Title: Break a Leg

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: American Superstition (Good luck)
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: America
• Informant: Blake Crossing
• Date Collected: October 28, 2018

Informant Data:

• Blake Crossing is a junior at Dartmouth College. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Blake spends his time playing baseball and video games with his friends. He studies Computer Science at Dartmouth and is a member of the Dartmouth College Varsity Baseball Team.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: The informant conducted an in person interview about his superstition. As a youth, Blake’s younger brother was very interesting in acting. He would participate in many on stage productions and Blake and his family would attend. Blake’s mother would tell his younger brother to “break a leg” before he went on stage, and soon enough, Blake started saying it as well.
• Cultural Context: Some people think that the phrase derives from the 1865 murder of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. After shooting the President at Ford’s Theater, Booth leapt off the stage and broke his leg.

Item:

• Blake tells his brother to “break a leg” before every performance. Telling a performer to “break a leg” is a good luck superstition that helps ensure the performer will not make any mistakes.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Blake Leg-qeri8c

Transcript of Associated File:

• Oliver: “So Blake, I understand you have a superstition?”

Blake: “Yeah, so every time my little brother would get on stage—he used to be an actor—um, right before he would get on stage, my mom would tell me to tell him to break a leg, and you know, obviously that’s just kinda like a little saying we have for good luck. He always had good performances, and I always said it so there’s no way I wasn’t going to say it one time and risk him having a terrible performance.”

Informants Comments:

• “Although my brother doesn’t act anymore, I still think of him whenever I hear this superstition.”

Collector’s Comments:

• This is a common superstition I have heard throughout my life.

Collector’s Name: Oliver Campbell

Tags/Keywords:

• American. Superstition. Break a Leg. Magic Superstition.