I always thought that 'touching cloth' was the immediate and urgent desire to use the little girls/boys room for a 'number two', as in "hurry up in there, I'm touching cloth here!" Ripping Calico was the loud, conversation stopping fart, from the sound of tearing fabric, calico being a tough cotton fabric that doesn't rip too easily.

Touching wood does indeed predate Christianity. It's connected with the various trees sacred to the old gods, usually oak or yew. To 'touch' those woods was to invoke those gods to prevent the accident you had just mentioned.

It's getting harder and harder to find proper wood to touch these days. Somehow, 'touch chipboard' or 'touch MDF' doesn't have the same ring to it....

And yes, if all the pieces of the "true Cross" were put together, they'd make a wooden church the size of Salisbury Cathedral.

LTS