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Reader question: Please explain “go-lucky” in this sentence: Marisa’s personality “color code” is purple meaning she is happy, go-lucky, carefree, engaging, adaptive and cheerful. My comments: In fact, happy-go-lucky, with hyphen, is one word. Take a look into the origin of happy and you’ll discover that “happy” and “lucky” actually go hand in hand. They were born a pair. Happy, you see, has its roots in “hap”, as in happen, happenstance, mishap, etc., meaning by chance or fortune. Or luck? Exactly. Literally, happy-go-lucky means one would go where happenstance or the wheel of fortune takes them. Metaphorically speaking, one who is happy-go-lucky is easy going and carefree, not giving a care about the future (with all the complexities involved). They dare let it be, knowing what will be will be. In our example, her personality “color code” being purple, Marisa is happy-go-lucky – carefree, happy and cheerful. Perhaps a person who trusts everything to his or her fortune and luck ought to be happy, as in happy life, in the sense of enjoying life and feeling contented. Anyways, be happy, don’t worry. Happily, there are many media examples of people who are, luckily, that way: 1. It was two years ago that Matt Thompson met Helen Stephens, a freelance model. His plan was to go to Epping Forest and take shots of her against autumn leaves. He is a professional photographer, and Helen still has a picture he took that day on her mobile. She looks beautiful but zapped: “I was lying down because I was tired,” she laughs. There is no puzzle about why he picked her for the job – the unsullied beauty, the porcelain skin and autumnal hair. And it was on that day – before they began a romantic relationship – that she mentioned she had epilepsy, a condition that affects 65 million people worldwide. | 
