“I won’t be late for work again tomorrow – knock on wood<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre your parents paying for you guys to go to France again this summer?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cKnock on wood<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The origin of this phrase comes from old English folklore.\u00a0 Apparently a long time ago people in England went into the isolated woods to talk privately and tell secrets and they “knocked” on the trees (and trees are made of wood) when they were talking to hide their communication from evil spirits who might make trouble.\u00a0 The people knocked on wood to keep the spirits from hearing them and keep the good things they wanted to happen from being disrupted.\u00a0 Another version of this folklore states an almost opposite understanding of the action of knocking on wood.\u00a0 This other version holds that the act of knocking on trees was to wake up the spirits to make them listen so they could work in favor of a specific request or secret.<\/p>\n * boast = to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Knock on wood” is an expression that is often used by English speakers, but it is a very unique phrase.\u00a0 This phrase basically means ‘I hope so’ or ‘if all goes well’.\u00a0 Knock on wood is a spoken phrase (it is generally not written) and it is an expression used to express a desire…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2012\/08\/knock.jpg\")