbers have traditionally been associated with magic.
• In Israel the saying בלי עין הרע‎ b’lí ‘áyin hará’ ("without the evil eye") is said when someone mentions good things happening to themselves or someone else, or even when mentioning a valuable thing they own.

• In Latin America, it is also tradition to physically knock a wooden object. A variant requires that the object does not have feet (tocar madera sin patas), which rules out chairs, tables and beds.
• In Spain tocar madera and in France toucher du bois ("to touch wood") is something that you say when you want your luck or a good situation to continue, e.g. Ha ido bien toda la semana y, toco madera, seguirá bien el fin de semana ("It’s been good all week and, touching wood, the weekend will stay good").

There are many more phrases, but they’re all basically a wish for good luck, or a wish against bad luck. Here’s hoping your luck today is good, knock on wood!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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