The phrase "fat chance" was likely originally used sarcastically. A quick search doesn't show any consensus, though.
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2026
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I mean it still is used sarcastically, even if the user might not be aware of it.
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.
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.
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
Fat chance is sarcastic, slim chance is direct
Yeah, no.
......what? No, sorry, I was offering another example, not replying to your salient point. ;-)
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
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.
Plus language evolves organically and isn't always perfectly logical and consistent.
"Are you up for it?" and "Are you down for it?" both mean the same thing too
Things can burn up and down at the same time.
Gotta get up to get down
Because English is three languages in a trench coat pretending to be one language.
Not the origin of this. We can't just say that to everything related to English.
Of course you can say that. It'd be wrong, but you absolutely could say it. ;-)
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.
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. :)
Fat chance is ironic, slim chance is not. it's just that nobody uses fat chance in a non sarcastic manner.
because the persons who came up with those phrases were Biggie Smalls and FatBoy Slim
🎵Biggie Smalls is celibate in hell, celibate in hell, celibate in hell 🎵
They're not the same though. "Fat" chance carries lard/tallow which can burn, so it is flammable. "Slim" chance has no lards or greases to burn, therefore it is "inflammable". /s
Irregardless, it's confusing when opposites mean the same thing.
I'm only upvoting you through my narrowed eyes because I hate you so much. lol
Yes, for all intensive purposes.
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.
Slim chance is the objective way of expressing a low likelihood. Fat chance is a colloquial expression using irony. You say one thing but mean the opposite. It's more often used as just a quippy two-word reply.
Language doesn't make sense. When flammable and inflammable can mean the same thing, all bets are off. You cannot make sense of these things; you can only accept them.
Likewise, “all but impossible” sounds like the probability is anywhere above zero (0, 1]. Counterintuitively, what it really means is that it is actually very close to zero. So maybe something like [0, 0.1]. Should zero be included in this interval?
I could care less about this
You could, but apparently don’t.
wooosh?
Who knows really. Take it literally, and they probably care quite a bit. If not, the amount of caring is exactly zero.
So you care a lot?
Thanks!
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.
I think "fat" is sarcastic. At least that's how it reads to me.
Wait until you find out a grill utensil is called a spatula but a tool to mix baking ingredients is also called a spatula.
That's why I call the grill one a lifter. I work in an English speaking kitchen in a non English speaking country, so a lot of my coworkers believe me on things like this. I am also trying to get them to say pasghetti.
Because fat chance is said sarcastically
Fat and slim are both as far from the middle of the Gaussian;
This is how I felt when I tried to win an argument about 'deceptively deep' and found that usage was subjective and that 'deceptively shallow' could be used interchangeably
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.
"fat" ain't "good", brah. you gotta say "t h i c c"~
jokes aside, it's mostly answered by other good comments here.
fat chance is said sarcastically
They dont.
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