The phrase “easy come easy go” suggests that things that come too easily are just as likely to leave just as easily. It exhibits a laissez faire attitude and is often said with a hint of irony, suggesting that something that comes easily isn’t really worth holding onto. Younger people use the phrase to suggest that there’s no reason to get upset when something doesn’t work out, as something better will come later. Lottery winners often use the phrase as they tend to spend or give away their winnings quickly.
In life, most things require effort. No one gets a high-level CEO job without moving up the ranks, learning the necessary skills, and bowing down to the necessary people along the way. On the other hand, every now and then, something extraordinary and unexpected falls right into a person’s lap. If that incredible job or perfect boyfriend vanishes as quickly as it came, the perfect answer is “easy come easy go.”
The phrase plays with paired verbs such as and go and can be literally translated from slang into everyday English as “things that come too easily are just as likely to leave just as easily”. This idiom exhibits a kind of laissez faire attitude. Often there is an unspoken quality that can be translated as “Oh well,” as if the speaker is neither surprised nor unhappy to see the lucky event or object turn its tail and vanish.
Easy come easy go is also often said with a hint of irony, as if something that comes easily isn’t really worth holding on to. A young man who unexpectedly catches the momentary attention of a pretty, young woman who pretty quickly turns around and dumps him might shrug and comment, “Easy, come easy.” The subtext here is that, other than her physical beauty, there was not enough value in the young woman to fight for.
Younger people, in particular, are apt to use the phrase in a way that suggests an expectation that life will be filled with opportunities that come easily. When something shows up and doesn’t work, the phrase suggests there’s no reason to get upset. It must mean that something even better will come a little later, equally unexpected but of greater value.
No group of people are more likely to use the phrase than lottery winners. It’s common knowledge that a very large percentage of people who become rich, coming in hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars due to nothing more than the literal luck of the draw, aren’t particularly good at working with that money to grow it or keep it. The trend is to spend it or give it away as quickly as possible. Once it’s gone, it might not be the lottery winner commenting “Easy come easy,” but rather everyone who saw their luck fall into the winner’s lap and then jump out again.
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