origin please

[franob]

lThe luck of the Irish?

[SteveG]

From a shamrock shaped fridge magnet I own: May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you Not sure who wrote or whether this is part of the true origin, Sorry Franob

[thewillow]

Dear, oh, dear, SteveG, That is dreadful paddywhackery. I'm sure it's written by Hallmark.

[SteveG]

It was a Hallmark Fridge Magnet !!

[thewillow]

A shrewd guess! St Patrick was Welsh anyway.

[franob]

My Irish husband thought it might be more from the curse of the Irish, maybe that might give you all some more thoughts! Lovely poem SteveG but Oh Dear B'jaisus!

[Gef]

Just to stir this up - there are claims for St. Patrick being Welsh, Scottish or English, definitely not Irish though.

[franob]

Well yes I know they say he wasn't Irish, most probably Welsh, but be that as it may, can we get back to the luck thing, it possibly has nothing to do with St. Pat! What about the Blarney Stone?

[Quizmonster]

I agree with Franob. I'm sure the original concept was that the Irish had nothing but bad luck...what with Oliver Cromwell, potato famines and so forth. Hence, you had "the luck of the Irish" only when something dreadful happened to you. Nowadays, it appears to have changed into a reference to good luck. That could conceivably have something to do with the performance of Irish horses at Cheltenham Festival, the plucking of four-leafed clover etc.

I have about twenty idiom websites on my 'Favourites' list and not one of them even mentions this particular saying, although we're all familiar with it. Odd.

[franob]

Thanks QM. Well I'm off to Ireland today on the Irish cruise Swansea to Cork, (hope we get invited to the Captains table for dinner tonight) so maybe I'll find out all about The Luck of the Irish while I'm away. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone for your interest in this.