What are the chances/ What are the odds.

[Ashraful Haque]

I often hear one of my Indian friends say 'what are the odds' even though I don't quiet understand what it means. According to a dictionary it means 'how likely do you think it is that (something will happen or something is the case.' Here is an example sentence:

"That new intern is a nightmare. What are the odds she screws up another order?"

Is it something like 'what are the chances of something?' I tried looking up 'what are the chances' but couldn't find anything. Last January I went to Singapore Universal Studios and while in the line for a ride I asked one of the staff:

"Excuse me. What are the chances of getting wet on this ride?"

Do both 'what are the chances' and 'what are the odds' mean the same thing?

 

[emsr2d2]

I often hear one of my Indian friends say 'What are the odds?' [STRIKE]even though[/STRIKE] but I don't [STRIKE]quiet[/STRIKE] quite understand what it means. According to a dictionary it means 'How likely do you think it is that no bracket here something will happen or something is the case?' Here is an example sentence:

"That new intern is a nightmare. What are the odds she screws up another order?"

Is it something like 'What are the chances of something?' I tried looking up 'What are the chances?' but couldn't find anything. Last January, I went to Singapore Universal Studios and while in the line for a ride I asked one of the staff:

"Excuse me. What are the chances of getting wet on this ride?"

Do both 'What are the chances?' and 'What are the odds?' mean the same thing?

Please note my corrections above. It's important to capitalise and punctuate quoted sentences correctly. Your friend doesn't say it even though you don't understand it. That makes it sound as if he knows you don't understand it and says it anyway.

Note that, in this context, it's really a rhetorical question, meaning "I think it is highly likely that ...".

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Yes.More or less, yes.

One more question. When I asked the staff at Universal Studios "What are the chances of getting wet on this ride" she smiled and replied "Fifty percent." She had a very good reason to say that because the ride plays tricks on you and makes you think that you'll get wet but it's actually perfectly timed so you don't really get wet even though you expect to.

When we use the word 'chances' are we asking for percentage?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

One more question. When I asked the staff at Universal Studios "What are the chances of getting wet on this ride" she smiled and replied "Fifty percent." She had a very good reason to say that because the ride plays tricks on you and makes you think that you'll get wet but it's actually perfectly timed so you don't really get wet even though you expect to.

When we use the word 'chances' are we asking for percentage?

No. You're just asking how likely something is.

So the answer you get might be a percentage, and it might be something else.