# veinard - synonyms of "lucky"



## LV4-26

Hello friends,

1. A few minutes ago, I was searching for a (slang/colloquial) synonym of _lucky_ and it occured to me that they're fairly scarce in English.

I found _jammy. _But I'm not really sure whether it can be used on its own.
I mean could you say_
France was pretty jammy on that one. _(context : WC semi-final)?
Or should it be used only as part of the expression _jammy devil?

_2. My second question explains why I posted in this forum. I'm suprised that there are so many slang synonyms of _lucky_ in French (words and expressions) and so few in English. (or are there many more that I don't know of?). Have I put my finger on an interesting cultural gap?


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## MonsieurAquilone

MMMmm, perhaps, I know that instead of words, many idioms for lucky in english come in sentences.


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## MonsieurAquilone

Veinard comes from "veine" on a rock where you would find gold, is that right?


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## Aupick

I can think of _flukey_ as well, but that's about it.

Both _jammy_ and _flukey_ can be used on their own ("You are _so_ jammy, getting tickets for the World Cup final off eBay like that!") but it's true, there seems to be a tendency to use them with nouns: jammy sods, jammy bastards  . (Negative nouns because of the jealous resentment, I suppose.) And _flukey_ is much less common that the noun _fluke_: "that was a real fluke".


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## MonsieurAquilone

Jammy is also quite British as well (no offense).


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## LV4-26

Thank you so much.


			
				Aupick said:
			
		

> there seems to be a tendency to use them with nouns: jammy sods, jammy bastards  . (Negative nouns because of the jealous resentment, I suppose.)


Interesting. The only structural equivalent I could think of would be
_Sacré veinard !_ but _sacré_ is not negative per se. If you wish to express the same kind of (mild and rather jocular) resentment, you'd want to build a  more complex sentence, e.g.
_T'as une veine de cocu, *mon salaud* !
_


			
				Monsieur Aquilone said:
			
		

> MMMmm, perhaps, I know that instead of words, many idioms for lucky in english come in sentences.


Any sentence that would come to your mind?


> Veinard comes from "veine" on a rock where you would find gold, is that right?


That would sound pretty logical. I checked in my Petit Robert. It gives three possible meanings for _veine.
1. blood vessel
2. (artistic) inspiration 
3. lode _(as per your suggestion)
Curiously, my dictionary gives "_veine_", in the sense of luck, as an extended meaning of #2 rather than #3.


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## MonsieurAquilone

A sentence that does come to mind is, "luck is on his side" or "he almost (shows luckiness in word 'almost' lost his life.


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## NYCPrincesse

MonsieurAquilone said:
			
		

> Jammy is also quite British as well (no offense).



Yes I dated an Irish guy once who told me I was "jammy" (I have since forgotten the context) but I took it as an insult and didn't speak to him for several hours!  So be sure that your audience will understand the term. ;-)


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## MonsieurAquilone

Next to a dictionary I have, jammy has two ** meaning - use with caution, oh dear.


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## jesuisderrieretoi

Hi, "chance"="luck" but "chanceux" or "veinard" = "lucky", another expressions are "avoir du bol" (fam.) ou "avoir du cul" (vulg.)


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## MonsieurAquilone

About luck, do the french cross their index and middle finger when 'wanting' luck?


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## jesuisderrieretoi

Yes and often with two hands, the foot's toes crossing is hardest but if it's to win at Euromillions, why not lol...


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## LV4-26

MonsieurAquilone said:
			
		

> A sentence that does come to mind is, "luck is on his side" or "he almost (shows luckiness in word 'almost' lost his life.


 Oh yes, we've got a direct equivalent : _la chance est de son côté.
_Actually, I was thinking of more slangy equivalents. To illustrate my question #2 in my opening post, here are all the various slang or colloquial synonyms for _avoir de la chance _(as they appear in the Harraps FR/EN slang dictionary)._

avoir la baraka/de la bague/ de la bagouse / du bol / du cul / du fion / du flambeau / du gluck / du pot / du proze / du vase / de la veine; avoir l'oigon qui décalotte / l'avoir large / en or; être bidard / chançard / cocu / doré / veinard / verjot / verni.
_(a couple of which I admit I'd never heard before)
_
_More that I know of and aren't mentionned above :
Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles / bordé de médailles pieuses / être béni / être né coiffé

Note that the word _cul_  or one of its numerous synonyms is often implied


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## MonsieurAquilone

I suppose my sentences were not very good because you were right in saying that there are hardly any words related to luck in english.


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## MonsieurAquilone

Pot of gold?


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## LV4-26

MonsieurAquilone said:
			
		

> Pot of gold?


Thanks, I didn't know that one. Could it be an equivalent of our _poule aux oeufs d'or?.
_I think I'm going to start a thread in the EO forum.

It seems the answer to my initial assumption (many more slang synonyms for _lucky_ in French than in English) is making its way out. The cultural consequences to be drawn may not be a matter for this specific forum but I do think they're interesting.


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## MonsieurAquilone

Pot of gold relates to such at the end of a rainbow that you would associate with leprachauns an the irish..


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## MonsieurAquilone

you would say "there is/there'll be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow".


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## zam

‘To be quids in’ (commonly used) = avoir de la veine -financièrement/être en veine/bien inspiré/c’est tout bénef/etc. (for anything, even loosely, connected to money but also, by extension, used -more rarely- in the sense of being in luck, as in the googled examples 2 & 3 below). Also for ‘un veinard’ = a lucky/jammy bugger.




> 1) If you’re holding shares in a targeted company, you could be *quids* *in*, even if the bid turns *...* If you're prepared to 'give-up'10-15 minutes every evening, *...*
> www.moneyweek.com/file/2212/takeover-bids.html - 34k -
> 
> 2) Lucky for me, GLCP (now featuring Junior Wandmonkey) is based in a hospital, so *I'm quids in*. However, a problem is posed when I have to get my actual IUI. *...*
> barrenalbion.blogspot.com/2005/ 03/im-getting-my-cooter-poked-what-of-it.html - 24k –
> 
> 3) although I'm not looking for a female version of myself. I really love to cook so someone who likes to be cooked for could well be *quids in*... more *...*
> ukdating.match.com/uk/dating/ 34/East_Lothian/Longniddry.html
> 
> 4) You get used to jibes if you're a French football fan. *...* which sides will do well against elite, top-half or bottom-half sides, we'll be *quids* *in.* *...*
> www.inside-edge-mag.co.uk/football/ masterclass/117/french_football_betting.html -


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## Cath.S.

Jean-Mi, tu as oublié :
_avoir de la chatte._


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## viera

It's not all that surprising that the French have so many words for "luck" since it is so present in their mentality and daily life.  After growing up in Canada, I came to live in France over 30 years ago.  Many times I have been struck by the tendency of the French to explain failure at school, at work, a car accident, by bad luck, and sound as if they really belived it.  "C'est la faute à pas de chance."  What seems to me caused by not enough work or excessive speed they seriously attribute to bad luck.

They are not _always_ wrong.  For example in the baccalauréat exams, for some subjects you draw from a pot the question to be answered.  Could we call this a pot-luck exam?


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## LV4-26

Thanks viera. That's the kind of answer I was expecting to my question #2 in my very first post.
True, we all seem to have a rich slang vocabulary in the fields we're most concerned with. Sex is one, in most languages. And luck is apparently more important in French culture than in others. (or at least more important than in anglo-saxon cultures).


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## edwarren

LV4-26 said:


> Hello friends,
> 
> 1. A few minutes ago, I was searching for a (slang/colloquial) synonym of _lucky_ and it occured to me that they're fairly scarce in English.
> 
> I found _jammy. _But I'm not really sure whether it can be used on its own.
> I mean could you say
> _France was pretty jammy on that one. _(context : WC semi-final)?
> Or should it be used only as part of the expression _jammy devil?_
> 
> 2. My second question explains why I posted in this forum. I'm suprised that there are so many slang synonyms of _lucky_ in French (words and expressions) and so few in English. (or are there many more that I don't know of?). Have I put my finger on an interesting cultural gap?


 
One word for lucky is "bangin."


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## Viola_

Isn't 'lucky dog' also a way to put it?


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## susanna76

"Lucky bastard, you struck gold!"
Regarding your question, I think it does have to do with superstition. In English you have people who are self-made, who have made their "fortune," who have made their own luck. In Max Weber's _The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism_, one of the ideas is that the protestant looks for signs that would tell him/her that he/she has been chosen by divine grace . . . and he/she chooses to see wordly financial success (in the presence of some sort of ascetism, discipline, reinvestment of profit, etc.) as a sign of having received divine grace. So again this notion that you make your own luck . . . I find the question you posed very interesting.


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## makandés66

Deux expressions courantes chez moi:  

To have a flower up one's butt, 
to always come out smelling like a rose.  

Celles veulent dire que la personne se débrouille bien toujours des problèmes.


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## Hildy1

For someone who is lucky in general:
to always land on one's feet
to live a charmed life
to be favoured by the gods (rather old-fashioned)


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## petit1

"veine" (donc veinard) vient de "*la déveine*" qui était un terme du domaine des jeux de hasard signifiant "*une suite de coups malchanceux*".
Rien à voir avec les mines.


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## makandés66

To have lucky stars, 
One usually thanks his/her lucky stars after a lucky event.  

Many times we say "lucky duck" for the alliterative quality.  

I don't know if they were mentioned, but "fortunate" or "blessed" are good synonyms.


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## jlog

Hi, I'd like to know if telling someone "veinard" would mean something negative? (or positive) I mean it sounds somewhat pejorative to me (or as an insult), for example someone told me "tu as de la chance, veinard"? _"you are lucky, you lucky basterd (bastard)"_


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## petit1

It is not negative, just envious.


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## jlog

Thanks. Maybe it was just because it sounded like "connard" to me . But anyway there are also translations "lucky *dog*" and "lucky *beggar*" and they sound like insults .


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## Kecha

LV4-26 said:


> _
> avoir la baraka/de la bague/  de la bagouse / du bol / du cul / du fion / du flambeau / du  gluck / du pot / du proze / du vase / de la veine; avoir  l'oigon qui décalotte / l'avoir large / en or; être bidard /  chançard / cocu / doré / veinard / verjot / verni.
> _


Never heard most of those, really. 

The other way around: avoir la scoumoune/la poisse/le mauvais œil/la guigne...



viera said:


> It's not all that surprising that the French have  so many words for "luck" since it is so present in their mentality and  daily life.



I guess we are a supersticious people indeed. 

I'll always remember Monica from Friends throwing a lobster in boiling  water saying "Lucky bastard!" (because Janice had turned up).
I guess in English it will be less about words and more about tone and expletives like bloody, fucking, goddam, wretched, etc.


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