Englishhappy-go-lucky
Meaning: Carefree.
Example: “My happy-go-lucky cousin has never planned a vacation in his life.”
Origin: "Happy" itself traces to Old Norse happ, meaning chance or fortune, before the word settled into its modern sense in the 1500s — so "happy-go-lucky" is, at its etymological root, doubling down on the same idea of chance twice over. An earlier variant, "happy-be-lucky," is documented from the 1630s, with "happy-go-lucky" itself following by 1672, in the writing of playwright William Wycherley, originally meaning "haphazard" or "however it happens to turn out" rather than describing a person's temperament. The word only picked up its now-familiar sense of a carefree, cheerfully unworried personality when applied directly to people starting in 1835 — a considerable shift from its original meaning of pure, unplanned randomness.
More English idioms
- hit or miss Unplanned or random; equally likely to succeed or fail.
- hit the jackpot To get rich or find something of value.
- hit the sack To go to bed.
- hit the spot To satisfy in just the right way.
- hitch a ride To solicit a ride in someone's (a stranger's) car; to hitchhike.
- not hold a candle to someone Not equal to someone or something; when two persons or things are compared, the first one…
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- In der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen When you are desperate, you take what you can get.
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