Como falo em inglês: Qual a probabilidade de isso ocorrer?

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

Mar 17
Como falo em inglês Qual a probabilidade de isso ocorrer

Hi, all. No episódio de hoje, eu falo sobre uma coincidência enorme que aconteceu na minha vida na semana passada, e a expressão em inglês que fala da probabilidade de isso ocorrer.

Transcrição

Hey, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna tell you another story about something unusual that happened to me last week. I say “another story about something unusual” because we’ve already had at least one other podcast episode about… one of those coincidences that only happen once in a blue moon. So here we go. Check this out:

  • As most of you know, I live in London, in the United Kingdom.
  • Last week, my good friend Tiana came to London to participate in a training course.
  • Friday was going to be her last night in town. She wanted to go shopping after the course, which finished around 4pm.
  • I, on the other hand, had plans to go to a certain restaurant with a group of people.
  • The dinner was supposed to start around 7pm, and I invited my friend Tiana to join us after she was done shopping. I texted her the whereabouts of the restaurant Friday morning.
  • Now, keep in mind that Tiana doesn’t really know London. She’s not familiar with any particular neighborhoods.
  • So I’m at my dinner and it’s past 7pm and I haven’t heard from Tiana since morning.
  • It’s almost 8 now and I realize that I still haven’t heard from Tiana. That’s weird. Then, all of a sudden, I see her enter the room and walk towards me.
  • And then she says “You are not going to believe this. My phone’s battery died after lunch and I could only vaguely remember the name of the restaurant and the street.”
  • And then she proceeded to tell me how, after she was done shopping, she just started wandering the streets around the shops.
  • And after a few minutes, she saw a little alleyway and looked up to read the street sign that showed the alleyway’s name. She read it and thought “Wow, that sounds like the address Ana gave for that restaurant.
  • She decided to turn into the alleyway and after just a few steps, she looked to her left and saw a restaurant – the exact restaurant I was having dinner at.

OK, so that’s what happened. I mean, I knew that the restaurant was in a shopping district, but there are quite a few shopping areas in London and I had no clue my friend was going to end up in the same area I was in. And clearly, neither did Tiana! She thought what happened was amazing, unbelievable, incredible! And really, if we think about it, what are the odds?

What are the odds, what are the chances? What’s the likelihood, what’s the probability of that happening in a big city? So when I ask you “What are the odds?” I don’t really expect you to give me a numeric answer. This is an example of a rhetorical question. When we ask a rhetorical question, we’re not really looking for an answer. Rhetorical questions are more like figures of speech. An example in Portuguese would be “Tá pensando que eu sou bobo?” or something like that.

So that’s a rhetorical question: what are the odds of that happening? What are the chances? What are the odds…?

I’m sure you have at least one story in your life, something, some kind of coincidence that would call for that same question: What are the odds? So what is your example? What big coincidence happened in your life? Let us know in the comments, as always, and talk to you next time!

 

Keywords

  • what are the odds?

 

Glossary

after she was done shopping = depois que ela terminasse de fazer compras

I texted her the whereabouts = eu enviei a localização (endereço) a ela por mensagem de texto

wandering = andando sem rumo

alleyway = ruazinha, passagem estreita entre dois prédios

neither did Tiana = a Tiana também não tinha ideia

odds = chances, probabilidade

Ana
Natália 30/03/2014

Long time ago, my cousin had a small forró band that I loved. All parties that this band was playing, I was present. One day I called my cousin asking where they would play, but he said that unfortunately that day I couldn’t go because they would play at a private party. On the same day a friend of mine called me asking me to go on the birthday of a friend of ours. When I arrived at the party, it was they same party that they would play! It was the same private party. What a nice surprise! What is the odds???

Alexandre 24/03/2014

Once a friend of mine rented a van to watch a soccer game in other city, There was a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood that I for many years and we had never met. She told me her father knew my friend and they shared the expenses. At the stadium she sat beside me and then we started something. To make a long story short: We got married !!!! What are the odds?

    Ana Luiza 27/03/2014

    Great example, Alexandre!! What are the odds??

Sandro 20/03/2014

Good afternoon Ana,

Some months ago my friend invited me to going to a party. I didn’t know who was the host, but when I arrived there I found my colleague there was many years (about 10 years) since last time that we met.

What are the odds?

thanks!

    Ana Luiza 27/03/2014

    hahaha… Don’t you love when that happens?

Adrian Dias 19/03/2014

My coincidence case is that I was searching for a perfect site to improve my listening skills in english and the first one I found was just the best one I met: Inglês Online : )

    Ana Luiza 20/03/2014

    hehe… cool, Adrian :)

Hi Ana!

Nice podcast. I really love the words and expressions that you teach every time!

Please, keep the good job!

Thank you!

Raymundo de Jesus 18/03/2014

Aconteceu algo parecido comigo. Um dia, fui a Fortaleza e decidi visitar minha cunhada no seu trabalho, que eu
não sabia onde era. No momento em que eu ia atravessar uma rua ela estava indo para o trabalho e me
reconheceu.

Raymundo.

f

    Ana Luiza 20/03/2014

    Sim, é por aí mesmo: What are the odds?

      Raymundo de Jesus 20/03/2014

      Hi, Ana,
      Eu havia ido a Fortaleza-CE em uma excursão. Já morei lá no passado mas hoje posso dizer que não conheço
      mais ninguém por lá, além da minha cunhada e sua família. Eu ia visitá-la em seu trabalho, que eu não sabia onde era. Para encontrá-la teria que pedir informações. A coincidência é que eu estava justamente no lugar onde ela iria passar para o trabalho. Ela passou, reconheceu-me, e eu não tive o trabalho de procurar por ela.
      Raymundo.

      Ana Luiza 27/03/2014

      Another great example for… What are the odds??

      Raymundo de Jesus 23/03/2014

      Hi, Ana,

      The odds are the fact that I’d look for my
      sister-in-law but she’d found me instead.

      Raymundo

Fátima Regina 18/03/2014

Hello Ann! Good morning! How’s it going?

I understood your podcast. I don’t have example, because I don’t remember anything; it must have happened some coincidence in my life but I can’t remember now. Sorry Ann!

A hug!

    Ana Luiza 20/03/2014

    No problem. Next time, Fátima :)

    Ana Luiza 27/03/2014

    No problem! Post your example once you remember!

Sylvia 17/03/2014

Hi, Ana! I’ve lived a weird situarion like that. I live in a City about 300 km from Sao Paulo and I decided spend a weekend there. So I said to my doughter ( she was 21 years old) that I was going… And she said to me: “really? Ig, I’m going
to Sao Paulo a day after you, with a friend and we’ll stay in her father’s house… I din’t know well where ir is. By the way see you when we both back home”. For my surprise, in my last day in Sao Paulo I went ro have breack fast in a big grocery and few minutes after I came in, there was my doughter! As you know, Sao Paulo is one the biggest city in the world! Thats all!

    Ana Luiza 18/03/2014

    Wow, what are the odds??

Comments are closed