Good luck

What do you say brings good luck? This is not to be taken too seriously, I quickly add.

I turned up an old newspaper article reporting that aircraft mechanics in Ankara had sacrificed a camel on the tarmac in thanksgiving for the withdrawal of the last of a British aircraft that they hated (the BAe 146). I showed it to my friend who was an aircraft mechanic for Bombardier, and he told of delivering a new plane to a middle eastern airline, where the first thing their mechanics did was to smear goat's blood on its nose to bring good luck. They took it up for its first flight, and as it landed, the nosewheel strut collapsed.

Any other good luck stories or recommendations out there?

Comments

  • I remember a comment that good luck is what happens when preparation and initiative meet opportunity. I'm not sure how heavenly that is.
  • I dunno about good luck… but as for bad luck:

    Some years ago we decided to try a new pork roast recipe for Chinese New Year. Very tasty (fennel and rosemary), paired with an equally tasty Italian red.

    Then we both came down with horrible colds.

    Moral of the story: if you cook a pork roast to celebrate Chinese New Year, make sure it’s not the Year of the Pig.
  • I vaguely recall as kids walking along a pavement and trying not to step on the joints ('cracks') between the paving slabs and saying "step on the crack break your mother's back". Weird eh?
  • We thought of it as breaking our Mum’s dishes!
  • Is that all? It was always the monsters will get you.

  • Is that all? It was always the monsters will get you.

    Nope, it's bears!
  • Bears! Probably because of the A.A. Milne poem 'Lines and Squares'.
  • Diomedes wrote: »
    Bears! Probably because of the A.A. Milne poem 'Lines and Squares'.

    This
  • RockyRoger wrote: »
    Is that all? It was always the monsters will get you.

    Nope, it's bears!

    Somebody call? 🐻
  • Is that all? It was always the monsters will get you.

    Possibly irate Scottish mothers were thought to be more scary than any wild animal!
  • RockyRogerRockyRoger Shipmate
    edited September 19
    Don't underestimate Gladly, the cross-eyed bear!

    🐻
  • RockyRoger wrote: »
    Don't underestimate Gladly, the cross-eyed bear!

    🐻

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
  • I use 'touch wood', probably as a kind of conversational shorthand for avoiding the feeling that I am presuming things might go OK for once! That isn't very Christian, is it. It's convenient, as I always have wood to touch (that is, my thick head :) ).
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Isn't the wood you are touching the wood of the cross?
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    Possibly not if it’s his head.

    (But I do know what you mean.)
  • Firenze wrote: »
    Isn't the wood you are touching the wood of the cross?

    Only in a Christianised version. Originally, it would be wood spirits. It was calling on the spirits to grant you fortune.
  • In American usage, at least in my experience, it’s “knock on wood” rather than “touch wood.”


  • Firenze wrote: »
    Isn't the wood you are touching the wood of the cross?

    Only in a Christianised version. Originally, it would be wood spirits. It was calling on the spirits to grant you fortune.

    Wasn't it a druidic thing?
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    Sparrow wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Isn't the wood you are touching the wood of the cross?

    Only in a Christianised version. Originally, it would be wood spirits. It was calling on the spirits to grant you fortune.

    Wasn't it a druidic thing?

    Possibly, but we know little and nothing about what druids believed or practised. What beliefs persisted or arose outwith Christianity in these isles could be of a number of origins, and probably varied considerably among the many tribes.
  • Sparrow wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Isn't the wood you are touching the wood of the cross?

    Only in a Christianised version. Originally, it would be wood spirits. It was calling on the spirits to grant you fortune.

    Wasn't it a druidic thing?

    As @Arethosemyfeet said, it is hard to actually know what they believed. But This is what I was hinting at. We cannot know exactly what they believed but this is the origin of the belief - pre-christian.
  • Fingers crossed. What is its origin?
    If my mum heard that, she would say
    “ Hands together”, ie in prayer.
  • Puzzler wrote: »
    Fingers crossed. What is its origin?
    If my mum heard that, she would say
    “ Hands together”, ie in prayer.
    It is believed to have originally been a reference to the cross of Christ, made to ward off bad spirits (per Wikipedia).


  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'd say "touch wood" and touch my head (which sometimes might as well be made of wood); if I were wishing an actor or musician well, I'd probably say "break a leg". I'd hope the conveying of good wishes was taken as intended.
  • "Since he was in short trousers" - feels to me like a phrase that is dating, if not yet dated.

    It used to be (for boys at least) that short trousers were accepted in primary school, and long trousers for secondary, and men were then never allowed to show their legs in public.

    Fortunately, this has eased. "Since I was in short trousers" means yesterday for me at the moment.
  • “Trousers” right on its own is a word that could date you in the States. I rarely hear it anymore; it was fading when I was child.


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