2_52b147f0@fidonet.org>   
   From: alexander koryagin    
      
   Hi, Paul Quinn!   
   I read your message from  18.12.2013 08:00   
   about Luck.   
      
     PQ> My Irish heritage wants me to utter "I hope not!" but I'll   
     PQ> restrain myself. ??;-)   
      
   I wanted to know if you understand this Russian idiom. It probably    
   originates from a Russian fairy-tale about a shining gold bird which was    
   caught by its tail by Ivan the fool, the main character of many Russian    
   fairy-tales. It means that a person was quick and did not waste time    
   when a good opportunity arose before him.   
      
    From another side, IMHO, the story could live without a bird. Why do we    
   think that luck has no tail? ;-) When we speak "He managed to catch his    
   luck by its tail and became a big man" we don't discuss the tail of the    
   luck. We tell that he did something successful.   
      
     PQ> It should be Englishman, BTW.  And, 'lucky' is named for which   
     PQ> beastie? (Swinging cat o' nine tails is a different thing   
     PQ> altogether, BTW.)   
     PQ> I remember a cat called 'Lucky' in an old TV show called ALF   
     PQ> (Alien Life Form).   It was lucky indeed!   
      
   Indeed a cat can give a clear clue to this idiom. Luck can be compared    
   with a bird which was caught by a cat.   
      
     PQ>  (ALF didn't like   
     PQ> cats, you see, and kept inventing ways of doing away with it).   
     PQ> Oops, I'm stuck on cats... better stop.   
      
   I believe you forgot that Alf liked cats very much. Well, tastes differ! :)   
      
   Bye, Paul!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   fido7.english-tutor 2013   
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