Fat and slim are opposites. Make it make sense.

  • Routhinator@startrek.website
    12·
    2 days ago

    Full sayings:

    • slim chance
    • fat chance in hell

    The “in hell” gets dropped from fat chance making the colloquialism confusing.

    This is similar to the “blood is thicker than water” shortening of “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”, people who have always heard the first one often use it as an argument for " family sticks together "; when the saying really means the bonds we form of our own choosing are stronger than any presumed by family.

  • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
    16·
    2 days ago

    Fat chance is ironic, slim chance is not. it’s just that nobody uses fat chance in a non sarcastic manner.

  • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
    7·
    2 days ago

    Fat Chance is pretty much always sarcastic. However most other common sarcastic phrases are also used sincerely, so it’s actually kind of unique. You could say Phat Chance though which would probably be sincere.

  • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
    80·
    3 days ago

    The phrase “fat chance” was likely originally used sarcastically. A quick search doesn’t show any consensus, though.

      • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
        1·
        2 days ago

        Sort of–but given that “fat chance” really only has one meaning today, I wouldn’t call it sarcasm really. For sarcasm, I think it would have to be able to be interpreted two different ways.

      • SethranKada@lemmy.caEnglish
        7·
        3 days ago

        That ones slightly different though, because that “yeah” means “OK” or “uh”, not “yes” in this context. Its just a way to give your brain extra time to think of a response.

        pedantic, yes, but I enjoy that

  • Asetru@feddit.org
    56·
    3 days ago

    Not a native speaker, but I always interpreted fat chance to have an ironic undertone. So… literally it’d mean the opposite, but it’s never used literally.

    • BougieBirdie@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      10·
      3 days ago

      I read it this way too. It’s like how your biggest friend might be nicknamed Tiny

      I don’t know that you can pin down the origin, but a quick search suggests it was early 20th century American English. That makes sense to me, it sounds like the sort of slang I’d hear in an old gangster movie

      If you updated the slang for modern times I don’t know if it would have the same impact. If somebody told me I had a dummy thick chance, I’d think my odds are pretty good

  • Seb the goblin@lemmy.world
    37·
    3 days ago

    According to this stackexchange:

    fat chance is like a cynical no chance:

    You think you can win the lottery? Fat Chance.

    slim chance is when there is a small possibility. It does not infer any hidden meaning.

    Even though I did not study, there is a slim chance that I will pass the test.

  • expletivedeleted@lemmy.zip
    3·
    2 days ago

    A fat chance means the odds are so wide it would be impossible. Like, you have so many slim chances at once on different factors for it to remotely work.

    A slim chance means the odds are tight but there is an actual chance on a single factor.

    One slim chance is better than 40 slim chances focused on a single goal, so fat chance.

    When I use slim chance, I actually will try it if it isn’t going to work and it wouldn’t hurt to try.

    Fat chance means you shouldn’t bother to try it. The stars would have to perfectly align.

  • Diddlydee@feddit.ukEnglish
    21·
    3 days ago

    They don’t mean the same thing as I understand them. Slim chance means there’s a chance but fat chance means practically no chance.

    • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Depends on context. “Slim chance” might technically allow for a small chance, but a lot of the time it’s used, it’s used to indicate that the speaker considers there to be no actual chance. Like if you say “That’s probably not gonna work” you probably actually mean “I believe that is going to not work”.

      But this discussion is interesting, because I’d imagine “fat chance” only came about as a sarcastic way of saying slim/no chance. I’m pretty sure it’s like “disgruntled” where nobody is actually gruntled. Language is delightful. :)