Know Your English (Mar 2001)

Know your English

What is the meaning of ``cross one's fingers''?

Which fingers do you normally cross? Usually when you cross your fingers, you cross your middle finger over the pointer, often referred to as the ``index'' finger. When you cross your fingers, you are hoping that things will go according to plan and that you will succeed in whatever it is you are doing. The expression has more or less the same meaning as ``touch wood''. In both these cases you would like divine intervention-in other words, God - to help you. According to some scholars the expression ``cross one's fingers'' has been part of the English language for over a century. It is connected to the belief that when you made the sign of the cross you kept bad luck away. Here are a few examples:
* We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping it won't rain during the picnic.
* If I get this job all our problems will be solved. So keep your fingers crossed.
* She'll win a million dollars if she answers the next question. Keep your fingers crossed.
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``In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.'' - Mark Twain


Source:
The Hindu daily, Tuesday, March 20, 2001