Conference thebay::joyoflex

    Sounds like the same notion got translated pretty accurately from the
    original English to whatever language it is we now use here in the U.S.

    Re .0: I'm not aware of a specific superstition-related name for that
    bone in French (which doesn't mean there isn't one, mind you), but the
    superstition about that bone is strongly implanted in France too. When
    you pull on one of the thin ends of the bone while someone else pulls
    on the other thin end until the bone cracks, it's a sign of good luck
    for the one who gets the thick middle part with her/his end. A
    difference that I've noted is that the French superstition, as far as I
    know, doesn't involves any kind of wish.
    			Denis.

    Using the common name for the item does not mean that one believes
    the superstition which led to the common name.  We can speak of
    Sunday without believing that the sun is a god (twice over).
    
    Anyway, I'd rather wish for meat than bone.

      <<< Note 835.3 by TKOV51::DIAMOND "This note is illegal tender." >>>

�    Using the common name for the item does not mean that one believes
�    the superstition which led to the common name.  
    
    Quite so.
    
    My point was just that: the word now can be used with no hint of
    superstion.
    
    I'm still interested in knowing whether similar superstitions
    have left their mortal remains in `secular' words.  Not in
    these two:
    
    Spanish	furcula [which looks like plain Latin to me, and refers
    		just to the size and shape of the bone]
    
    German	Gabelbein [which refers just to its structural significance
    		- what little German I know is more than twenty years old,
    		but I assume `Gabel' is related to the English `gable']
    
    Maybe either English borrowed the idea from French, or French from 
    English [losing the `wish' idea along with the word]. Any other ideas?

    Re .4:
    >		but I assume `Gabel' is related to the English `gable']
    Gabel(German)=fork(English), possibly among other things.  In this
    case, it's clearly appropriate.
    
    >M

    re .5, The "house of seven forks?"
    
    It makes sense: in the old days, one of the ways rooves (roofs?
    they both look wrong to me) were built was with two timbers tied
    or pegged in a shape like the big "X" below.  A roof beam would
    			be laid between the upper arms of a series 
       \ /		these "X"s, and gables would be smaller "X"s
    	X		out to the side.  Once up, this framing would
       / \		be covered with smaller timbers and thatched.
      /   \		
     /     \		This shape looks a lot like a wish-bone, and
    /	    \		also like the business end of a two-tined fork.
    
    				-John Bishop

    I think the plural of "roof" is "condominium."
    
    --bonnie

    Interestingly (well, I think it's interesting), an old word for the
    wish-bone was "merry-thought".  Came across this while researching
    charades, which gives me a chance to plug for my charade entries in
    ROBTOB::BRAIN_BOGGLERS (do a dir/title=charade).
    
    Don't know the origin or history of this word, but will report more as
    soon as I've made my way to the nearest OED, unless else someone has
    one handy??
    
    
    						Mark

It is "vorkbeen" in Dutch & Flemish - this translates to "fork-bone" - cfr.
German Gabelbein.

I seem to rememeber that this is the birds' counterpart of the mammals'
collar-bones or clavicles - except they have grown together.

    �nske=wish and ben=bone. The 'pulling and wishing ceremoni' is standard
    procedure in Denmark too.
    
    Outlaw

    
    If you soak the wishbone in vinegar, it becomes rubbery. When the
    opposing bone pullers pull, the wishbone doesn't break. I also remember
    something about bad luck if you throw the wishbone away intact.
    
    Jeff