Full transcript of “AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS: fat chance of that, out of whack, take a stab at, EVERYDAY AMERICAN ENGLISH”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 Hello and welcome to English for everyone where we practice real life American English. Today we're going to learn a confusing expression. So let's get started. Today we're learning this expression fat chance. And what does it mean? There's a good chance. No, it means the opposite. It means there's very little chance. It's not likely to happen. It probably won't happen. Fat chance. But we don't say anything before it. We don't say there's a fat chance. We just say fat chance. Maybe you can hear Yeah. Yeah. Fat chance. And sometimes you hear something after it. You can hear fat chance of fat chance of that happening or just fat chance of that. Let's hear some examples. >> Fat chance. >> Yeah. Fat chance after what happened last night.
0:46 >> Fat chance. >> Fat chance of that. Huh? >> A fat chance of that out here. >> Fat chance would get past that army of tuxedos. >> Ruthie a fat chance. So, example, I ask you, do you think I could become president of the United States? And you respond, fat chance or fat chance of that. Let's practice. Do you think I could become president of the United States? That's right. Fat chance. It probably won't happen. So, remember, if you hear fat chance, it doesn't mean it probably will happen. It means it probably won't happen. Today we're learning this expression out of whack. Pronunciation. When you hear out of the t changes to a fast d. So you hear out of out of out of
1:34 whack. And sometimes we pronounce the sound vv out of and sometimes we don't. So you'll hear out of out of whack or out of whack. Both pronunciations are fine. And what does it mean? It means when something is not right. It's mixed up. It's out of balance. It's not lined up correctly. And we use the verb to be. Something is out of whack. Example, she stays up at night on her phone. So during the daytime, she likes to sleep. She's very tired. So I can say her sleep schedule is out of whack. Let's hear some examples. >> Your eyebrows start growing all out of whack. >> Next thing you know, you got my cycle's all out of whack. >> You don't have cycles. They say his
2:19 stomach's out of whack and they need him for a couple of days. >> That they were out of whack and I had to help him rebalance them. >> It's all out of whack. Everything's up, but everything's down. >> It just seems to me that everything's out of whack. >> Mhm. >> I think, you know, the man has got his priorities all of whack. You know, let's practice. Is her sleep schedule out of whack? That's right. Her sleep schedule is out of whack. Pronunciation of whack. Use the open a sound like black cat. Whack. Her sleep schedule is definitely out of whack. She sleeps during the day and she's awake at night. That's mixed up. It's out of whack. And I can use the verb throw. If something causes it, I
3:06 can use throw. She stayed up all night on her phone and that threw her sleep schedule out of whack. The verb throw in the past threw. When she stayed up all night, that threw her sleep schedule out of whack. Let's hear some examples. >> If she gives birth to a baby that would have died in that car crash, >> a brand new soul that was never part of death's design, it throws the whole list out of whack and we start over with a clean slate. >> She throws the whole thing out of whack. Can't you see it? >> Throws everything else out of whack. >> Let's practice. When she stayed up all night on her phone, did that throw her sleep schedule out of whack? That's right. That threw her sleep
3:52 schedule out of whack. Another example, he lives in a bad neighborhood. It's a dangerous neighborhood. And he bought a brand new car. He spends all his money on his new car, but he lives in a dangerous neighborhood. I can say his priorities are out of whack. He should spend his money to find a nice place to live somewhere safe. This is your first priority. A new car. That shouldn't be your first priority. But it's his. So, I can say his priorities are out of whack. They're all mixed up. So, he lives in a dangerous neighborhood because he doesn't want to pay more for rent, but he spends all his money on his new car. So, are his priorities out of whack?
4:41 That's right. His priorities are out of whack. Today, we're learning this expression. Take a stab at something. First, let's talk about stab. Stab is not normally a noun. A stab. This is not normal. Normally, stab is a verb. You stab someone with a knife. Somebody stabbed him. He was stabbed with a knife. This is the normal use of the word stab. It's a verb. But when I say take a stab at something, it means you're trying something. Something you're not sure about. Maybe you've never done it before. You take a stab at it. You try it. You try to do it. Let's hear some examples. >> Okay, let me take a stab at this one. >> Grant took a stab at the bomb side. Is >> that right? Were you trying to take a
5:28 stab at Wall Street? >> Well, we can at least take a stab at it, huh? Now, when we start off again, why don't we see if we can't sort a shape up? Huh? >> Take a stab at it. >> Take a stab at it, shall we? Oh, yeah. I got it. >> Example, she's never written a poem before, but she's going to try to write a poem. There's a poetry contest at school. And she's going to try to write a poem for the contest. She's never done it before, so I can say she's going to take a stab at it. Pronunciation. Take a stab at it. The T in at is a fast T because it's between vowels. Add it. Add it. Add it. She's going to take a stab at it. The T in it is a stop T. It's at the end after a vowel. It it. Not it, but it. She's going to take a stab at it. If I use a verb, I have to use a
6:15 gerand. I can say she's going to take a stab at writing a poem. Writing. We hear the T in writing as a fast D because it's between vowels. Writing. She's going to take a stab at writing a poem. She's never done it before, but she's going to try. She's going to take a stab at it. Let's practice. She's never written a poem before, but she's going to try to do it. Is she going to take a stab at it? That's right. She's going to take a stab at it. Is she going to take a stab at writing a poem? That's right. She's going to take a stab at writing a poem. Now, let's practice with the verb stab. Did somebody stab him?
7:03 That's right. Somebody stabbed him. In the past, we say stabbed. Somebody stabbed him. Let's practice with passive voice. Was he stabbed with a knife? That's right. He was stabbed. He was stabbed with a knife. he needs to go to the hospital. It's serious. So, remember the expression, if you take a stab at something, it means you try it and you're not really sure if you can do it. You just take a stab at it.
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