Whats the origin of “break a leg” in show business?
Dear Straight Dope: Where did the term “break a leg” originate in theater, and why is it considered a better alternative than “good luck”? — Luke Johnson-Wyoming “Break a leg,” is, of course, what way actors wish each other instead of “good luck” before a performance. The expression has been common among the thespian crowd since the early 1900s. There are a number of theories about the origin. The most colorful is that the phrase refers to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by actor John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theater, when Booth jumped from Lincoln’s box to the stage, breaking his leg. However, the phrase was first recorded in print in the early 1900s, and is unlikely to refer to an incident half a century earlier. Eric Partridge, in his Dictionary of Catchphrases, suggests that “break a leg” originated as a translation of a similar expression used by German actors: Hals- und Beinbruch (literally, “a broken neck and a broken leg.”) The German phrase traces back to early aviators, po
