See a penny

pick it up.

All day long

you'll have good luck.
- Old English rhyme

Many people think that luck, or being fortunate, has a direct effect on their lives. Luck, often seen as the probability of something good happening, is a phenomenon taken so seriously that it can even affect an entire country¹. But what is luck really? One view is that luck is a philosophy that dictates exactly what happens in our lives just as simply as a flip of a coin. Another way of looking at luck though is that it does not affect life situations at all, it is merely the grouping together of all the previous happy or sad occurrences in the life of any given person. 'Huh?', you may ask.

You're In Luck

Let's explain this further then. Imagine that the 'luck' of a person can be determined by the desirability of any of their, or indeed other people's, past life experiences. For example, if a person had recently won the lottery², or simply eaten a rather tasty ice-cream, then that person could be considered lucky. However, if said person had previously been flattened by a ten tonne weight during a freak tropical tornado, then that person would be classed as unlucky.

But if the person was subject to two separate events of 'luck', then one event appears to offset the other, creating a kind of balance, or harmony, to life. For instance, the obvious bad luck associated with losing some money on the street is overshadowed by the extreme good luck of inheriting a fair sum off some long-lost relative. So the person who would otherwise be thought of as unlucky, is now firmly considered lucky. There is a contrast in this example of luck acting in a positive way, as an instance of someone being run over in the street by an ambulance. The person who has been flattened by the ambulance may feel that they are in fact lucky, even though they are laying broken and bloody on the tarmac...

Get Lucky

Many feel that if they aren't lucky then they are considered a loser. After all, as Virgil put it, 'Audentis Fortuna Iuvat' - or, fortune favours the brave. So those willing to try something out, get lucky... But if we measure how 'lucky' a person is by categorising the things that has happened to that person throughout their life, with particular emphasis on most recent events, we can conclude that luck is made up of things that have already happened, and isn't a result of doing certain things and should have no effect on future happenings. There is an exception to this 'rule' though, in that the people who believe they are affected by luck (particularly 'bad luck'), often find that due to their beliefs they act in a way that just invites bad luck to strike them down. And, funnily enough, so it does ...

Feeling Lucky?

Coming out on top is all about timing. Luck is just social rhythm.
- a definition of luck, as overheard by an h2g2 Researcher on a visit to his local.

Regardless of what luck actually is, some of the more common meanings and definitions of the various types of luck available in the world are as follows:

1. Good Luck - Luck resulting or beginning from pleasant experiences. Over time there have been attempts at bringing good luck about, such as finding a four-leafed clover, having a horseshoe over your door, or carrying a lucky rabbit's foot³. Sometimes doing something in a certain way is said to bring about good luck too, like touching wood, crossing your fingers, performing weird and wonderful rituals⁴, or simply wishing on something like a religious token, a star, or a manifestation of luck.
2. Bad Luck - Luck resulting or beginning from unpleasant experiences. Many superstitions are founded on instances of bad luck; such as walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror, spilling salt, tripping over a black cat, etc. People often look to blame their misfortune on a certain thing also; numbers, sightings of certain animals, or even a curse.
3. No Luck - The absence of good luck. To have no luck is usually considered bad luck. To attempt to bring about luck some people will lay faith in a personal item being lucky, most often underpants, socks or other items of clothing that they can wear on any occasion to rule out any danger of having no luck. This is usually more common in sporting circles.
4. Luck Nothing! - Expression often said by someone who is obviously lucky in the way they attain something (wins at cards, marries a millionaire, etc.) and has been accused as such, but refuses to believe that anything other than their own skill is to thank.

Of course, luck can simply be what you make it. As golfer Arnold Palmer once quipped:

...the more I practise, the luckier I seem to get.