A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from January 13, 2012
Laboring Under Correct Knowledge (“luck” backronym)

The word “luck” is not an acronym, but it has been given the backronym of “labo(u)r(ing) under correct knowledge.” The saying “laboring under correct knowledge” has been cited in print since at least 1962 and has been popular with business motivational speakers.
 
A backronym for the word “fear”—used with “luck” in several of the citations below—is “False Education Appearing Real.”
   
   
AcronymFinder
What does LUCK stand for?
LUCK Laboring Under Correct Knowledge
 
Abbreviations.com
What does LUCK stand for?
LUCK Laboring Under Correct Knowledge
   
Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
luck noun \ˈlək\
Definition of LUCK
1a : a force that brings good fortune or adversity b : the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
2: favoring chance; also : success
Origin of LUCK
Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc; akin to Middle High German gelücke luck
First Known Use: 15th century
 
Google Books
Burn, killer, burn!
By Paul Crump
Chicago, IL: Johnson Publishing Company
1962      
Pg. 37:
What was that other poem and that thing about luck that Miss McGill had told us?
 
Luck means “laboring under correct knowledge,” that’s it, that’s where luck got its name, from the first four letters of the four words.
   
1 October 1967, Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer, “PTAs Are Urged to Know Schools” by Marie Slivka, pg. 11G, col. 7:
“Unless you know the quality of the product, you cannot sell it. You need LUCK—to Labor Under Correct Knowledge,” he concluded.
(Msgr. William Novicky, assistant superintendent of Catholic schools—ed.)
 
Google News Archive
3 November 1976, Sydney Morning Herald, pg. 30, col. 2 classified ad:
Luck to us is labour under correct knowledge. We mean business.
(Thomas Australia Wholesale Vehicle Trading Co.—ed.)
     
Google Books
Voices from the Holocaust
By Sylvia Rothchild
New York, NY: New American Library
1981
Pg. 393:
I hear people say that success is all due to luck. LUCK to me stands for Labor Under Correct Knowledge.
 
Google Books
Seeds of Greatness:
The ten best-kept secrets of total success

By Denis Waitley
Old Tappan, NJ: Revell
1983
Pg. 114:
As we begin, let’s examine a few relevant terms and definitions:
 
Luck — Laboring Under Correct Knowledge. Once we know what we want to do and start preparing and doing it, we begin to have good luck.
Fear — False Education Appearing Real. As we learned earlier, most of what we fear is imaginary, has already happened, is easy to solve once defined, or is beyond our control.
 
14 December 1987, The State (Columbia, SC), “Tips on selling from a master salesman,” business, pg. 11:
It takes luck to be a good sales person. “I don’t mean good fortune. I mean Laboring Under Correct Knowledge, which takes the fear out of selling and gives you the confidence you need.”
 
Google Books
THE BOOK on What Ever You’re Into:
These are the 52 Timeless Winning Truths you Need To Know to have a chance at Winning

By Kevin Abdulrahman
Auckland: The Billionaires League Publishing
2009
Pg. 26:
A wise person once shared with me a definition of Luck that stuck with me. He said L.U.C.K. stands for Labouring Under Correct Knowledge. Winners work hard doing the right things and that’s why they are lucky.
 
Seeking Alpha
Be A ‘No-Limit Investor’ During An Undependable Stock Market Period
by: Marc Courtenay December 21, 2011
(...)
One of my early mentors told me that “LUCK” is an acronym for “Learning Under Correct Knowledge” and that “FEAR” was an acronym for “False Education Appearing Real.”

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityWork/Businesses • Friday, January 13, 2012 • Permalink


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