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Happy Go Lucky

Posted by ESC on August 15, 2000

In Reply to: Happy Go Lucky posted by Bob on August 14, 2000

: : Could anyone tell me where this came from or what it means??

: :
: : Thanks alot

: The dictionary cites a first use in 1856. I don't have an origin. The meaning is blithely unconcerned, blissfully without care.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY - "Carefree, unconcerned. This is the only meaning of the phrase today, and it dates from the 19th century. Herman Melville has it in 'Moby Dick' : 'A happy-go-lucky; neither craven nor valiant.' An earlier meaning was haphazard, as luck would have it. It is seen in Edward Arber's 'An English Garner' : 'The Redcoats cried, 'Shall we fall in order, or go happy-go-lucky?'" From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).

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