Word.ws English Dictionary

one should be so lucky

one should be so lucky phrase: it is highly doubtful: indicating that something is not likely to happen to the person specified.

Phrase

one should be so lucky

  1. (informal, sarcastic) It is highly doubtful: indicating that something is not likely to happen to the person specified.
    • So now I'm the Beverly Sills of Broadway, right? Hah! I should be so lucky!1970, The New York Times Biographical Service, New York Times & Arno Press, page 660
    • I laugh uncontrollably when I meet women who say, "What if we get equal rights; we'll all be drafted!" My reply is, "You should be so lucky." The male-dominated military are not about to open their last sanctuary to 51 percent of the population.1971, Equal Rights for Men and Women 1971: Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, First Session, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 131

Forms of one should be so lucky

alternative formone will be lucky

Origin of one should be so lucky

Calque of Yiddish מען זאָל זיין אזוי מזלדיק (men zol zeyn azoy mazldik, “one should be so lucky”)

Questions about one should be so lucky

What does one should be so lucky mean?
One should be so lucky means it is highly doubtful: indicating that something is not likely to happen to the person specified.
What part of speech is one should be so lucky?
One should be so lucky is a phrase.

Words near one should be so lucky in the dictionary

  1. one quarter
  2. one seventh
  3. one short
  4. one shot
  5. one shots
  6. one should be so lucky
  7. one should live so long
  8. one should never meet one's heroes
  9. one side
  10. one sixth
  11. one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: one should be so lucky (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-one should be so lucky.wav.

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