# Potluck **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 17, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558 "2005-02-17T16:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/1 "2005-02-17T16:24:12Z")
[What’s the origin of “potluck”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpotluck.html) > [@](#): > > when you showed up for a meal, you took the “ **luck of the pot**.” (Bolding mine.) Hey, I said that! Unfortunately, it’s not a searchable string. ---
**Author:** ![clio1321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@clio1321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clio1321)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/2 "2005-02-18T04:57:28Z")
Maybe instead of guessing the answer, someone could have looked up “potluck” in _An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English,_ Klein’s _A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,_ or maybe even _Oxford English Dictionary_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/3 "2005-02-18T16:41:58Z")
**milquetoast** found my [reply](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=222547) from last November: > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > No cite for this, but I think “potluck” literally means “luck of the pot”. That is, you eat whatever happens to be “in the pot”; in the case of a potluck, whatever anyone happens to bring. > > Wait a minute. [Here’s a cite](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=potluck). > > > [@](#): > > > > \Pot"luck`, n. Whatever may chance to be in the pot, or may be provided for a meal. > > > > “A woman whose potluck was always to be relied on.” --G. Eliot. > > > > To take potluck, to take what food may chance to be provided. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/4 "2005-02-19T23:31:54Z")
Just to mention that in french, a “pot au feu” normally refers to a specific dish (a kind of beef stew), not to random leftovers. However, you can eat “a la fortune du pot”, with litterally and figurately the same meaning than the english “potluck”. (what happens to be, by chance, in the pot). ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/5 "2005-02-20T15:26:00Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Just to mention that in french, a “pot au feu” normally refers to a specific dish (a kind of beef stew), not to random leftovers. Wait, does _feu_ mean luck? I thought it meant fire. Is this a word with double meaning? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/6 "2005-02-20T20:03:23Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Wait, does _feu_ mean luck? I thought it meant fire. Is this a word with double meaning? Nope. “feu” only means fire (and some unrelated other things : “late” as in “my late father”). It’s “a la fortune du pot” which has the same meaning than “potluck”. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/7 "2005-03-02T14:50:21Z")
> [@clio1321](#): > > Maybe instead of guessing the answer, someone could have looked up “potluck” in _An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English,_ Klein’s _A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,_ or maybe even _Oxford English Dictionary_ If people did just the minimal atom of their own research Cecil would never have had a column. _The Straight Dope_ depends on people being so lazy that they will put up with his abuse rather than read a book. Or a part of a book–nobody is asking them to read the entire OED, just the part about “potluck.” ---
**Author:** ![GeBo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@GeBo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeBo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potluck/290558/8 "2005-03-17T15:35:21Z")
Being St. Patrick’s Day, I was searching the web for [Irish Soda Bread] and wandered across a reference (on an Irish website : [Mayo on the Move](http://ballina.mayo-ireland.ie/Brigown/SodaBrd.htm) ) to “pot luck” being associated with (specifically) a 3-LEGGED IRON POT. To quote: _ **The three-legged iron pot is the origin of the term to make “Pot luck”.** In country districts it is used for roasting, stewing and for making cakes and bread. In Counties Limerick and Cork it is also called a Bastable oven, and the bread made in it a “Bastable Cake”. Glowing turf (peat) sods are put on top when baking or roasting is being done to ensure even heat. The pot can be raised or lowered by a chain, and three short feet enable it to stand at the side of the hearth._