Lucky You!

Has anybody else noticed the rabid misuse of the word ‘lucky’ of late? Usually right before some kind of smug humble brag…

Definition: lucky: having, bringing or resulting from good luck.

I first noticed it around the time of the first lockdown of 2020. How a simple adjective, an abstract noun like lucky, was taken and bastardised and used to separate the wheat from the chaff, the rich from the poor, the lucky from the unlucky?

‘Oh, we’re soooo lucky to have a garden right now,’ the ‘lucky ones’ would bleat to anyone who would listen.

‘We’re soooo lucky to have kept our regular Ocado delivery slot on a Saturday morning,’ they would harp, without a hint of irony.

Now that word: lucky.

Hmmmm.

It implies you found your garden lying haphazardly on the street, like some dropped or discarded gold coin.

Or even luckier! you escaped a near fatal car crash with just a scratch on your arm, and were then able to saunter home, pour yourself a large gin and tonic and languish on your sun lounger in your garden, all while thanking your lucky stars for your lucky escape. Now that is fucking lucky!

Wouldn’t a more fitting word for these garden lovers’ be, oh I don’t know…grateful or blessed. Thankful even?

But lucky was the chosen word and lucky it was to be.

I, however, think you are doing yourself a great disservice there, oh humble one.

You are not accounting for the years of hard graft, the hundreds, thousands, if not millions of hours that you’ve slogged your guts out at work, to pay for that house with that garden and that weekly Ocado delivery. All those early starts, the dreaded commutes, the grey hairs and middle-aged spreads from eating too many Pret sandwiches over the years…

I guess, in a roundabout way, you were sympathising with us balcony-dwelling Iceland shoppers, bless you! Those of us who had to tussle in the aisles for the last loaf of bread, the last pint of milk, that last pack of loo roll.

From the great unwashed, or unwiped, we thank you kindly, from the bottom of our simple minds and hearts. We salute you and are so very grateful/ blessed/ thankful for your empathy.

And, even today, out of all Covid restrictions, in good ole 2022, I still sometimes hear the whisperings of that word that brings me out in hives, that brings out my inner eyeball-rolling and my smiles through gritted teeth.

And so, next time, I challenge you, if you hear somebody humblebrag how damn lucky they are, to politely challenge them on their adjective usage …

Let’s start a revolution to reclaim back that lovely word Lucky! for the masses and start practising some real gratitude, instead of all that phony shit, for the true things that matter in life, like health and family, community and belonging, of purpose and dreams, hopes and wishes.

Related posts:

Are you still looking for internships? But don’t know where to apply? Are you too hesitant or scared to apply to internships as you are a beginner and don’t know much about advanced tech stacks to…

The more effectively you communicate, the more you can empower yourself and those around you. Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings, frustration, and conflict. Good communication, on the…

I was earlier to the class that day, as we had a Chemistry test. Aishu & Jayashree were already there, trying their level best to understand Chemical Solutions. When it comes to the Chemistry class…