Luck vs Silver Lining - A Sequel

 This photo has been posted before on my blog here  (25 April 2025)

I ended yesterday's post with a question:

In Swedish we have a saying: "ha tur i oturen", meaning "to have good luck in the midst of bad luck"... I can't think of a corresponding common expression in English? If you can, please enlighten me!

I got several replies (thanks!) referring to the English quote about "clouds with a silver lining" - while no one seemed to have a different suggestion.

As perhaps not all readers are in the habit of going back to check replies to comments, I decided to put my "afterthoughts" in a separate post as well. 

I'm familiar with the saying "every cloud has a silver lining" in English since before. To me there is a slight difference in meaning between that and the Swedish expression about having "good luck in the midst of bad luck", but I suppose it's as close as we'll get in finding an equivalent :)  

The Swedish expression kind of involves a turn of events [i.e. first something bad happens; but after that, something good happens to at least partly kind of balance that out]; while to me the "silver lining" seems to be more about finding a brighter side to a dark situation.(?) 

I looked up the phrase "silver lining" in my copy of Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and here is what they say:  

A silver lining. The prospect of better days, the promise of happier times. The Saying, Every cloud has a silver lining, is quite an old one; thus in Milton's Comus, the Lady lost in the wood resolves to hope on, and sees 'a sable cloud turn forth its silver lining to the night'.

Though outwardly a gloomy shroud
The inner half of every cloud
Is bright and shining;
I therefore turn my clouds about,
And always turn them inside out,
To show the lining.
Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, The Wisdom of Folly

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I also asked Google AI, which gave me the following summary:

A "silver lining" refers to a positive or hopeful aspect within a difficult or negative situation. It signifies finding something good, even when things seem bleak. The phrase often appears in the idiom "every cloud has a silver lining," suggesting that even in the worst circumstances, there's always a potential for something positive.

The phrase originates from a poetic image of clouds with a bright edge when the sun is behind them. This suggests that even when things are cloudy (bad), they can still have a bright, positive aspect. It's a metaphor for optimism and finding a reason to be hopeful, even when facing adversity. 

 
And Google AI's comment about the Swedish expression  "tur i oturen" goes something like this (translated from Swedish to English by me):

"Tur i oturen" is a Swedish expression describing a situation where something bad leads to something good. It's when an accident or adversity brings an unexpected positive result. For example: You miss a train, but because of that, you get the unexpected chance of meeting an interesting person. Or your flight gets delayed, but because of that you get upgraded to first class. 

I'm now thinking that perhaps a better translation to English of the Swedish expression would be "bad luck bringing good luck". However, this is not to be interpreted as something that always happens, or is always possible - it's only used when it happens.

Bad Luck and Good

This week started kind of abruptly for me. On Sunday at lunch I broke a tooth. It was the same tooth that also broke twice last summer, and both times I was told it was tricky to fix, as the damage went deep. For the same reason, it may also be tricky to put a crown on it, though. So when I felt part of the filling had given way now, I feared "the worst"... 

In Swedish we have a saying "ha tur i oturen" which is difficult to translate to English in an equally short catchy phrase. It basically means "to have a bit of good luck in the midst of bad luck". The first time I broke that tooth (not the very first time, but the first time last year) was on Midsummer Eve (a Friday). I had to get through the rest of that weekend on foods like mashed bananas and yogurt etc, and call the dentist first thing on Monday - when I also had a scheduled appointment for my 2nd covid jab later the same day. Luckily, the dentist managed to fit me in early though, and also to fix the tooth; and I was able keep my afternoon appointment for the covid jab as well. This was also the last week before the dentist closed for summer holidays in July, so in that respect I was also "lucky" that it happened when it did, rather than in July.

The next time that tooth broke (another corner of it) was in August. Then it happened on a Thursday and I had to call first thing on Friday morning, knowing they would be closing early that day. It also turned out my own dentist wasn't there. But luckily, her colleague managed to squeeze me in at the very end of her closing-early day. And again, managed to fix the tooth.

And now, the third time, it happened on the last Sunday of the Christmas holiday season. I decided to wait to call until an hour after they opened on Monday morning. With covid numbers sky-rocketing after Christmas, I guessed the dentist would be likely to get a few cancellations first thing at the start of the first week after the holiday season... I may have been right about that, because when I called at 9 am, the nurse was able to offer me three choices the same day. The first one was at 10:20. That suited me fine... I might not even have to reschedule my booking of the laundry room (starting at 12). The streets were icy, but the weather was okay, even offering a glimpse of sun again after a weekend of dull snow/slush/grey. I was able to walk into town without hurry; the dentist once again managed to do miracles (even if still not able to make any promises how long it may last) and I did get back home in time to get my laundry done as planned. (After  all that, I was feeling pretty exhausted in the late afternoon, though.)

Two photos snapped with my phone yesterday, on my way to and from the dentist's. The river calm as a mirror, not really reflecting all my "drama" at all!

Today, we're back to grey. I've been for a short walk to the recycling bins with some stuff + popped into the small neighbourhood shop for some bananas and tomatoes on the way back. And I packed a bunch of Santas/elves/gnomes back into their box for hibernation until next Christmas. What I did with the rest of the day I can't really say! 

Tomorrow and the next few days it's supposed to get warmer once again, and rainy. I'm hoping for all the knobbly ice on the streets to be washed away before the next round of snow (which is likely to happen at some point as we're still only in the beginning of January). Tomorrow I'll probably be staying in, packing some more Christmas things to go down to the basement. 

"Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of notably positive, negative, or improbable events. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to random and non-random natural and artificial processes, and that even improbable events can happen by random chance. In this view, the epithet "lucky" or "unlucky" is a descriptive label that refers to an event's positivity, negativity, or improbability." [Wikipedia]

(Feeling any the wiser? Not sure I do...)