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"Good Luck" Alternative phrases?

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emanon

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Can anyone think of some good, objective alternatives to superstitious phrases like:

Good Luck

Best Wishes

Fingers Crossed

etc

?

I always hesitate writing these, because I don't like them. I'm not sure if this is just me, but I always feel a little like I'm cheating someone when I wish them good luck. The intention is to imply that it would make me happy if the person went well in ____ (whatever the thing was), but I often feel that by saying it, I'm disqualifying their prior work and effort in favor of some imaginary force.

However, I can't think of any decent alternative phrase which offer the same sort of gesture without invoking 'luck' etc. or sounding... overly serious and a bit weird, I guess?

So any suggestions? :thumbsup:

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Interestingly,

Dr. Peikoff, in his history of philosophy course said that, if I remember correctly, the Christians took Plato's "Form of the Good," dropped an "o" and added a personality, and they got "God." (Which makes sense.)

I can't bring myself to say either, "Thank God!" or "God bless you!," but Miss Rand offers an interesting point in support of using those phrases in that clip of her interview with Tom Snyder.

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You could borrow Miss Rand's signature line "Good premises" (which might not be a good idea) or make up one of your own along those lines:

- Thinking of you

- Good thoughts

- Rationally yours

- mindfully

- in mindful harmony

- thoughtfully yours

- in appeal to your rationality

- reasonably

- etc. etc.

I think better than "Thank God" is "Thank goodness"

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"Do your best."

That one is my personal favorite.

I like this one also. With people who understand it, I also like the Japanese word "Gambatte", which means close to the same thing (interestingly, the use of this word in Japanese is approximately analogous to the use of "good luck" in English).

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Interesting topic emanon.

I've found myself saying 'good luck' to various people before, say an exam, or something of the kind. I've never thought much about it but now that you mention it..I guess since it's such a common thing to say, it's lost its 'original' meaning as in the superstitious sense, but rather indicates that you bid them well(?). Do your best would be more suitable though.

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You mean the phrase "Ganbatte kudasai"--- in Japanese you don't have a singular "m" sound, but there is a singular "n" appended to syllables-- and almost without exception all syllables end in a vowel, not a consonant (that's why the singular 'n' is appended)

Thank you for the clarification; I learned Japanese when I was young, and have never studied it formally.

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