1

"Jinx" has a negative connotation for an action.

What's the opposite, an action that had a positive consequence under the superstition?

Like "lucky charm", but that doesn't really work.

I'm looking for a verb, similar to how you would say "The return to office date got pushed back. I shouldn't have said I was looking forward to it, I [jinxed] it.".

"Woohoo! The return to office date got pushed back, when I said it wasn't going to happen I [somehow positively influenced] it."

Improve this question
6
  • Are you looking for something that works the opposite of this then? — “I'm beginning to think that damned team is a jinx... It's been a bad-luck team from the beginning.” – tchrist♦ Aug 26 '20 at 3:06
  • 5
    Why doesn't lucky charm work? Are you looking for a noun or a verb? Can you supply a sentence with a blank space where the word you want would be inserted? – Jason Bassford Aug 26 '20 at 3:14
  • @JasonBassford Thanks, I added some example sentences. Yes, I'm looking for a verb. – Error_2646 Aug 26 '20 at 15:25
  • 1
    Are you thinking blessed or beknighted? – Yosef Baskin Aug 26 '20 at 22:00
  • 1
    Does this have to 21st century casual language? The 19th Century sometimes used to fluke to mean randomly achieving something as a lucky break. Bennett..tried for a cannon, but fluked the white, and..ran out the winner by 90 points. and He wanted to fluke a last success. and Even if he managed to fluke home in this trial. – tchrist♦ Aug 26 '20 at 22:44
1

After clarification of the question, what's being looked for is a verb that's the antonym of jinx, and used in a superstitious context.

I believe that invoke satisfies those criteria:

[Merriam-Webster]
2 : to call forth by incantation : CONJURE

// Nietzsche is so complex that he can be invoked in support of many outlooks, some of them brutal or nihilistic.
— Thomas Nagel, New Republic, 14 Jan. 2002

// There are some people who commit murder as a way of invoking the death penalty. Capital punishment can sometimes, then, be equivalent to suicide.
— George Freeman Solomon, People, 17 Jan. 1977

Used in the example sentence in the question, and paraphrasing it slightly so that it makes sense with the word, it would look like this:

""Woohoo! The return to office date got pushed back, when I said it wasn't going to happen I invoked that result."

A similar word is evoke, but I personally feel it doesn't have quite as active a sense of summoning something real as does invoke, and instead is more commonly associated with recollection.

Google Books NGram Viewer also indicates that invoke evil spirits is about three times as common as evoke evil spirits:

invoke versus evoke evil spirits

Improve this answer
1
  • Nice, it doesn't sound as colloquial as jinx but has it's own flavor – Error_2646 Aug 27 '20 at 15:54
4

Maybe "blessing" could work!

According to Oxford's English Dictionary, a blessing is "a beneficial thing for which one is grateful; something that brings well-being."

Edit, after your clarification: I’ve often heard people use the word “called” in these situations. Something happened that I said would happen? I called it!

“Woohoo! The return to office date got pushed back, when I said it wasn’t going to happen I called it.”

Although it isn’t formal English, it’s a pretty common phrase. To say you “called it” implies that you predicted it would happen.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.