[Ads-l] break a leg

[Baker, John]

Is there internal evidence showing that Walker was referring to an unwanted pregnancy and not to a literal break of the leg?  The wording seems to me to be inconclusive.


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2020 2:43 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: break a leg

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Or 'become pregnant or bear a child out of wedlock, esp. during a
successful theatrical performance'?

Actually, the two idioms differ in this respect, since "She got her leg
broken" can't be understood as referring to a performance, as opposed to a
pre-performance "Break a leg!" I'm not even sure I could report "I told
her to break a leg, and she did" to mean she did well on stage, given the
frozenness of the idiom.

LH

On Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 2:38 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
wrote:

> 'To become pregnant or bear a child out of wedlock." Rarely attested in
> U.S.
>
> 1862 in C. A. Glenn, ed. _Robert Walker _Letters of Robert Walker, A
> Soldier in the American Civil War_ (Veroqua, Wis.: Vernon Co. Censor,
> 1917)11: And I heard about that poor unfortunate girl, Mary Campfield,
> getting her leg broken. I should like to know who she blames for the
> mischief.
>
> Walker (1841-1864) was from Saltlick, O.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>

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