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From the porn industry, it's their version of break a leg
Here is what I found ...
The origin is unknown, though some writers have pointed to pre-Christian rituals involving the spirits of sacred trees such as the oak, ash, holly or hawthorn. There is, I’m told, an old Irish belief that you should knock on wood to let the little people know that you are thanking them for a bit of good luck. There’s also a belief that the knocking sound prevents the Devil from hearing your unwise comments. Others have sought a meaning in which the wood symbolises the timber of the cross, but this may be a Christianisation of an older ritual. It wasn’t always wood that was lucky: in older days, iron was also thought to have magical properties, and to touch iron was an equivalent preventative against ill-fortune.
Good Question..! It must be from something Lucky..?
Probably originated in one of the Carry On films by the sound of it!
From http://www.phrases.org.uk/ -
"From Eric Partridge, "A Dictionary of Catch Phrases":
'touch wood!' . . . For the various origins proposed for this phrase, you must consult the folklorists; the more, the greater fun. As merest layman and not all that seriously, I suggest that it originates in some half-buried myth about 'the Great God Pan', haunter of woods and forests. . . . Vernon Noble proposed, 1977: 'This is probably of ancient origin, or perhaps no further back than mediaeval times when relics were hawked about the country, including pieces of "the true cross". Those . . . unable to buy splinters . . . were probably allowed to touch them freely, as a gesture of piety and to bring them good luck or a blessing".
["Knock wood" or "knock on wood" is the US form. -- rb]"
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