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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
In a PM exchange, I asked a member of this board not to do something. She responded by saying, "well sjm, you lucked out - I didn't do it" This usage caught me by surprise, since I would use "lucked out" to mean the exact opposite, that I was out of luck, and that the undesired had in fact happened. Is my understanding of this phrase simply a personal aberration, an upworlder thang, or what? Does "to luck out" actually mean "to get lucky" (insert honey soy disclaimer here)?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear sjm: I have often heard "lucked out" meaninga to be lucky. Bad luck could be "crapped out" (dice), struck out (baseball), flunked, flopped, etc.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
it's the way I have always heard it used.
interestingly, "you're in luck" means the same as "out of luck".
ach! a grievous error on my part! that should read "lucked out", not "out of luck"! many humble apologies, especially to tsuwm, who's under the weather.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
In reply to:
But we would bet (and we're feeling pretty lucky today) that when most of us employ luck out, we use the phrase in a much different sense: "to succeed because of good luck." How did this reversal in meaning come about?
MW seems to show that the phrase has taken a turn to mean its opposite. Now what is that word our very own Too likes to use in these circumstances?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Merriam-Webster agrees with you
Depending on how far down the article you read:
Our evidence shows that when luck was used as a verb during World War II, it was suggestive of good luck, not bad, and we have only a single citation showing luck out in the "bad luck" sense.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
I love being chopped liver. Being chopped liver is all I want to be. Call me veiled or vile or mantled or dismantled--it's all chopped liver to me.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Being chopped liver
What now, my fine pâté?
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Would we would just turn this into a food thread and show here tried-but-true recipes for pâté. Where's of troy when we need her in earnest?
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
need her in earnest
I think Earnest is out of luck.
formerly known as etaoin...
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