Is this an idiom you're using in earnest?

Post #395,945 by CRConrad 10/31/14 8:27:41 PM Reply	Is this an idiom you're using in earnest? Rand C: "I am going across the street to buy a fucking lottery ticket right now." This was not the first time you've used words to this effect in a similar situation. So, are you just being sarcastic, or is this actually an American idiom that's regularly used to express one's dissatisfaction with recent developments? I ask because it's an interesting contrast with how similar expression is used here (in both .se and .fi territories): When someone is unusually lucky, people are prone to tell them, "You gotta buy a lottery ticket today!" -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
Post #396,884 by rcareaga 12/5/14 12:11:22 PM Reply	Re: Is this an idiom you're using in earnest? I'm not aware that the expression is in wide use. I inherited it from a colleague who, following a meeting with senior management back when the BDS merger was being negotiated, reported that several people in attendance walked across the street at its close to buy lottery tickets at the Chinese grocer, in hopes of bailing in advance of what everyone could now see was going to be a clusterfuck. You are correct that when I refer to transactions of this character (in which I do not ordinarily indulge) I am feeling more than usually peevish toward my masters here. My brother was once mocked by a colleague who observed him making such a purchase. "Do you have any idea what the odds are against your winning that jackpot?" "Nothing like as long," he replied equably, "as they are against my ever seeing that kind of money through honest toil." cordially,
Post #396,886 by malraux 12/5/14 12:53:17 PM Reply	A number of people at a previous employer, all of them bright mathematical programming types, belonged to a lottery ticket club for precisely this reason: this place sucks, I want out, wouldn't it be nice... Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #396,925 by mmoffitt 12/7/14 4:43:12 PM Reply	I've also heard the response, "As good as anyone else's."

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