Golfers handed a so-called lucky ball actually played better
In a 2010 study, golfers told their ball was lucky outperformed those who were not. Luck may be nothing but chance, as Daniel Dennett insists, yet believing in it seems to work a little like a placebo. The word itself probably slipped into English from the gambling table in the 1480s.
English borrowed luck from Low German, Dutch or Frisian luk, a clipped form of gelucke. Before that, speakers wished each other speed, a word meaning prosperity and divine help rather than probability; a 1693 phrasebook records the prayer that Christ be our speed. The idea of chance arrived separately, through a Late Latin word for falling, as dice fall. Medieval scholars even recast the Roman goddess Fortuna as God's fickle servant, handing out success and failure unpredictably.
Philosophers slice the concept in several ways. One scheme separates constitutional luck, such as your birthplace or genes, from circumstantial luck like accidents and epidemics, and from ignorance luck, visible only in hindsight. A happy accidental discovery counts as serendipity. Nicholas Rescher proposed measuring luck as the gap between what you got and what you expected, so that skill raises expectations and shrinks the role of fortune. Chess has almost no randomness beyond who moves first, while Snakes and Ladders is pure dice. The Success Equation concluded that NBA standings depend most on skill and NHL standings most on luck.
Rationalists see belief in luck as faulty reasoning. Crediting a charm for a win commits the post hoc fallacy, treating sequence as cause, and the gambler who expects a seven tonight because none came all week ignores that dice have no memory. Lottery advertising leans on luck while playing down odds that are usually millions to one against.
Cultures disagree wildly about what brings fortune. Seven is lucky in Christian-influenced societies and eight in Chinese-influenced ones, while four is shunned in China and Japan because it sounds like the word for death. Greek tradition frowns on breaking a mirror; Navajo custom warns against throwing rocks into a whirlwind. Some customs have practical roots: an umbrella opened indoors can poke an eye. Psychologists find that people who consider themselves unlucky are more anxious and slower to seize unexpected openings, whereas believers in good luck tend to be more optimistic and satisfied.
Source: Luck
