Word for luck without implying.. "luck?"

Factual Questions
21

An interesting topic and question that made me just start to write as things came to mind…

The “magic” you mention as being an element of your view of the word “luck” makes me think you see luck as a deterministic phenomenon, i.e. subject to alteration by use of some intervening force or factor (the magic part.)

But not everyone sees luck that way. Many, myself included, see luck as more a random thing that people cannot force or alter by means of will or magic. True, some people are said to be “lucky” but this does not mean they consciously affect the outcome of events in their favor.

Statistically, if the world follows a normal curve, there are going to be certain folks that are going to be lucky and those that are going to be unlucky.

If there were some way to alter the outcome of random coin tosses, the outcomes would no longer be random. If I consciously owned the power of “good luck” and could be assured by that power that most of my card hands and coin tosses would be in my favor, those results would no longer be random, but deterministic.

So - it seems to me that you can have luck or you can have magic, but not both at the same time, because in my mind, luck is a truly random, totally unpredictable factor in life.

If I’m not being clear, maybe it will help to look at it this way: some successful people, when being told their success came from being “lucky” insist that they actually “made their own luck” by preparing beforehand for any opportunity that might arise. In this they are absolutely correct: if you “make your own luck,” you are not lucky, you are determining your own future.

Being truly lucky is a passive trait that one possesses through no action on their own part. On the other hand, taking steps to insure a successful outcome is an active behavior that someone chooses for themselves.

Don’t know if that addresses your questions, but thanks for letting me put my thoughts into writing and out here. It helped me make up my own mind on the subject of luck.

22

Blessed is what I say;)

23

One point about lucky people. They have only been lucky in the past. Luck in the future remains as likely as it is for any other person. Teela Brown not withstanding.

24

Providence is a religous concept, basically saying that the Hand of God has arranged events. I suspect that most atheists would consider this a “magical” concept.

25

< Effie Trinket >
May the odds be ever in your favor.
< /Effie Trinket >

26

If I wanted to avoid any possible magical connotation, I would say “dumb luck” - which is specifically referring to a fortunate occurrence through no result or deservedness on the part of the recipient. If we had to make it a single word, “fluke” might work, but I’m always thinking of whale tails when I use that term.

But I really have no problem seeing luck in a purely retrospective context to define past events that the person had no/little control over. In essence, “lucky” is our term for someone who is on the beneficial tail of the bell curve and “unlucky” is our term for someone on the detrimental tail of the bell curve. “Normal” is what we call the middle of the bell curve.