Översätt hals und beinbruch

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Hals- und Beinbruch in English - Cambridge Dictionary

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halsabschneiderisch in English - Cambridge Dictionary

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Origin of the German expression "Hals- und Beinbruch"

Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Grammar Thesaurus. British and American pronunciations with audio. An ironic or non-literal saying of uncertain origin a dead metaphor , [1] "break a leg" is commonly said to actors and musicians before they go on stage to perform or before an audition. Though the term likely originates in German, the English expression is first attributed in the s or possibly s, [2] originally documented without specifically theatrical associations. Among professional dancers , the traditional saying is not "break a leg", but the French word " merde ". Most commonly favored as a credible theory by etymologists and other scholars, [4] [5] [6] the term was possibly a loan translation from the German phrase Hals- und Beinbruch , literally "neck and leg bone break", itself a loan translation from, and pun on, a Yiddish phrase Yiddish: הצלחה און ברכה , romanized: hatsloche un broche , lit.

The urbane Irish nationalist Robert Wilson Lynd published an article, "A Defence of Superstition", in the 1 October edition of the New Statesman , a British liberal political and cultural magazine, regarding the theatre as the second-most superstitious institution in England, after horse racing. In horse racing, Lynd asserted that to wish a man luck is considered unlucky and so "You should say something insulting such as, 'May you break your leg! The aforementioned theory regarding Hals- und Beinbruch , a German saying via Yiddish origins, suggests that the term transferred from German aviation to German society at large and then, as early as the s, into the American or British and then American theatre. The earliest published example in writing specifically within a theatre context comes from American writer Edna Ferber 's autobiography A Peculiar Treasure , in which she writes about the fascination in the theatre of "all the understudies sitting in the back row politely wishing the various principals would break a leg.

Professional dancers do not wish each other good luck by saying "break a leg;" instead they say " Merde! This term refers to the times when carriages would take the audience to the theatre. A quick look to the street in front of the venue would tell if the play was successful: a lot of horse dung would mean many carriages had stopped to leave spectators. Opera singers use " Toi toi toi , " an idiom used to ward off a spell or hex , often accompanied by knocking on wood, and onomatopoeic, spitting or imitating the sound of spitting. Saliva traditionally was supposed to have demon-banishing powers. From Rotwelsch tof , from Yiddish tov "good," derived from the Hebrew טוב and with phonetic similarities to the Old German word for "Devil". Spitting three times over someone's head or shoulder is a gesture to ward off evil spirits. A similar-sounding expression for verbal spitting occurs in modern Hebrew as "Tfu, tfu" here, only twice , which some say that Hebrew-speakers borrowed from Russian.

An alternate operatic good luck charm, originating from Italy , is the phrase " in bocca al lupo! In Australia , the term " chookas " has been used also. According to one oral tradition, one of the company would check audience numbers. If there were not many in the seats, the performers would have bread to eat following the performance. If the theatre was full they could then have "chook" —Australian slang for chicken — for dinner. Today, this exchange is customary for students before an exam. The number also appears in the film version of the musical. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. English idiom used in theatre to wish a performer good luck. For other uses, see Break a leg disambiguation. Picturesque Expressions: A thematic dictionary 2 ed.

halsabschneiderisch

Gale Research. ISBN World Wide Words. Retrieved 24 April Ballet as body language. A Dictionary of Catch Phrases. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Western Folklore, 53 1 ,