Skip to main content

The Old Saying "Irish Luck" Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

luck of the irish

It's one of those expressions like "familiarity breeds contempt" and "lion's share" that no one uses correctly anymore.

From time to time somebody even observes: "Why would you want luck o' the Irish? Historically the Irish have pretty terrible luck."

That, friends, is actually key to the saying.

Correctly, when someone talks of Irish luck or luck o' the Irish, it doesn't mean luck. 

As one 1838 book put it, "Irish luck -- which means anything but chance."

In other words, if you say someone got something through Irish luck, it means he got it through something other than being lucky. It might mean hard work, it might mean bribery, it might mean trickery, but not luck. Anything but luck is Irish luck. 

Irish author Blindboy Boatclub relates on his podcast the local explanation for the phenomenon:

In Limerick we just believe that bad luck happens to us all the time. Nothing can go right for Limerick, and anytime anything goes bad, we just say ‘That’s The Curse of St. Munchin.’ And it comes from an old folklore story from the 7th century: St. Munchin — St. Mainchín — the patron saint of Limerick. And the story goes, the myth goes, that St. Munchin was trying to build his church in Limerick, himself, and a couple of angels that were helping him out. And they were lifting rocks and stones and digging foundations to try and build this church. But the people of Limerick, in the 7th century, just walked by. And when St. Munchin asked for help, ‘Please, Limerick! Help me build my church!’ — the people of Limerick were too lazy.  Didn’t give a shit. They said, ‘Fuck you, Munchin. Build your own church! With your silly looking angels!’ So then he put a curse on Limerick. And St. Munchin’s curse basically said, you know, that Limerick would never have good luck.
This tale underscores the notion that "Irish luck" is a euphemism for relentless adversity rather than fortuitous events. It's a reflection of a cultural narrative where perseverance in the face of hardship is more common than strokes of good luck.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Planetary Hours and How To Use Them for Magic Spells and Conjure Work

The Planetary Hours are a belief that sections of each day are ruled by certain heavenly bodies, and that these times of day can be utilized by those who understand their secrets to improve success in certain types of ventures. Folks like Jim Haskins and Tarostar have printed slightly incorrect versions of "Venus Hours" which have been popularly repeated: the claim that 2 AM, 9 AM, 4 PM and 11 PM on a Sunday, 6 AM, 1 PM and 8 PM on Monday, etc, are Venus Hours is wrong. This is a problem that goes back to the 18th century at least -- the Petit Albert itself mentions the mistake. The error stems from the notion that planetary hours align to hours on the clock -- they do not. As the Albert puts it: "In order that there be no mistakes about the hours that each planet rules [...] one needs to reckon the first hour from the sunrise, and not by midnight, as some people have erroneously claimed." In other words, the planetary hours are reckoned by a solar clock. T...
Read more

The Intranquil Spirit

(EDIT: Up to date information about the Intranquil Sprit can be found in my book  The Intranquil Spirit , available on Amazon.  This post has some incomplete information which is clarified in the book.) The Intranquility spell is, unfortunately, the first resort of many a rejected lover. In some ways it makes sense -- the more unhappy and forlorn one is about a breakup, the better this idea of making the other partner feel just as much so starts to sound. Unfortunately, this spell is often not well suited to a case. The purpose of the standard Intranquility spell is to have the person be tormented by the spirit until they make contact with you, or whomever the spell is being cast for. This means that if a person is already in good contact with their ex OR if they're one of those people who cannot restrain themselves from initiating contact, then this already is probably not the right spell for that case. If you've had an Intranquility spell cast and you make contac...
Read more

Paper-in-Shoe Spells

A popular and very traditional hoodoo spell, often used for any situation where you need to control someone with magic , is the namepaper-in-shoe spell. It's very easy: you write the target's name 3, 7, or 9 times on a paper (depending on intent and who's giving instruction) then fold it up, sometimes after dressing it with oils or powders, then put it in your shoe. This "keeps the person underfoot" or "stomps out the trouble" or "puts pressure on them" or any other number of metaphors. I have had this work several times over the years. In one instance, I was working for a very unpleasant boss, on a short-term job. It was the last day, and I only had about 3 hours of work left on the project; and I wanted him to up my pay for the day since it almost wasn't worth the trip across town for the amount he was paying me, for only 3 hours. He was very reluctant. So I wrote his name 3 times on a 5-dollar bill he'd given me, and dusted it...
Read more

Rumors and Myths about the Intranquility or Intranquil Spirit Love Spell

(EDIT, 4/23/16: Up to date information about the Intranquil Sprit can be found in my new book The Intranquil Spirit , available on Amazon.  This post is mostly correct, but has some incomplete information.) I've done many an Intranquility Spell in my lifetime -- being that I'm a professional magic spell caster that is, of course, logical. However, there seem to be many misunderstandings about this important type of magic spell, which are circulating the internet and invading the minds of people who might (or might not) benefit from its use. #1. The Intranquility Spell is evil. The Intranquility Spell is no more evil than trying to get the same results by way of any other spell. Now, one might argue that the intent is evil, or at least selfish -- but I have had people who requested the exact effects which an Intranquility is meant to bring (desperation, obsession, pining away) yet who refused to do an Intranquility spell specifically on the belief that it's ...
Read more

13 Herb Bath for Curse Removal

13 Herb Bath for curse removal can be made from from any 13 uncrossing and purification herbs. For example, if I needed to fix a batch of 13 herb bath right now based on what I've got in the house, I could mix bay leaves, rue, mint, rosemary, wood betony, sage, verbena, angelica root, white rose petals, lemongrass, lemon peel, agrimony and arnica, and it would suffice well. Other herbs like hyssop, pine needles, juniper leaves, boldo, eucalyptus leaves, mullein, basil, lavender, or marshmallow leaves would be good to use too. By no means complete, here is a list of just a few herbs said to remove a curse or jinx that you can use to make your own 13 Herbs bath: Agrimony Alkanet Angelica Arnica Basil Bay leaves Black Pepper Blessed Thistle Boldo Cayenne Pepper Chives Eucalyptus Garlic Hyssop John the Conqueror Juniper Lavender Lemon Lemongrass Lime Marshmallow leaves Mint Mullein Onion Pine Rosemary Rue Sage Sandalwood Verbena White Rose Petals ...
Read more