Somebody walked over your grave

Posted by ESC on February 05, 2006

In Reply to: Somebody walked over your grave posted by John McKeown on February 04, 2006

: The phrase in English to describe the shivers down the spine experience that sometimes happens has long amazed me. The phrase is, "somebody walked over your grave". What a wierd phrase and an incredible view of time, how can someone have walked over your grave when you are here and alive? I know that in Polish they say something similar which I understand translates as "Death walked through you", spooky! The similarity of the concept in Polish, being a Slavic language suggests (to me) great antiquity. Does anyone know anything of the phrase's origins, or anything about it?

Here is a previous discussion. www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 11 messages 174.html All I know about it is that in southern W.Va. where I grew up, stepping on a grave was taboo. And I have heard people talk about "someone just stepped (or walked) on my grave."