The Internet says 'Touch wood is an example of a superstition: something that we do in order to have good luck. It is not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic and the supernatural'
I am from India and I have heard urban Indians say it whenever they make a favorable observation. I am pretty sure the origin is not Indian. What is the story behind this phrase?
Learn English – the origin of the phrase ‘touch wood’
etymologyphrases
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Best Answer
Here is the entry for "knock on wood" in Robert Hendrickson, The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, fourth edition (2008):
I like the asking-for-help-from-the-tree-spirit theory best, but not because it seems especially plausible. Christine Ammer, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms (1997) has this:
Finally there is the bit of advice from Journal of American Folklore (1892[?]):