“Fracture a femur” (version of “break a leg,” meaning good luck)
“Fracture a femur” is another way of saying “break a leg” in the theater, where it is bad luck to wish someone good luck.
“‘Fracture a femur’ is certainly poetic enough—all that alliteration and ll, but it tempts fate. Whoever keeps kismet in these matters just might notice that it means the same thing as the now cursed old phrase. And that would be bad luck” was printed in the Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer on May 13, 1979. “fracture a femur” was posted on the website Palin’s Travels on April 20, 2017. “good luck! fracture a femur! i mean.. break a leg!” was posted on Twitter by Scatterbra1n on January 10, 2012.
The actor Thomas Sanders played Logan on the YouTube show Sanders Sides, the episode “Can LYING Be Good??” on February 3, 2018. “Well, best of luck with Joan. Or as they say in the theater… fracture a femur. (...) The actual saying is ‘break a leg’, but I improved it.”
”Fracture of femur ‘Fracture a femur’ is just like ‘Break a leg’” was entered in the Urban Dictionary on November 22, 2020.
Newspapers.com
13 May 1979, Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer, “I You Can’t Say Something Nice…” by Tom McElfresh, pg. F-1, col. 1:
So, quick, kids—let’s appoint a committee, make a study, take suggestions and get up a new theatrical euphemism for “Good Luck.”
(...)
“Fracture a femur” is certainly poetic enough—all that alliteration and ll, but it tempts fate. Whoever keeps kismet in these matters just might notice that it means the same thing as the now cursed old phrase. And that would be bad luck.
(This discussion was inspired by the stage flop, Break a Leg: A Comedy in Two Acts by Ira Levin.—ed.)
Palin’s Travels
Anne
Re: Wish me luck! by johnnythemonkey on 20 April 2007 10:32pm
Break an arm ? you have run out of legs:)
Good luck.
Re: Wish me luck! by perfectbitch on 20 April 2007 10:54pm
fracture a femur. : )
Linz
Re: Wish me luck! by tucsonmike on 21 April 2007 6:36am
Fracture a femur LOL! Poor Heather will be all broken up over this. What a mess!!!
Twitter
Scatterbra1n
@rrrrdn_
Haha nice pun. Thanks dude 😊 We shld hang later! RT @MirzaMokhtar: @ndrrrr awesome! :D good luck! fracture a femur! i mean.. break a leg!
8:49 AM · Jan 10, 2012
Twitter
Christopher Lebutzki
@lebutzki
@Evy_Lynch Can you explain to me why break a leg is considered a compliment? You don’t hear people saying to you fracture a femur!
1:34 PM · Mar 30, 2012
Twitter
Bruce McCorkindale
@brucemccorkinda
Replying to @Maukingbird
@Maukingbird If not, I’m sure there’ll be rafter busting tomorrow! Now, break a leg…trash a tibia…fracture a femur! #ViolentWellWishin
9:03 PM · Aug 24, 2012
Twitter
Ben
@benjaminforsyth
Break a leg @rileynelson. Literally, I hope you fracture a femur #usuaggies
10:27 PM · Sep 15, 2012
Twitter
Mary Agnes Shearon
@RealMaryAgnes
Replying to @Craia9
@Craia9 @AdamKerchman Hope it all works out, break a leg/fracture a femur/knock ‘em dead. #PassingItForward #ThatsWhatWereHereFor
11:41 PM · Apr 20, 2013
Twitter
James
@Chafitz
@parrack120 Break a leg tomorrow! Or to use my slang, pulverize a patella…Fracture a femur. #JimmyCYoureNuts
4:58 PM · Jul 4, 2013 from Framingham, MA
Twitter
Kato Kaelin🇺🇸
@Kato_Kaelin
Replying to @RhondaShear
@RhondaShear fracture a femur( break a leg baby) ur going to dominate. #hardwork
3:50 PM · Oct 5, 2013
Twitter
Laura Lemley Grubler
@rnsroc
Replying to @GrantORourke
@GrantORourke Fracture a femur! (Nurse’s way of saying Break A Leg)
4:41 PM · Apr 8, 2015 from Wheeling, WV
Twitter
♡
@myharrytwerks
When your mom says “fracture a femur” instead of “break a leg.” 😂 love her
7:50 AM · May 21, 2015
Twitter
Kato Kaelin🇺🇸
@Kato_Kaelin
.@BillyMagnussen Good luck Billy or as they say in showbiz “fracture a femur or is it break a leg”? #notadocumentary
5:02 PM · Feb 2, 2016
YouTube
Can LYING Be Good?? | Sanders Sides
Thomas Sanders
Feb 3, 2018
(“Fracture a femur” is said at 24:20.—ed.)
IMDb
Sanders Sides
S2.E5
Can Lying Be Good?
Episode aired Feb 3, 2018
27m
Thomas has forgotten last night to go with Joan to support them to a reading for a stage play Joan had been working on. In the morning, Joan sent him a text reading “where were you last night, F Word Face”, and Thomas, who thinks Joan is mad at him, doesn’t know how to tell them or if he should tell them the truth at all, that he was on a date with a guy he’d just known while Joan was on their reading. Since Thomas is more inclined to lie to Joan because the truth is too horrible for him to tell them, Roman decides to transport them all to a Mind Palace shaped as a theater where he will assume Joan’s form so that Thomas can practice his lying to Joan in the various situations Roman puts in front of Thomas in the form of a play, with Logan as the stage manager, Virgil as the technical operator and Patton as the director.
Directors Joan S. (uncredited), Thomas Sanders (uncredited)
Writers Joan S., Thomas Sanders
Stars Thomas Sanders, Joan S.
IMDb
Sanders Sides (TV Series)
Can Lying Be Good? (2018)
Quotes
Logan: Well, best of luck with Joan. Or as they say in the theater… fracture a femur.
Virgil: What?
Logan: [showing a vocab card] The actual saying is “break a leg”, but I improved it.
Virgil: I hate both of those equally.
Sanders Sides Wiki
Transcripts/Can LYING Be Good??
(...)
[Logan]: Well, best of luck with Joan. Or as they say in the theatre… fracture a femur.
[Virgil]: What?
[Logan]: The actual saying is “break a leg”, but I improved it.
[Virgil]: I hate both of those equally. -sinks out-
[Logan]: Well… -sinks out-
Twitter
Silly Old Goose
@JDawson_3
“Or as they say in the theater, fracture a femur” 😂😂😂 10/10
@ThomasSanders always makes the best jokes and puns
10:57 PM · Feb 3, 2018
Twitter
kylie •~• misses dan and phil
@humanGarbage__
“Like they say in theater, fracture a femur.”
-Logan Sanders 😊
11:29 PM · Feb 15, 2018
Twitter
enemy to god
@enemytogod
My dad always says “fracture a femur” instead of break a leg and tbh I think it’s really cute
1:05 PM · Apr 17, 2018
Twitter
James Hagerty
@Mayberry44
When your friend is doing a Play at what is primarily a Medical School, it’s never “break a leg”, but “fracture a femur”.
8:27 PM · May 20, 2019
Urban Dictionary
Fracture of femur
“Fracture a femur” is just like “Break a leg”
But more detailed “go fracture a femur!”
“As someone goes on stage”
Person: Fracture of femur!
“Wha…..”
by Spaced out of my mind November 22, 2020
Twitter
Benji: King of Narnia
@BenjiDreams98
Replying to @emilyabclark
Whatever your vibe, break a leg tomorrow Ms. Clark! Or as they say in the theatre; fracture a femur. Stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask when needed and remember to give it your all! And (if I may quote) “Try the entire combination facing away from the mirror!”
5,6,7,8!
9:01 PM · Aug 11, 2021