Or “buena suerte,” as some of my friends would say.
The most commonly celebrated holiday in March is St. Patrick’s Day, often represented by something lucky – the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the leprechaun who brings luck, etc. Which made me think about the word, “luck.”
Some Internet research shows that “luck,” historically, has been tied to events or people, simply because they existed at certain moments that were beneficial.
Good luck symbols: the number 7 or the number 8, depending upon your culture. Crossing your fingers creates good luck, right? (remember my previous post?). Our culture also considers a rainbow and a horseshoe to be lucky. Rainbows are fairly rare, so the sight of something so beautiful could easily be seen to be lucky. I’m not sure about the horseshoe? When a horse loses a shoe, that’s not lucky for the horse. I’m also REALLY not sure about a lucky rabbit’s foot? Not so lucky for the rabbit?
Bad luck symbols include walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror, opening an umbrella indoors. It seems obvious that bad things might happen if you walk under a ladder and the ladder collapses on you. Or, if you break a mirror, now you have to clean up the shards. Or opening an umbrella indoors could lead to poking someone with the umbrella (accidentally, I’m sure 😉).
But I’m at a loss to explain why a black cat crossing your path is considered unlucky? Keep in mind that I think cats are wonderful, so, perhaps I am a bit prejudiced? 🤗😸
What do other languages consider as “luck” or “lucky”? Check out this website: https://thedifferentlanguages.com/how-to-say-luck. How fun that “luck” in Albanian is “fat”!! 🤣🤣
‘Lucky’ for me this is my first morning read!
The Albanians may be on to something with their interpretation of luck haha Not fluent in any other languages, but culturally speaking, my Nigerian friends have a saying when referring to XL friends, or themselves, that being fat is “evidence of good living”. I’ll take that as lucky. Good food. Good friends. Are you feeling lucky? ; )
Hi, Cindi
Thanks for enjoying BBS Words as your first morning read!
I think you have figured out why being fat is good luck! People who have enough food are lucky, aren’t they?
Yea, very! =}
Different from how we “cross our fingers” in the US, in Sweden they “hold their thumbs” (think gripping your thumb in your palm with your four fingers over it) when wishing for good luck.
hålla tummarna – https://www.thelocal.se/20190624/swedish-word-of-the-day-halla-tummarna/
Fascinating about how to hold one’s thumb to wish for luck! I wonder if there is something about hiding the thumb? Or maybe it’s just a reflection of the hand gestures we often use when wishing? I just tried it out – clenching our fists in an aggressive manner, I had my thumbs outside of my fingers. Keeping my thumbs inside of my fingers seemed much less aggressive, almost passive. Wistful?Wishing?
By the way, I heard from another subscriber that crossing your fingers looks like an 8! It sure does! What great insight! Maybe that’s where the lucky number 8 comes from?
I love these discussions! Thank you to all!