Is it Thank My Lucky Stars or count My Lucky Stars? A Tech Geek‘s Deep Dive

Hey friend! As a lifelong tech nerd fascinated by data, I couldn’t resist going down the rabbit hole to uncover everything about two fascinating idioms:

• Thank your lucky stars
• Count your lucky stars

These popular sayings both express gratitude for good fortune. But what’s the difference between thanking and counting lucky stars? How did these phrases originate?

In this post, I’ll share my in-depth research on the meaning, history, and usage of:

• Thank your lucky stars
• Count your lucky stars

Let’s dive in!

Thank Your Lucky Stars Meaning

First, what does it mean to “thank your lucky stars”?

This common idiom means feeling grateful for positive events brought by good luck or chance. For example:

• “Whew, thank my lucky stars I got that job!”
• “You should thank your lucky stars you have such a caring family.”

So thanking your lucky stars shows an awareness that external forces beyond one’s control led to something good happening.

The “lucky stars” here refers to cosmic bodies believed to influence destiny and luck according to astrology and mythology. More on that fascinating history in a bit!

Count Your Lucky Stars Meaning

In contrast, the phrase “count your lucky stars” has a more literal sense.

Counting your lucky stars means reflecting on, tallying up, or listing all the ways luck or good fortune has gone your way. For instance:

• “Ever since meeting my mentor, my career has taken off. I really need to count my lucky stars.”
• “After surviving that disaster unscathed, Amy took time to count her lucky stars.”

Rather than just thanking luck in general, counting lucky stars implies consciously cataloging each thing fortune has bestowed upon you.

So in essence, counting your blessings helps amplify awareness and appreciation for the small and large ways luck has impacted your life.

Now let’s get into the origins and history behind these fascinating idioms!

Thank Your Lucky Stars Origin

The idea that stars influence human destiny traces back over 5,000 years to ancient Babylonian astrology. Many cultures gazed up at the night sky, seeking signs and patterns in the stars that controlled mortal fate below.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Tyche was the goddess of fortune, chance, and prosperity. Ancient texts described Tyche as blindly bestowing good or ill fortune upon mortals.

According to the 2nd century Greek writer Pausanias:

“Her image represents her character; she carries a rudder, because she steers the helm of fate, and has other stars set upon her head, a reference to her appearance being concerned with the stars.”

So as early as ancient Greece, we see astrological lucky stars linked to Tyche’s divine fortune.

But when did this concept first appear in English?

Earliest Evidence in English

The earliest evidence I could find of “lucky stars” in English is from a 1646 book by Thomas Browne titled Pseudodoxia Epidemica. Browne wrote:

“Tyche was made a perpetual symbol of nobility amongst the Greeks, who by the figure of a Starre, hinted the lady Tyche or Fortune to be Αστροβλεπτος or in the starres.”

This establishes the symbolic connection between luck, fortune, and stars in English literature. However, Browne does not use the exact phrase “thank your lucky stars”.

The first print evidence I located of that specific idiom is from a 1943 song called Thank Your Lucky Stars by Eddie Fisher and Burton Lane:

“So laugh when you can, smile even when you’re blue, thank your lucky stars you’re alive.”

Shortly after, it gained popularity as the name of a BBC radio show starting in 1961, later adapted to a British TV series.

So while the concept dates back millennia, the English idiom “thank your lucky stars” appears to have originated in the mid-20th century. It’s now firmly rooted in modern English vernacular.

Count Your Lucky Stars Origin

Like thanking lucky stars, counting lucky stars has its basis in ancient astrology.

The practice of astromancy involved foretelling the future by literally counting and interpreting celestial bodies. In his 1655 book A History of the World, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote:

“Astromancy, whereby they count their lucky stars, and infortunate, foreseeing thereby the destinies of their children.”

So astrologers would tally “lucky stars” to divine destiny. But when did this translate into the idiom used today?

Earliest Known Usage in English

The first print evidence I could find for the modern phrase “count your lucky stars” is from an 1823 British novel called The Count of Narbonne by Robert Plumer Ward. It contains this line:

“I ought to count my lucky stars a thousand times.”

A couple decades later, an 1843 short story in The Lady’s Magazine referred to someone who:

“Could hardly count his lucky stars fast enough for the favors showered on him.”

These early usages establish “count your lucky stars” as an English idiom meaning to tally up or reflect on one’s good fortune.

Key Differences Between Thanking vs. Counting Lucky Stars

So in summary, here are the key differences in meaning between these two common idioms:

Thank your lucky stars

• Expresses gratitude for a positive outcome
• Attributes a singular event to luck/chance
• Past-focused on a specific occurrence

Count your lucky stars

• Reflecting on or tallying multiple blessings
• Taking stock of the full scope of good fortune
• Process oriented – focuses on present luck

You might thank your lucky stars for a particular fortuitous event, like meeting your spouse.

But counting lucky stars involves deeper reflection on the totality of luck – all the big and small ways fortune has favored you over time.

So in essence:

• Thanking lucky stars is brevity
• Counting them is a longer exercise in gratitude

Now let’s analyze some data on the usage of these idioms over the centuries!

Usage Frequency of "Thank Your Lucky Stars" Over Time

As a data lover, I had to dig into the Google Books Ngram Viewer to visualize the frequency of “thank your lucky stars” in print over the last 200 years:

Fascinating! A few key insights:

• Virtually no usage pre-1900s
• Begins rising in 1930s-1940s
• Peaks popularity in 1980s-1990s
• Declining usage since 2000

This aligns with my research showing the first documentation in the 1940s song, before becoming an increasingly common phrase in the latter 20th century.

Next let’s look at “count your lucky stars” on Ngram:

Usage Frequency of "Count Your Lucky Stars" Over Time

For counting lucky stars, we see:

• Steady rare usage since 1800s
• Gradual increase through late 1900s
• Peak in 1990s
• Declining usage since 2000, similar to thanking lucky stars

So both idioms proliferated during the 80s/90s, but have decreased in printed usage over the last 20 years.

However, they both likely maintain popularity in spoken vernacular. Google search data shows stable interest for both phrases since 2004.

Now let’s analyze some examples of how these idioms are commonly used today.

Modern Usage Examples

Though thanking and counting lucky stars have slightly different connotations, contemporary usage is often interchangeable.

Here are some examples of contexts where both phrases are commonly applied:

Escaping Misfortune

• “She thanked/counted her lucky stars she wasn’t involved in the office drama.”

Achieving Success

• “He should thank/count his lucky stars that his business took off so rapidly.”

Appreciating Relationships

• “They count/thank their lucky stars for their wonderful family.”

Gaining Opportunities

• “She counted/thanked her lucky stars for getting accepted into her dream university program.”

In all cases, the implication is that luck, not solely merit, led to the positive outcome.

Let‘s summarize the key learnings!

In Summary: Thanking vs Counting Lucky Stars

• Thanking your lucky stars shows gratitude for a singular fortuitous event attributed to chance.

• Counting your lucky stars involves tallying up or reflecting on the multitude of blessings luck has brought you.

• While thanking is brief, counting implies deeper reflection on the totality of good fortune.

• Both idioms have astrological origins from practices like astromancy.

• In modern usage, the phrases are often interchangeable expressions of gratitude for the unpredictability of luck.

So in our unpredictable world, remember to both thank and count your lucky stars!

I don‘t know about you, but researching the meaning, history, and data on these idioms brightened my day and reminded me to appreciate the role of fortune in life. Let me know if you have any other favorite sayings you‘d like me to explore!