Meaning:
Take one's chance as to what meal one is served when accepting another's
hospitality. Also, in the USA, potluck is the name of a communal meal, in
which participants each bring a dish to be shared.
Background:
`Take potluck' originated in the UK in the 16th century. The original `take
one's chance at what is being served' meaning is still the one that is used
and understood there and everywhere else outside of the USA.
Thomas Nashe recorded the term in Strange newes, of the intercepting certaine
letters, and a convoy of verses, 1592:
"That, that pure sanguine complexion of yours may neuer be famisht with
potte-lucke."
The American `bring food to a party' meaning was defined in an entry in
American Speech in 1924:
"Pot luck, food contributed by the guest. To take pot luck is to bring food
with one to a party."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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Distinctions like this might have bugged George Bernard Shaw enough to gripe
"two peoples separated by a common language." Native speakers familiar with
one version have to be as baffled as wide-eyed immigrants when hit with the other.
