Jinx cartoons--XX---query

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated Mon, 11 Apr 2005 20:29:56 -0500,  "Cohen, Gerald  Leonard"
_gcohen at UMR.EDU_ (mailto:gcohen at UMR.EDU)   writes:

>Does a sign of XX have any signficance for jinx/bad luck?  Barry Popik once
sent me some
>1911 cartoons all titled "Lookout for the Jinx" (NY Evening Journal,  e.g.
May 26, 1911), in
>which a jinx-like figure always has a double-X on his chest. Might  someone
know what its
>significance is?




Just a guess:

Back in elementary school someone (I think a Catholic boy somewhat older
than me) told me that while crossing one pair of fingers was a good-luck  symbol,
crossing two (or more) pairs of fingers meant bad luck.  I've never  heard
this from anyone else, but then I've never seen anyone desperate for luck  cross
more than one pair of fingers.  Would crossing two pair of fingers be  a
"double-cross"?

      - James A. Landau