Rasoul from Mashad, Iran, writes to ask why in English the phrase fat chance actually means “little or no chance” — a slim chance, in other words. Fat chance is an ironic usage, much like the phrase big deal which is often used to mean just the opposite of itself. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Why Does Fat Chance Mean the Same as Slim Chance?”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. We got an email from Rasul. He lives in Iran, and he’s been listening to us there in the city of Mashhad for several years for help in learning English. And he wanted to ask a question about the expression fat chance. He writes, the word fat implies a sense of abundance, and biblically speaking, I’ve heard that fat people were considered blessed in the past.
But what has happened to this idiom that when we say fat chance, we mean no chance?
Oh, yes. That’s a very good question.
It is a really good question. When you say fat chance, you don’t really mean that something is likely, right?
Right. You can’t stare English directly in the eyes. It’s like looking too closely at the sun. You have to shield yourself from it.
Yeah. We have other things like that in English. We say big deal. We don’t mean big deal. And there’s something in the tone that you, the way you signal that big deal, mean small deal or no deal.
Right. Because you could say, this is a really big deal. I need you to pay attention to it. And that sounds like you meant it.
Yeah. If I say smart move, you know that I didn’t mean smart move. You know I meant dumb move, right?
Yeah. And so some of it’s tonal that if you’re only reading these expressions, you won’t pick it up probably unless the context is very good. If you’re hearing it on a podcast, you probably will get some of it. Face to face, you’d probably get a lot of it.
Right. Pick up the irony or the sarcasm, right? There’s an inversion that happens with a lot of casual or colloquial language.
That’s a good point. The intent is more about context and not about the words themselves.
Exactly. Good point. So, Rasul, thank you for that question. We welcome questions no matter where you are in the world. You can send us email to words@waywordradio.org.
And you can go to our contact page on our website, waywordradio.org slash contact. There are a bunch of ways that you can reach out to us no matter where you are.
Is “fat chance” really the same as “big deal” and “smart move”? The latter two can be positive or negative depending on tone, but was “fat chance” ever really used to mean “a good chance”?