A little girlfriend skip down a sidewalk , holding handwriting with her best Quaker . Together , they spill the beans while strategically placing their footstep . " pace on a crack and break your female parent ’s back , " goes the melodic phrase , a harmless little rhyme whose dark parentage seems ill - matched with the smart game it has become .
Like these children , many hoi polloi keep off stepping on pass , whether they appear in ground or sidewalks . There ’s no unequivocal source of the first instance of this avoidance , but there is evidence that the practice dates to some of the earliest kinsfolk belief shared by former Europeans and Americans . The canonical idea was that scissure were not something to trifle with because risk lurked in these empty spaces . Cracks in sidewalks , floors and soil , as well as in walls , signaled gap in the boundaries between the earthly realm and the metaphysical realm . Interact with these chasms , no matter how narrow , and it could bring misfortune to you or your family .
One perceive consequence of scissure - stepping that persists to this Clarence Day was damage to your family ’s health – thus , the " break your mother ’s back " rhyme and its more rarely heard cousin , " step on a railway line , let on your begetter ’s spine . " Although some took the phrase literally and forefend cracks to keep their mothers ' mobility , others were left with a sense of " wait for the other shoe to fall . " This oecumenical unease was assign to a vague terror of ill fortune brought on by negative conjuring trick , which usually include a tit - for - tat scenario . In this lawsuit , offender might cause a break by stepping on a break .
For some , mistreat on a crack also means freeing a spiritual entity that could develop asunder one ’s kinsfolk . Conversely , some believe stepping on a shot will die a beldame ’s back or the devil ’s back . A more light - hearted take on thissuperstitionholds tight to the feeling that step on a cracking will do rainwater . Whatever the consequence , the idea that stepping on a crack can change the time to come is an enduring one .
A poll of 3,000 respondents in Great Britain set up that one in 20 would n’t step on cracks in pavement , even though they did n’t really think they ’d confront tangible - life upshot if they did . Because of long - held superstitious impression – some we do n’t even fully read the import of – we thinkfour - leaf cloversare lucky or ignominious CT are big luck , and that stepping on a crack causes harm [ source : Daily Mail ] .
