“Some people knock on wood, but in my family I was told that someone needs to knock on wood upward, because otherwise you knock the knots out, and if that happens the luck is also knocked out. ”

Caitlin says she has no idea where that came from, but says it might have something to do with Ireland because anything having to do with trees has to do with the fairies of Ireland. Caitlin is of Irish heritage, and says that many of the stories her parents tell her have to do with mystical or magical qualities surrounding everyday objects—including wood. As she understands it, her family was from southern Ireland, where many fairies were associated with the forest, and so the saying her family uses probably has to do with knocking the luck right out of the fairy forests.