I was wishing a fellow musician much success on an up coming gig and told him to “Break a Leg” instead of saying ‘Good Luck” which is considered bad luck. Curious, I went to Wikipedia to see what they thought about the idiom. There I found all kinds of theories ranging from understudies wishing the lead would break a leg so that they would get a chance to perform to John Wilkes Booth breaking his leg when jumping onto the stage after murdering President Lincoln. All of them seemed interesting and possible.
My understanding is that "leg" refers to the side curtains and it suggests that the applause ought to be so great that the legs break from so many curtain calls. So it is more than wishing good luck, it is wishing a rousing success. This is my intent when I use the term.
Speaking of rousing successes… we had an incredible good time at the last Blue Berry Jam Session. I hope you can make the next one which has been moved to Thursday Feb. 23rd. Email me for specifics glaswiz@aol.com
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