For some reason, I could not pull up the link on "Where did this phrase come from". I only wanted to comment after seeing a post on the humor forum concerning the 7 years of bad luck on breaking a mirror. In the middle ages, the help was stupid, ignorant, clumsy, + most importantly superstitious. You need to remember that in the 11th century that glass let alone mirrors were in rare supply. Long story short, if you break My'lady's mirror you + your family will have 7 years bad luck. Everyone understand now how this got started?