Query: Spitting in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

[Mark A Mandel]

On Sun, 2 Mar 2003, Gerald Cohen wrote:

#Also: that this is a Jewish custom too (to drive away the evil eye);
#my impression is that as a Jewish custom this is much less practiced
#and still less believed.

Well... my mother-in-law was certainly Old World in her upbringing,
although quite educated and American in many ways. "Pooh pooh pooh" is a
good verbalization of what I called her "mock spitting". Neither my wife
nor I do it...

But... Practice and belief; hmmm. Practically no one in America believes
in tree spirits, especially dwelling in furniture or door jambs. Lots of
people in America, including me, sometimes knock on wood, or say "knock
on wood", after mentioning an undesirable possibility. I will not try to
explain this apparent inconsistency, but will leave it as an exercise
for the student.

And as we get older, and may tend more to identify with our parents and
others of their generation, we may begin to pick up aspects of their
verbal and other behavior that we associate, knowingly or not, with the
age and station in life that we see ourselves reaching.

-- Mark A. Mandel