Origins: Knock on Wood

"Knock on wood."

Funny how a phrase is thought to hold so much power, not only over us, but over fate itself. As if uttering these three simple words can keep the worst from happening. I know I fall into the magic of KoW when I am trying to catch a flight or get somewhere on time. Or during my college days, after a really hard final. One wonders how would have history played out if only these words were said.

Would the the lovable Trix Rabbit been able to get his hands on the cereal if he had used the power of KoW ? Instead, after many, many failures had had to resort to a more drastic approach. In 2001 August 24th, Trix finally snapped when Toucan Sam called him, "silly." Unveiling a hidden butchers knife he grabbed the bird, threw him in the car and took him to an abandoned cereal factory. He held the parrot hostage for 93 hours before he finally surrendered. He pleaded not guilty due to insanity, but the court found him guilty of attempted bird-slaughter, which put him in jail for 5 years. He got out in 2 and half years for good behavior and now has a position with a magician in Mexico. To this day he has yet to receive his beloved cereal; to this day no one ever heard him say, "knock on wood." Coincidence?

But this isn't about Trix. This goes beyond that. Where did this phrase originate? Through some extensive research I found that 84% of people in the United States use the power of KoW.* With that many people using the phrase, how can one not but help think, "Where did this come from?"

Taken from Wikipedia
It is commonly thought that knocking on wood has been a superstitious action to ward off evil throughout history involving Pagan belief systems.^[1] The same reference claims that knocking on wood is also used in some form of Christianity, but in a different context, where the wood represents the cross. In an alternate explanation, the wood represents the rosary. ^[2]

Another explanation for this practice is the pagan belief that spirits (dryads) lived in trees.^[3]By knocking on the wood of a tree while making some sort of a bold statement, the speaker could prevent the spirit from hearing him and stop the spirit from interfering^{[citation needed]} or out of respect for the wood spirit, touching a tree indicated seeking protection from the particular spirit.^[1]

However historian Steve Roud^[4] finds no evidence in the British Isles for the earlier theories, suggesting that the superstitions have not been traced beyond children's games of tag of the early nineteenth century. According to Roud, the earliest documented references to "touching wood" are from 1805 and 1828 and concern chasing games like "Tiggy-touch-wood", where you are safe from being "tagged" if you "touch wood", says Roud, "'Tiggy-touch-wood" was an extremely well-known game, and it is more than likely that the phrase was passed into everyday language.

Well folks, its a sunny day outside and I am off to play some Tiggy-touch-wood with the pup.

Stay Kosher,
Serg

*Percentage supplied by WRBS.** Critics argue that the WRBS does not gather its statistics properly. In fact most say that they simply pick a number out of a hat.

**White Russian Bullshit Society