Knock Wood facts
While investigating facts about Knock Wood, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The phrase 'Knock on Wood' derives from the pagan belief that malevolent spirits inhabited wood, and that if you expressed a hope for the future you should touch, or knock on, wood to prevent the spirits from hearing and presumably preventing your hopes from coming true.
The possible origin of the phrase "knock on wood" comes from Germanic folklore, "wherein dryads are thought to live in trees, and can be invoked for protection."
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 11 of the best facts about Knock Wood I managed to collect.
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"knocking on wood" originated from pagan culture and was done to scare away evil spirts that lived in trees
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The phrase "knock on wood" comes from the belief that doing it invokes the protection of good spirits living in trees
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The disco classic "Knock on Wood" by Amii Stewart is actually a cover. R&B singer Eddie Floyd recorded the original in 1966.
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There was a participant in the Boston Tea Party who was knocked unconscious, then thought to be dead by his fellow collaborators, and had his body dumped into a pile of wood shavings near the wharf.
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The phrase "knock on wood" came from pagan mythology, where the first knock would ask for the tree spirit's blessing and the second knock was to say thank you.
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The phrase "a chip on one's shoulder" comes from an old custom of placing a chip of wood on one's shoulder as a challenge to a rival; if the rival knocked the chip off they were agreeing to fight.
