Cross Your Fingers!

Since I have not chosen this blog as a place to bore you with facts, I will not attempt to research the origin of the phrase 'cross your fingers', but I will tell you (strictly from my own, personal, everyday knowledge) that I would guess the phrase is related to a time when:

Back in the 16th century, supernatural creatures like witches and ghosts were generally accepted by many people to be real and sometimes the cause of bad luck or illnesses. Believing that the power of the cross would help protect them from evil, it was often used. The proper way of drawing a cross back then, and still used to this day, is to touch the forehead, heart, left shoulder, then right shoulder with you right hand.
There was not always time to do the proper drawing of it though. Say someone suddenly crossed paths with another who they thought were a witch, they would need protection immediately! So they used a shortcut: making a cross with both their index and second fingers. Doing this would protect them straight away from the evil that was before them, or so they thought.
Most of these beliefs have died out here in the modern day, but the gestures that were used continue on.

But you know, if I were to go to all that trouble then I would have to start a website designed to explain phrases.  And If I were to do that I would probably call it something like: http://www.knowyourphrase.com
 But seriously, I wouldn't want to go through all that trouble so I will have to sit back patiently and wait to see if anyone else gets the idea first.  I'm crossing my fingers.

Today I am not asking you to cross your fingers to ward off evil.  Far from it!  I have mentioned before the Blogs Of Note on blogger.com. I go to that section occasionally to see what others are doing and what attracts the most attention from the powers that select the 'winner' daily.  From what I can tell tons of pictures and using the 'F' word a lot is the key to success.  Well I firetrucking will not stoop that that flapjacking level! 


I have been on there a few times lately and I have noticed that the trend has been more toward the family friendly.  I have even seen one written by someone who was a Christian and wrote about their family.  (who almost never used the f word)  It has given me hope.  Maybe, perhaps, could be, that some day I will be chosen for the day and then I will become rich and famous and interviewed by the local television station...or maybe they will just spell my name wrong in the back section of the newspaper.  


Anyway, I have just tried to change something on the blog.  I have added a new section at the top left column.   Well, I have tried to add something to the top left column.  It should be something that links you to my Facebook page.  It might also be a map to the nearest frozen yogurt store.  I am thinking that it could propel me into the double digits of "likes" on ye goode ole Facebook.  Cross your fingers!