Pigs Might Fly: Colloquial English About the Future

Katie opens with a prompt: "Pigs…?" Tom, without pausing, answers "Arse?" A second later he's laughing and correcting himself — "Ignore me everyone! Pigs might fly." That's the first thirty seconds of this one, and it sets the tone. Ten colloquial expressions about the future, one host describing them, the other guessing, and a fair amount of getting it wrong out loud. The heat is mentioned more than once. Lunch is mentioned at the end.

What you'll hear in this episode

We recorded this one on the beach — "Here we are on the beach, Tom," is the opening line — and the guessing game runs in two halves.

In the first half, Katie describes an idea and Tom has to produce the expression. Pigs might fly comes first, after the false start. Then when hell freezes over, which Tom immediately turns into an example about beer. Then not in a million years, where he teases her with "Maybe next month. Ha, no!" before settling on "Never."

The saying about having one thing now rather than two later gives him trouble: "I know this, but I just have to think for a minute, because I'm bound to get it wrong, like the pigs one." He gets it — "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush" — and then reflects, "It's quite Buddhist, isn't it?" On the cards rounds off the first half, with a nice aside on Tarot: "It's like Tarot cards isn't it?"

The second half moves from likelihood to time and modernity: what the future holds, a bright future, light years ahead (with an example about Apple's product development), and slap bang up to date — where Tom admits he'd trim it: "I would probably, myself, say bang up to date." In the nick of time closes things, tested with a train question that he answers "Eleven fifty nine." Then: "Do you think we have a bright future?"

Quick facts

Episode	3.8 – The Future
Pack	Colloquial 3
Level	3
Duration	16 minutes 27 seconds
Recorded	On the beach (mentioned on air)
Audio	Free
Workbook	Included in the all-in-one pack, €39

What you'll learn

The useful thing here isn't just the ten expressions — it's how English speakers grade probability without using words like "probable" or "unlikely". Every one of these idioms carries a strength. On the cards means likely. Pigs might fly, when hell freezes over and not in a million years all mean the same thing — never — but they land differently, and the conversation keeps checking which is which: "If we say this do we think something is likely or very unlikely?"

You'll also hear collocation being taught properly. Katie makes the point directly: you could say a good future, but a bright future is the stronger pairing that native speakers actually reach for. Same with up to date — fine on its own, stronger with bang or slap bang in front of it, and Tom's instinct to drop slap is a genuine window into how much variation there is between speakers.

Because it's a guessing game, you get the meaning before the phrase every time, which is good listening practice: you have to hold a definition in your head and search for the words. The Meaning and Pronunciation sections then reverse it — you hear one word and produce the whole expression, repeating after the beep.

The vocabulary

The workbook glossary marks each expression 1, 2 or 3 for how informal it is — level 3 being the ones you shouldn't use with your mother-in-law. Everything in this unit is a 1 or a 2:

pigs might fly (2) – to be said when you think there is no possibility of something happening
to be on the cards (1) – likely to happen, predicted
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (1) – it's better to have something small/less valuable than to have the future possibility of something bigger and better
not in a million years (2) – there is no way this is going to happen
when hell freezes over (2) – this will never happen
in the nick of time (1) – happened just before it needed to happen, just in time
to be light years ahead (1) – a long way ahead
to be slap bang up to date (1) – completely modern
to have a bright future (1) – to have a positive future ahead
what the future holds (1) – what will happen in the future

What's in the workbook

The workbook for 3.8 gives you the full transcript of both conversations, so you can go back to the moments where Tom hesitates and see exactly what was said. There's a short introduction reminding you these are informal expressions — friends, not formal situations — then the glossary above with its 1–3 informality ratings.

Two practice exercises follow. The first is a vowel puzzle: skeletons like _n t h _ n _ c k _f t _ m _ that you fill in to rebuild five of the phrases. The second is a gap-fill of seven sentences in context — a wedding that may or may not be on the cards, a business that's light years ahead of the competition, a fortune teller predicting what the future holds. Answers to both are printed at the back, so you can mark your own work.

This workbook comes with the Colloquial 3 pack in the Zapp! English all-in-one course, alongside the workbook for every other episode.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio free?

Yes. All the English conversations are free to download. The workbook with the glossary, exercises and answers is part of the €39 all-in-one pack.

Is the conversation scripted?

The conversation isn't — that's why Tom answers "Arse?" and has to apologise. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level is this?

Level 3, from the Colloquial 3 pack. You'll want a reasonable grasp of future forms already, because the focus is idiom and register rather than grammar.

Can I use these expressions at work?

Be careful. The glossary rates pigs might fly, when hell freezes over and not in a million years as level 2 — best kept for informal situations with people you know well. On the cards, in the nick of time and a bright future are safer in most company.

How long is it?

16 minutes 27 seconds, split into two guessing rounds with a pronunciation drill after each.

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