Claire Rojstaczer wrote: > I have heard, in my brief days doing theatre tech (where brief is equal > to two weeks), that the phrase is a reference not to someone's lower > limb but to the "leg" curtain on stage -- "breaking" a leg refers to > ruining the curtain by hauling it back and forth for a multitude of > encores. Thus, "breaking a leg" would be the result of a wildly > successful play. > > This could be entirely apocryphal. A high school theatre arts instructor once explained to me that the term referred to the final bow. I can't remember the details now, but from what I remember of the performances I was in, it was customary for the cast to bow once, from the waist. Then, if the audience continued to applaud after some time had passed, a second bow was appropriate. If the applause still had not died down after several moments, or if the audience had decided to give a standing ovation, then a third bow was taken, and in this bow the actors stepped forward slightly with one leg (thus "breaking a leg"). Of course, it's entirely possible that the meaning is ambiguous. Or perhaps both explanations are appropriate. If I'd paid enough attention to the details, I might know. As it happened, I was more concerned with having fun and meeting girls. -- Ryan Grove ryan at wonko.com http://wonko.com/