Words, Words, Words
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”!! 🤣🤣
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