Zapp! English Colloquial Podcast 3.17 - Chance & Probability

It's a hot morning, we're sitting on the beach, and Katie asks Tom to guess an informal word for lucky. He tries "You're so lucky?", then "You're so fortunate?", then offers fluky — which works, just isn't the one she has in mind. The answer is jammy. That's the shape of the whole episode: ten colloquial expressions for chance and probability, pulled out of a real conversation one guess at a time.

What you'll hear in this episode

Katie opens with "I'm at the beach, with Thomas." Tom's reply — "Hello, morning. Very hot day. Very nice on the beach!" — sets the tone, and the weather comes back later as an example: "The odds are there will be blue skies today."

The first half builds from jammy. Together they work out what it implies: not just luck, but "a bit envious" and, as Tom puts it, that "the person may not have completely deserved whatever they've got". Football and tennis supply the examples — a lucky goal, a winning shot off the edge of the racquet.

Then come four expressions using the word chance. Tom nearly gets there with "a chance in hell?" before Katie prompts him for the animal. There's a nice honest moment when he admits "Sometimes when you focus on these expressions…" you stop being sure whether you use them at all. They discuss a fighting chance — Tom estimates "maybe there's twenty five percent chance" — and in with a chance, and finish with the very informal request Any chance of…?

The second half covers no chance, fat chance, the odds are, against all odds and I wouldn't bet on it. Tom throws in a bonus phrase of his own, "chance would be a fine thing", and Katie's reaction is immediate: "Oh that's a good one!"

Quick facts

What you'll learn

The most useful thing here is how unreliable the literal meaning of these phrases is. Tom says it himself: "Strange though, isn't it, because fat chance you would think it meant big chance…" — and then, "but it's actually the opposite." Fat chance means no chance. So does a cat in hell's chance, once you add the negative: he hasn't got a cat in hell's chance. Learning the fixed frame matters more than the individual words.

You'll also hear the fine gradations of possibility that native speakers use instead of percentages. A fighting chance is not the same as in with a chance, and Tom points out what the first one adds: "It implies with lots of effort, doesn't it?" Katie shows how the two can combine into he's in with a fighting chance.

Then there's register. Any chance of…? is described as "an informal polite way" of asking — polite, but not something you'd write in an email. And I wouldn't bet on it is a way of disagreeing with someone's plan without contradicting them outright.

Because this is real speech, you'll also get practice with hesitation, overlapping agreement and the way Tom's guesses trail off mid-phrase before Katie steers him back.

Vocabulary from the workbook

The glossary grades each expression 1 to 3 for how informal it is, with 3 meaning: "Don't use this with your mother-in-law!!!"

• to be jammy (1) – to be lucky, often the feeling is that this person doesn't deserve to be lucky.
• fluky (1) – lucky, unexpectedly lucky. Tom's first successful guess.
• a git / a sod (3) – slang for an annoying person – an insult. Heard in you jammy git and he's a jammy sod.
• a cat in hell's chance (2) – no chance.
• to have a fighting chance (1) – there is a chance to win, but it won't be easy.
• Any chance of… (2) – Is there any possibility of…?
• to be in with a chance (1) – to have a possible opportunity.
• Fat chance! (2) – no chance.
• The odds are… (1) – the chances are / it is likely that…
• against all odds (1) – if you do something against all odds you succeed in an almost impossible situation.
• I wouldn't bet on it (1) – I don't think it will happen.

In the workbook

The workbook for unit 17 opens with a short introduction reminding you that these expressions are for friends, not formal situations. It then gives you the full transcript of both conversation tasks, so you can go back and see exactly where Tom guessed wrong and how Katie nudged him.

Two Meaning and Pronunciation sections turn the expressions into drills: a question is asked, you answer, and you repeat after the beep. You'll practise lines such as Any chance of a cup of tea?, He's got a fighting chance, He hasn't got a cat in hell's chance and Against all odds he beat the competition.

The Extra Materials section contains the graded glossary, then two practice exercises. In the first you rearrange scrambled words into five sentences — one of them ends up as He's such a jammy sod. In the second you match five sentence openings to five endings, including Any chance of… with you asking him for me? Full answers are supplied at the back.

This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack, €39 for every unit across the whole series.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio scripted?

The conversations between Katie and Tom are unscripted — the guessing game is genuinely happening as you hear it. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

Do I need the workbook to follow the episode?

No. The audio works on its own, and Katie repeats each expression in context. The workbook adds the transcript, the graded glossary and the written exercises.

Why does fat chance mean no chance?

Tom raises exactly this objection in the recording. It's an ironic fixed expression: the form sounds positive, the meaning is flatly negative. Learn it as a whole phrase.

What level is this?

Level 3, from the Colloquial 3 pack. You'll want to be comfortable following two people talking at natural speed, with interruptions and unfinished sentences.

How many expressions are covered?

Ten main expressions across the two halves, plus a few extras that come up naturally, including fluky and chance would be a fine thing.

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