an evil eye

Hi,

There is an expression "an evil eye". We usually speak of 'the evil eye.'

But when one wants to ward off the evil eye - how can it be put in words? When one knocks at the wood and says"tfu-tfu" We don't normally say this in English when we knock on wood.

- what phrase may be said in this case? People used to say 'God willing', but I don't hear that much anymore. We just knock, and don't usually say anything.

Best wishes, Clive

I would just say "knock wood" (or "knock on wood").  Or, if you are translating within a Jewish context, you could just  transliterate and say "keyn aynhora."  (The way I'm used to hearing it, the pronunciation is more like "kin-anorra")

Here's what Wikipedia says:

 Ashkenazi Jews in Europe and the Americas routinely exclaim Keyn aynhoreh! (also spelled Kein ayin hara!), meaning "No evil eye!" in Yiddish, to ward off a jinx after something or someone has been rashly praised or good news has been spoken aloud.

------------------------------------------------

I would use "God willing" in a different context than "knock wood."

What a beautiful baby - "knock on wood" (or "keyn aynhora"!)

The doctor says I can leave the hospital tomorrow -- God willing!

My mum does it and says 'touch wood'.

If she is feeling particularly superstitious she says 'touch wood and whistle' and follows it with a couple of little whistles.

To be honest, (and without wanting to be too rude about my mum) it's only really old people/superstitious people who do this nowadays.

I can't think of anyone else I know who does it other than as a joke.

By the way, I think whistling may be used instead of "tfu-tfu" in this case.

PS: "Anonymous" - that's me.