Antedating of "break a leg" (1940)--correction, now 1925

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/26/2009 09:08 PM, Victor wrote:
>It also equates "to cut one's leg" with getting drunk, and "to have a
>bone in one's leg" with "to be incapable of action" (i.e., a version of
>"a bone in one's throat"). In the latter sense, breaking a leg would be
>certain to fix that problem. The sourcing is interesting too--the "leg"
>version goes back to Swift, 1738 (the throat version is obviously older
>and more widespread).

"Cut in the Leg" for "(becoming) intoxicated" goes back to 1673,
according to the OED.

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org