> Does this "touch wood" mean "I hope we're lucky"? If it does, it's
>funny to think why some languages have "touch iron" and others "wood". I
>had only heard this "wood" thing in Spanish. Anybody knows about it?
Two theories: on "touch wood," the idea may have been to invoke the tree
spirit, to ward off any ill that might result from having spoken (a la "we
haven't had any trouble with the landlord," or "my job is going really
well.") The sense is, please don't let whatever positive thing I just said
tempt the gods to overturn it.
I hadn't ever heard of "touch iron" in this context, but there's a mass of
European tradition having to do with the fairies being warded off by the
power of iron, even to the extent of wearing iron amulets or hanging iron
charms in cradles.
Max