take pot luck
to take whatever is available
TRANSLATION
take pot luck = nehmen, was es gerade gibt (woerterbuch.info) --- GOOGLE INDEX take pot luck: approximately 13,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
As Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is one of Europe's busiest airports, it's strongly recommended that you reserve your hire car before you arrive, otherwise you may have to TAKE POT LUCK!
(www.guides.limores.net)
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I will never again look to a financial adviser as I think I can just as easily give myself poor financial advice and take pot luck in reading newspapers' financial pages.
Isabella Ramsay, BBC News
(www.guides.limores.net)
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I will never again look to a financial adviser as I think I can just as easily give myself poor financial advice and take pot luck in reading newspapers' financial pages.
Isabella Ramsay, BBC News
Did you
know?
take pot luck (also written as one word, potluck)
idiom
- to take anything that is available or is found by chance, rather than something chosen, planned or prepared
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
To take pot luck is an expression recorded as early as the 16th century, which literally means to take your chance (luck) with whatever food might be cooking in the pot. It can meanwhile refer to anything, not just food.
The noun potluck is a common term in the U.S. for dinners organized by churches and communities in which everyone brings a dish; an equivalent to the bottle party where each guest brings their own alcohol. Potlucks are also called faith suppers, covered dish suppers, pitch-ins, bring-a-plates and Jacob suppers or Jacob joins. The latter expression is a regional phrase from the areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
It's not clear what the reference to Jacob is, other than the biblical Jacob. In the book of Genesis, Jacob is cooking lentil stew (in a pot of course) when his brother Esau approaches him and asks for some. Jacob hesitates and then says Esau can have some of the beans from the pot in return for giving up his birthright.
Esau is so hungry that he agrees. Since the modern "Jacob join" does not require guests to give up their birthright, or anything else for that matter, any link between Jacob join and the biblical Jacob is probably just etymological folklore.
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION
Say something like:
"I booked the cinema tickets too late and had to take pot luck with seats. We got stuck with front-row seats and stiff necks after the show.
idiom
- to take anything that is available or is found by chance, rather than something chosen, planned or prepared
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
To take pot luck is an expression recorded as early as the 16th century, which literally means to take your chance (luck) with whatever food might be cooking in the pot. It can meanwhile refer to anything, not just food.
The noun potluck is a common term in the U.S. for dinners organized by churches and communities in which everyone brings a dish; an equivalent to the bottle party where each guest brings their own alcohol. Potlucks are also called faith suppers, covered dish suppers, pitch-ins, bring-a-plates and Jacob suppers or Jacob joins. The latter expression is a regional phrase from the areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
It's not clear what the reference to Jacob is, other than the biblical Jacob. In the book of Genesis, Jacob is cooking lentil stew (in a pot of course) when his brother Esau approaches him and asks for some. Jacob hesitates and then says Esau can have some of the beans from the pot in return for giving up his birthright.
Esau is so hungry that he agrees. Since the modern "Jacob join" does not require guests to give up their birthright, or anything else for that matter, any link between Jacob join and the biblical Jacob is probably just etymological folklore.
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION
Say something like:
"I booked the cinema tickets too late and had to take pot luck with seats. We got stuck with front-row seats and stiff necks after the show.
