Luck of the Irish

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The Luck of the Irish may not be what is commonly believed and there is no definitive origin of the well known phrase. Some suggest that it  means that the Irish are inherently lucky, and seem to be able to land on their feet when bad circumstances occur. Others trace the origin of the idiom to the United States  during the exploration for gold in the west, where there were a high number of Irish people who found their “pot o’ gold” in the gold fields of California, or were successful in silver mining.

Others believe that luck in this phrase is not the right word, especially if it means good luck. A better term might be fortune, which can be either good or bad. Certainly, Irish history attests to plenty of times of ill fortune. For as many men who may have found a few nuggets of gold buried in California, there were more who fought prejudice against Irish and especially Catholicism in the US and in their homeland.  Read More…