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stranger
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stranger
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I had always heard that it derived in early 20th cent./late 19th cent. theater. It was wished to a person about to go on stage as a means of disarming the worst possible occurrence while on stage...breaking your leg. If you wish someone great success and it doesn't happen then you're in trouble but if you wish someone to break their leg and it doesn't happen then you're okay. Kind of early reverse psychology.
Nobody stranger
Nobody stranger
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've also heard it mooted
Hi, Eddie! What's mooted, please? That is, I gather from the context it's a sub. for rumored, but where does it come from? Is it slang? Can it have a present tense?
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the etymology of this pharse (Emphasis mine)
Ah, W'ON, you are the king of the Freudian slip these days aren't you! 
Having been gainfully employed as an actor(ess) for 5 years some time ago, I should probably have some idea about this, but I don't really. I agree with the site that says (and I paraphrase) "If we're using this to trick the evil spirits of the stage, then those spirits sure are dumb."
Hev
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What's mooted?
Hey Jackie - interesting question! I've learnt something new looking this up:
Main Entry 1: moot
Pronunciation: 'müt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mOt, gemOt; akin to Middle High German muoze meeting
Date: before 12th century
1 : a deliberative assembly primarily for the administration of justice; especially : one held by the freemen of an Anglo-Saxon community
2 obsolete : ARGUMENT, DISCUSSION
Main Entry 2: moot
Function: transitive verb
Date: before 12th century
1 archaic : to discuss from a legal standpoint : ARGUE
2 a : to bring up for discussion : BROACH b : DEBATE
Main Entry 3: moot
Function: adjective
Date: circa 1587
1 a : open to question : DEBATABLE b : subjected to discussion : DISPUTED
2 : deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic
Taken from www.yourDictionary.com
Well, definitely not slang... I've also heard "moot point". Common usage (that I've heard people use in my work environment) is to state that the issue isn't worth discussing, probably based on the 3rd entry above, where something is academic.
So - moot - means either it's worth discussing, or it isn't. Is this a moot point? 
Hev
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Carpal Tunnel
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My understanding of "mootness" is rather that it doesn't matter. When the truth or falsity of a point would not change the validity of an argument one way or the other, the point is moot.
Comments from the Bar?
But where did the word come from in the first place? Sounds vaguely Anglo-Saxon.
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Carpal Tunnel
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the etymology of this pharse (Emphasis mine)
Ah, W'ON, you are the king of the Freudian slip these days aren't you! Well, you know what they say, hev..."Farce closes on Friday!" (or sometin' like that  ) Having been gainfully employed as an actor(ess) for 5 years some time ago Not surprised, hev! You do have that Nicole Kidman aura about you! 
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Another superstition among actors is that one should never say the name "MacBeth" onstage, unless you're actually speaking lines in the play. It is obliquely referred to as "The play about the Scottish king" or "That Scottish play." I was told it was because some famous productions of that play were struck by tragedy -- but I don't remember the exact tragedies involved right now.
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old hand
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I was going to mention the knee-bending answer (listed above in purple - sorry, can't remember poster!) - an actor told that one to me.
But....I was also going to mention (and now I am mentioning it!) that there's another possibility: that "leg" is short for "legend" - hence, "break a legend" - ie, "be really, really good!"
Or as Bill and Ted of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure would say: Be excellent.
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Carpal Tunnel
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wofa, my understanding is that moot refers to a point that has become moot: that it was at one time relevant, but has become irrelevant due to later events or due to decisions adopted on other parts of the argument.
For example, a court might say, "We are dismissing this case on the basis of the first argument raised by defendant. It is accordingly unnecessary to discuss defendant's second argument for dismissal, which is now moot."
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stranger
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Hello Jackie...
moot (verb transitive) 1. to debate or discuss 2. to propose or bring up for discussion or debate 3. to reduce or remove the practical significance of; make purely theoretical or academic.
I was using "mooted" in the second sense = I've heard it proposed, suggested. The origins of the word date to before 900 AD (ME, mot(e), meeting or assembly); "moot," therefore, is etymologically connected to the word "meet."
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