A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1866 T. W. ROBERTSON Society II. ii. ‘I’m always lucky at cards!’.. ‘Yes, I know an old proverb about that. .. Lucky at play, unlucky in—.’ a 1871- Play (1889) III. ii. Unlucky in love, lucky at cards. 1941 P. CHEYNEY Trap for Bellamy iv. ‘Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.’.. I’m going to find out if the proverb’s true. .. What are they playing tonight? 1981 Oxford Mail 29 Aug. 5 Arthur and Hilda Cover have defied the old proverb by being lucky at cards and lucky in love. 2003 Times 1 Jan. 30 You had never believed the phrase ‘lucky in cards, unlucky in love’ until that night when you were the victim of a drive-by shooting from a jealous ex-girlfriend shortly after being dealt a full house. ■ love; luck

lucky see also it is BETTER to be born lucky than rich; THIRD time lucky.
lunch see there’s no such thing as a FREE lunch.
Where MACGREGOR sits is the head of the table
The proverb is sometimes attributed to Robert MacGregor of Campbell (’Rob Roy’: 1671­1734), highland freebooter. Other names are used as well as MacGregor. The idea is explained in the two following quots.: 1580 LYLY Euphues & his England II. 39 When.. Agesilaus sonne was set at the lower end of the table, and one cast it in his teeth as a shame, he answered: this is the vpper end where I sit; 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 4362 That is the upper End, where the chief Person sits.

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  1837 EMERSON American Scholar 19 Wherever Macdonald [the head of the Mac­donald clan] sits, there is the head of the table. Linnaeus makes botany the most alluring of studies and wins it from the farmer and the herb-woman. 1903 K. D. WIGGIN Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm viii. If wherever the MacGregor sat was the head of the table, so.. wherever Rebecca stood was the centre of the stage. 1918 A. G. GARDINER Leaves in Wind 197 There are.. people who carry the centre of the stage with them. .. ‘Where O’Flaherty sits is the head of the table.’ 1940 J. W. BELLAH Bones of Napoleon 69 Like Macdonald—where Lord Innes sat was the head of the table. 1980 Times 12 May 15 (letter from His Honour Judge MacGregor) Sir, Where MacGregor sits is the head of the table. "honour; pride