Etymology of fingers crossed, was Re: [OS X TeX] panther

[Christoph Hammann]

Am 12.06.2004 um 09:07 schrieb Will Robertson:

>
> On 11 Jun 2004, at 11:32 PM, Mauro Cereda wrote:
>
>> I'm keeping my finger crossed (has this a sense for 
>> not-italian-people?)
>
> Most certainly in English (well, Australian)! In those exact words, no 
> less.
> I wonder where the phrase comes from, anyway...

Here's some info about that from
http://www.etymologie.info/

  fingers crossed

  = to hope for good luck
  This expression may have originally come from the superstition that 
keeping your fingers crossed kept away evil and bad luck. Some children 
believe that if you cross your fingers when you lie it does not 
'count'.

Not very surprising, I'm afraid.

Christoph
-- 
Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod

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