It makes no sense to tell people to “break a leg” when you look at the words. But that is because the origin has nothing to do with English.
It means "good luck."People say "break a leg" when they wish an artist, musician or actor good luck before an event or going on stage.
Some have speculated that it was because the audience would bump their chairs against the floor in the theatre instead of applauding. And if the performance was extraordinarily good, they might even break a leg of the chair in doing so.
We find this hard to believe.
Before the hooligans, it is our impression that the English people behaved in a civilized manner and thus not used violence inside theaters. We find another explanation much more likely.
Going to the theater has always been a popular pastime.
During history, several theaters were famous like the ancient Greek theatre, the comedies and the tragedies. Roman theaters were, shall we say, quite different and much more life-and-dead related.
And then we have Yiddish theater.
You probably know a title like “Fiddler on the Roof” which was later turned into a movie, too.
Just like Greek theater was performed in Greek, Yiddish theater was performed in Yiddish, and now we are getting closer to the origin of “break a leg.”
The Jews in Germany and Poland spoke Yiddish.
They used the Hebrew alphabet, written from right to left, and mixed Hebrew words and words from their daily life together.
If you understand German, chances are you will understand some Yiddish as long as it is spoken, or you can also read Hebrew letters.
The term “break a leg” originates from the 1920’s in Germany.
When these German Jews wished each other good luck, they used the expression “hatsloche un broche” (הצלחה און ברכה). “Hatsloche” means “luck” or “success,” “un” means “and” (from German “und”) and “broche” means blessing.
Pronounced in Yiddish, this sounds a lot like the German “Hals- und Beinbruch” which means “neck and bone (leg) break.”
Pilots in the Germany Luftwaffe used this expression as a joke and later on it went on to become the expression we know as “break a leg.”
The expression that had now become an idiom was first used in English in the early 1930’s.
And now everybody uses it.
