When you say "good luck" to your friend who need it,
Do you usually cross your second finger and third finger(the longest finger)?
I've never seen it(on TV drama), But someone told me Native speakers of English do it as jesture.
I want to confirm it.
If you really do it, how often do you do it?
good luck
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jly_eslcafe
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 3:47 am
- Location: Oz
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jly_eslcafe
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 3:47 am
- Location: Oz
Joon,
Another thought, sometime people will cross their finger when they are about to lie to a promised they just made. It is an old fashioned thing, but sometimes you will see it in on TV. For example when person A has just promised person B something, person A will at the same time cross his/her fingers without revealing it to person B.
Hope that helps!
~ Jennifer
Another thought, sometime people will cross their finger when they are about to lie to a promised they just made. It is an old fashioned thing, but sometimes you will see it in on TV. For example when person A has just promised person B something, person A will at the same time cross his/her fingers without revealing it to person B.
Hope that helps!
~ Jennifer
I 've seen it
Yes, I've seen it(the negative meaning) in on TV many times.
And, I've never seen it with "good luck" in on TV.
Some days ago, I met it in an English test of a middle school.
The question was testing whether a student knows the children's culture.
or not.
Cultural one is important to language studying because language itself
is acquired from cultural background.
However, I doubt that this kind of the question is educational.
I doubt whether this kind of children's culture can be the standard English culture.
I think a test must have the direction of education.
That means A student have to meet an oppotunity to improve his level of study with a question.
And A student who has studied a lot should get a good score with the test.
But this kind of question just gives an accidental oppotunity to get correct
regardless of study much or not.
If the children's culture is widely used in English speaking society, I might
be wrong.
If the children's culure is not a standard English cultue, I can say the question has no direction of Education, and it's just a proudly showing of the teacher's knowledge got by accident.
If a teacher asks whether a student knows about a word's meaning.
his Student will study about vocaburary.
If a teacher like to test for listening comprehension, his student will try to
listening practice.
If the teacher asks about this kind of childfren's culture in his test,
What should his student study?
Try to get information of not widely used culture?
Is there any direction of Education?
Considering so much time spent by ESL students, only a few students can
reach the level of English users.
Why?
I think there are so many false direction of language study provided by
who doesn't know the essence of language.
Actually I meet so many uneducational test items leading students confused.
One of it is vocaburary test, I think, because we can't memorize so much vocaburary.
Instead, I think we can get the high level of vocaburary power by reading.
Oops,
I am beginning to out of point.
This is my usual habit...
Anyway, I wanted to know the children's culture is widely used or not.
I appreciate your help much.
Good Luck, Jennifer.
And, I've never seen it with "good luck" in on TV.
Some days ago, I met it in an English test of a middle school.
The question was testing whether a student knows the children's culture.
or not.
Cultural one is important to language studying because language itself
is acquired from cultural background.
However, I doubt that this kind of the question is educational.
I doubt whether this kind of children's culture can be the standard English culture.
I think a test must have the direction of education.
That means A student have to meet an oppotunity to improve his level of study with a question.
And A student who has studied a lot should get a good score with the test.
But this kind of question just gives an accidental oppotunity to get correct
regardless of study much or not.
If the children's culture is widely used in English speaking society, I might
be wrong.
If the children's culure is not a standard English cultue, I can say the question has no direction of Education, and it's just a proudly showing of the teacher's knowledge got by accident.
If a teacher asks whether a student knows about a word's meaning.
his Student will study about vocaburary.
If a teacher like to test for listening comprehension, his student will try to
listening practice.
If the teacher asks about this kind of childfren's culture in his test,
What should his student study?
Try to get information of not widely used culture?
Is there any direction of Education?
Considering so much time spent by ESL students, only a few students can
reach the level of English users.
Why?
I think there are so many false direction of language study provided by
who doesn't know the essence of language.
Actually I meet so many uneducational test items leading students confused.
One of it is vocaburary test, I think, because we can't memorize so much vocaburary.
Instead, I think we can get the high level of vocaburary power by reading.
Oops,
I am beginning to out of point.
This is my usual habit...
Anyway, I wanted to know the children's culture is widely used or not.
I appreciate your help much.
Good Luck, Jennifer.
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Pink Piggy
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2003 3:11 pm
- Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Which fingers?
Hi Joon!
Nobody actually answered your question about which fingers we cross. It is always the two closest to the thumb (Pointer and index). This is VERY common, and the idiom "cross your fingers" is very common too. Related to good luck there is also the idiom "knock on wood" - which is used in a similar context to cross your fingers, i.e. when you want something to happen. Sometimes people will actually knock on some wood too.
Well GOOD LUCK in your studies!
-Pink Piggy
Nobody actually answered your question about which fingers we cross. It is always the two closest to the thumb (Pointer and index). This is VERY common, and the idiom "cross your fingers" is very common too. Related to good luck there is also the idiom "knock on wood" - which is used in a similar context to cross your fingers, i.e. when you want something to happen. Sometimes people will actually knock on some wood too.
Well GOOD LUCK in your studies!
-Pink Piggy
check
We need check and check.
Thank you for your comment.
Although I've know "knock on wood" means someone wants something for the first time today,
I am hearing the sound someone is knocking on wood wishing for something.
I can imagine it.
But I can't deduce why "cross your finger" means hoping "good luck"
Onemore, when your cross your fingers, which finger is in top and which fingoer is in bottom?
I guess the index is on the back of the pointer.
Am I wrong?
Thank you for your comment.
Although I've know "knock on wood" means someone wants something for the first time today,
I am hearing the sound someone is knocking on wood wishing for something.
I can imagine it.
But I can't deduce why "cross your finger" means hoping "good luck"
Onemore, when your cross your fingers, which finger is in top and which fingoer is in bottom?
I guess the index is on the back of the pointer.
Am I wrong?
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Pink Piggy
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2003 3:11 pm
- Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
More on "crossing your fingers"
Hi Joon!
Not that it matters (it is probably different person to person), but I put my pointer under my index...
As for the matter of the origin of the activity/saying, I've discovered that it, like many common superstitions, comes from Medieval Europe. The Europeans at that time were almost all Christians, but their Christianity was generally of a superstitious nature. Anything associated with the cross (the symbol of the Christian Church) was considered lucky. So "crossing your fingers" was a way of making a cross to ward off bad spirits or bad luck.
By the way, two other things the Medieval Europeans did to chase away bad spirits were throwing salt over their shoulders (salt = purity, left shoulder = where the devil sits, therefore you could fight evil or bad luck with purity...) and saying "bless you" when someone sneezed (because your spirit might leave for a moment when you sneezed, giving the devil an opportunity to take you over!) We still do these things today, too.
This stuff really isn't all that useful to learning English. Most of us don't know the orgins of our superstitions and the idioms that arise from them; but it's kind of fun. Here a web site if you are interested:
http://www.meltmagazine.com/15_2002/page4.htm
CHEERS!
-Pink Piggy
Not that it matters (it is probably different person to person), but I put my pointer under my index...
As for the matter of the origin of the activity/saying, I've discovered that it, like many common superstitions, comes from Medieval Europe. The Europeans at that time were almost all Christians, but their Christianity was generally of a superstitious nature. Anything associated with the cross (the symbol of the Christian Church) was considered lucky. So "crossing your fingers" was a way of making a cross to ward off bad spirits or bad luck.
By the way, two other things the Medieval Europeans did to chase away bad spirits were throwing salt over their shoulders (salt = purity, left shoulder = where the devil sits, therefore you could fight evil or bad luck with purity...) and saying "bless you" when someone sneezed (because your spirit might leave for a moment when you sneezed, giving the devil an opportunity to take you over!) We still do these things today, too.
This stuff really isn't all that useful to learning English. Most of us don't know the orgins of our superstitions and the idioms that arise from them; but it's kind of fun. Here a web site if you are interested:
http://www.meltmagazine.com/15_2002/page4.htm
CHEERS!
-Pink Piggy
cultural matter
Upping fingers including using fingers when you talk, mainly pointing at a person with your fingers is considered very impolite in Korean society.
I think that was why I hardly accept the action crossing fingers as the sign of good luck.
This could be a case how a idiom of foreign language accepted in another country easily or difficultly .
I think that was why I hardly accept the action crossing fingers as the sign of good luck.
This could be a case how a idiom of foreign language accepted in another country easily or difficultly .