Hals- und Beinbruch (was "break a leg")

[Jan Ivarsson]

No, it should definitely be written in three words and with capitals in the nouns (as always in German).
Wahrig, Gerhardt, Deutsches Wörterbuch, has under the heading "Hals":  "~- und Beinbruch! (Wunsch für gutes Bestehen einer Prüfung) - a wish for good luck before a trial.
Jan Ivarsson, TransEdit
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Need" <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 5:20 AM
Subject: Re: Hals- und Beinbruch (was "break a leg")


> >   Jan Ivarsson (Jan. 23) writes:
> >>
> >>Nigel Rees' Dictionary of Phrase & Allusion (Bloomsbury 1993) has
> >>the phrase and confirms my opinion:
> >>"This traditional greeting is said before a performance, especially
> >>a first night (...) Morris (Dict. of Word and Phrase Origins, 1977)
> >>has it based on a German good luck expression, Hals- und Beinbruch."
> >
>
> Good heavens! I grew up with "Hals und Bein brech" (the vowel difference
> may be dialectal, or my mishearing of my mother's non-native German learned
> in Zurich--and it should be four words, or not capitalized, or something).
> She described it as a skiers' good luck phrase.
>
> Barbara Need
> UChicago--Linguistics
>
> (I got WAY behind on my mail!)
>