23 Ways to say GOOD LUCK: Advanced English Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Good luck.

Let's talk about it.

Sometimes you want to wish someone good luck with a little more flair or creativity.

So today I'm here to help you expand your vocabulary and wish someone good luck in a

lot of different ways.

We're going to be talking about some formal ways to say good luck, some casual ways to

say good luck, and some silly ways.

Let's start with the first one, formal.

These formal ways to say good luck are best used for professional situations, business

situations, situations where you don't know someone well, or maybe if someone is going

through a really difficult time and you want to wish them well.

Best wishes.

This one is pretty neutral.

It's not too excited, but it's still friendly.

You can use this to sign a card for maybe a co-worker's birthday, or if someone's going

on a long trip or for a graduation or a wedding.

You can sign best wishes to the new couple.

Best of luck.

This one is most likely used when someone's moving on to a new job or a new city.

You might say or you might write in a card, "We're sad you're leaving the company, best

of luck to you at your new job."

With any luck.

This one acknowledges some potential for bad, but you still feel hopeful.

So you might say, "With any luck, our picnic plans won't get rained out."

Fortune favors the bold.

Ooh, doesn't this just make you feel empowered?

This is a great expression to write in a card, if someone is going off to study at a new

college or university, maybe they're going off to take a new job somewhere far away,

you might write to them, "As you embark on this new journey in life, remember fortune

favors the bold."

If you are bold and courageous, then you will do well.

Our final way to say good luck in this formal section is a little long, but it's a great

poetic way to tell someone, maybe in a card, good luck.

You might say, may your roads always be smooth and your burdens always be light.

Very poetic, very lovely.

And this is a good sign off on a card when someone's embarking on a new adventure.

Our next section are casual ways to say good luck.

You might use these with people you're familiar with, or just in rather light situations.

Our first one is fingers crossed.

You actually already saw me do this type of gesture because it's so common for these good

luck situations, not just for the phrase fingers crossed, but you might say, "I applied for

a new job, fingers crossed I get it."

We often use it while crossing either one hand fingers crossed, or crossing two.

And sometimes we don't even say this expression, we just say, "I hope I get it."

And you cross your fingers.

So it is implying this gesture of good luck, kind of like a superstitious gesture.

I'm going to cross my fingers.

Fingers crossed I hope I get it.

You can do it.

This is a great expression to use, especially if you see that someone is feeling not very

confident about something.

So you might say, "Oh, I can see that you're nervous about skydiving, but don't worry.

You can do it."

You got this.

This is another way to encourage someone to do something when they're feeling not very

confident.

Go in there and ask your boss for a raise.

You got this.

You can do it.

Break a leg.

Of course not literally.

We do not want to tell someone to break their leg, but if you saw one of my previous lessons

about 50 idioms, this is one of them that I talked about.

We often use break a leg to tell someone good luck for performances or competitions.

So you might say, "Break a leg at your audition today.

I'm sure you'll do great.

Break a leg."

I'm rooting for you.

Usually we use the word root to talk about a plant.

The part of a plant that's under the ground, these are the roots.

But that's not what we're talking about here.

There's another meaning of, to root.

This verb to root, it means to cheer.

So there's a famous song in the U.S that's called Take Me out to the Ball Game.

And it goes like this.

Especially one line says, root, root, root for the home team.

So you're cheering for the home team.

Well, you can check out that song on YouTube at some point.

I'm not going to sing it for you.

But we can use this expression, I'm rooting for you, in kind of performances or competing

situations.

So you might say, "Good luck at the marathon, I'm rooting for you.

I'm cheering for you."

The next expression, you have to listen very carefully to.

Good luck with that.

Good luck with that.

Notice the emphasis on that and also my facial expression.

Good luck with that.

Am I positive?

Am I saying you can do it?

Nope, instead, we use this when someone is doing something that seems not fun at all.

Maybe something that is impossible or just not a fun thing to do.

So let's take this situation.

Your friend tells you, "This afternoon, I'm going to give my cat a bath."

What?

This seems not fun and maybe a pointless or meaningless task, right?

What's the purpose of doing this?

Well, you might say, "Yikes, good luck with that."

Now, here you're expressing some sarcasm.

Sarcasm is a type of way of talking or a type of humor.

Sometimes in English, you say something but you mean the opposite.

Mm-hmm, This means, I think that nothing will help you, but I'm going to wish you good luck

anyways.

So I'm going to say what this inflection, not a very happy face, kind of a serious face

and emphasizing that good luck with that.

Good luck with that.

Our final expression in this casual section is sending you good vibes.

This is something that you often see written maybe on Facebook.

If someone posts something that says, oh, I am having a really awful day or oh, my family

member is feeling sick.

You might comment and say, oh, I'm sending you good vibes.

This is something that is common in a kind of laid back culture.

Usually if you know that that person is religious, sometimes we say, I'm praying for you.

Something like this.

But if you don't know about their religious beliefs or if they are kind of laid back,

maybe hippie style, you can say sending you good vibes, notice that this is so laid back,

that we even cut off the subject.

I am sending you goodbye.

And we just cut off I'm or I am.

And we just say, sending you good vibes, sending you good vibes on your test today.

That means good luck on your test today.

All right, let's go to our next category, which are silly expressions and ways to say

good luck.

These silly expressions for saying good luck are ones that you want to use with people

you are close with or people who understand your sense of humor.

The first one is knock ‘em dead.

First of all, you are not telling someone to hurt someone else, kill someone else.

Not a good idea.

And what is happening in grammatically here?

What is knock ‘em?

This is a shortened version of the word, them.

Knock them dead.

Knock them dead.

We use this when we're telling someone good luck for a competition or a performance.

Does that sound familiar?

I guess this is a common situation when we're wishing someone good luck.

If someone has a performance, they're giving a speech they're competing, well, you want

to wish them good luck.

So you might say knock ‘em dead.

We often use this expression with the verb, go.

For example, you might say, go knock ‘em dead with your juggling performance, go knock

‘em dead, go get ‘em, tiger.

We usually use this for children when they're about to play a sport or maybe do something

difficult.

So before your kids football game, you might say, well, I tell my son before his football

game, go get ‘em, tiger.

Go get ‘em.

Tiger.

Tiger is just kind of a cute name for your child, but we always use this as a fixed expression.

You could say something else, like go get ‘em, sweetie.

But tiger is a more fierce word that we can use.

And as before, ‘em, is the word them that's been shortened, go get ‘em tiger.

Go get ‘em tiger.

Picture that you only use this for children or if you want to use this for your friends,

just say it with a big laugh, because it's usually for children, you might say, oh, I'll

go get them tiger.

You're going to win the race, go get them tiger.

Blow ‘em away.

Here again.

We have them that's been reduced to, ‘em, blow ‘em away.

And we use this when you're having some impressive performance.

You want to impress them, someone with your skills of some sort.

It could be an interview.

It could be a performance.

It could be some kind of skills that you're showing to someone else.

So you might say, I hope you blow ‘em away with your audition today below implies some

kind of wind, oh, your performance is so amazing.

So there's some figurative, wind or breeze that is making the other people, making the

audience amazed.

Wow, this is amazing.

Blow ‘em away.

Bring home the crown.

This is often used for a performance or competition when there's some kind of prize, the prize

doesn't have to be actually a crown, but there could be some thing that you get when you

win.

So you might say good luck at the mini golf tournament, bring home the crown and make

us proud.

Remember me when you're famous.

This is often used when someone is pursuing something that might lead to fame.

So you might say to your friend, I see that you're moving to LA, you're going to live

in Hollywood and you're trying to get into movies, well, remember me when you're famous.

You're kind of expecting or anticipating or joking about a little bit, your friend becoming

famous.

And don't forget all of the little people when you're famous.

The next two expressions are silly, but also a little old fashioned.

And that's what makes them silly.

The first one is God speed.

This feels very old fashioned, but if someone is going on a big trip or on a journey and

it is perceived maybe to be difficult, they're changing their life.

Well, you might say, I'd bid you Godspeed on your journey across the ocean.

This is something that you might expect to hear in the 17 hundreds or 15 hundreds, but

you can use this with a little laugh in your voice.

Godspeed on your journey.

And you're just telling them good luck on your journey.

Fare thee well.

The word thee is an old fashioned word that means, you.

And this is wishing someone luck, but because it is extremely old fashioned, we often use

this with a silly light tone and it's just a funny way to tell someone good luck.

You could say fair thee well, I shall see you again when our paths cross.

So if your friend is moving far away, you can use this in a melodramatic way, fair thee

well, I shall see you again someday.

Our final category are some ways to say good luck that come from movies.

These are usually integrated into normal daily conversation, so even though they are a fixed

phrase that comes from a movie, they are very well-known in American culture.

So if you use this, make sure you use them in the ways that I'm going to tell you about,

but if you use them, it will seem totally fine and I'm sure that you'll hear them in

movies and TV shows and when other people use them.

May the force be with you.

This is a famous line from one of the Star Wars movies.

And it's a great way to say good luck in this kind of lighthearted silly way.

And usually it's for a difficult task, but make sure it still has a tone of lightness.

For example, you might say, when my nerdy friend wanted to ask the cute girl on a date,

I told him, may the force be with you.

The force is implying here a greater strength, some supernatural force that is giving me

some courage.

May the force be with you.

The next movie quote sounds a little similar, may the odds be ever in your favor.

This quote is from the Dystopian books and movies, The Hunger Games.

Maybe you've seen these or read them.

And in this quote, is usually said before some terrible competitions happen.

If you haven't watched the movies or read the books, I don't want to give it away, but

it's to tell someone good luck in this difficult task that you're about to do, but with a silly

and light tone.

And usually when we say this, we say it with the same accent or intonation as the actress

who plays this character, who says this line in the movie.

So you can say, my friend is going to run her first marathon and I told her, maybe odds

be ever in your favor.

Live long and prosper.

We usually accompany this phrase with this hand gesture.

It is a long-term classic from the Star Trek series and it's quite nerdy, but it's silly

and funny.

Maybe if you are a hardcore Star Trek fan, you will sign all of your cards with live

long and prosper, Vanessa.

Our final way to say good luck is, to infinity and beyond.

This is the unforgettable line from the Soy Story series.

A great movie, I absolutely recommend them, if you have not watched them.

It's a great way to learn English and also learn some about culture as well.

And this expression is a way of saying the sky is the limit.

Your possibilities are endless to infinity and beyond infinity.

Infinity is never ending.

So how can we go beyond infinity?

It's not possible, but it's just saying there are endless possibilities.

To infinity and beyond.

You might say, keep working on your goals to infinity and beyond.

Congratulations on learning 23 different ways to say good luck.

I believe in you, you got this, go knock them dead, go get them tiger.

Fingers crossed.

That you can use these expressions in your daily life.

I'm sure you can do it.

Now.

I have a question for you.

Can you use one of these good luck expressions in the comments?

Wish me luck in the comments.

Use what you've learned.

You can do it.

Well, thank you so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday

for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

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Bye.