Hi everybody, my name is Shawna and this is the American English Podcast.
My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States.
Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting.
Let's do it. Hello, hello, welcome back.
How are you? How's life? I hope you're doing well here in Asheville North Carolina where I live.
It feels like summer is turning into fall.
Just now, I had to put on a sweater because it's getting a little chillier.
And that's sort of exciting. I love sweater weather when you head out in the morning and it's crisp and cool. not quite as sweltering hot as it was a few weeks ago.
So every day we spend a bit more time outside, And of course, that puts me in a very good mood.
Just being outside in general is an immediate mood boost.
How about for you guys? Do you feel the same?
Anyway, as you know, for us, outside also means bears.
Not all the time, but pretty often we run into them when walking around the neighborhood.
Now, if you haven't heard in previous episodes, we live in the heart of the Appalachian Mountain It's an area where black bears thrive.
We spot them walking through our front yard. oftentimes in our backyard.
Sometimes they're climbing into trash cans on trash day.
And believe it or not, this week, something happened that inspired this two-part episode.
We had our car door unlocked. I don't know why. and we saw a bear climbing into the back seat of our car.
Can you believe it? Lucas thought it was Clara.
I don't know why Clara would be outside by herself.
Our daughter's only four years old going on five.
And he was yelling out the window, Clara, what are you doing?
And then suddenly a black bear came popped up over the door and was looking at him.
I honestly could not believe it was happening.
I tried to get my camera out because the video would have been really funny.
But we just missed him. He ran away into the neighbor's yard.
And that was that. In any case, there wasn't any food in our car, but recently in our neighborhood Facebook group, there have been messages about food.
The bears opening cars just to check. It's like they learned once that there was food in somebody's car and now they're just going around, pulling on the handles and trying to get in.
It's mind-blowing to me. These animals are so smart.
That bear in our car inspired part two of episode 198. which is going to be the survival story of Hugh Glass.
Maybe you know him. Or maybe you know Leonardo DiCaprio. playing Hugh Glass in the famous Hollywood film The Revenant.
Do you remember that scene where he fought a grizzly bear and, against all odds, lived to tell the story?
Yeah, it's true. I love this story and I'm sure you will too. because it's culturally relevant and it sheds light on life in the US during the 1800s.
So we'll get to that story next week. Be sure to stay tuned.
Today, we'll be going through the common English expression, against all odds.
And as usual with expression episodes, we'll start with a joke.
Then we'll go through examples. to help you feel comfortable using this idiom in daily life.
Finally, we'll wrap up with a pronunciation exercise.
If you would like the premium content for this lesson and all other lessons in Season 4, which is a total of 50, no, actually about 60 lessons total.
And you would like the transcript, so the written text for what I say. a comprehension quiz, flashcards, and a podcast reader to work on your pronunciation, and once again, that's for all of episodes in season four, then head to AmericanEnglishPodcast.com.
The season four link is also in the episode notes.
Check it out. There are just a few more episodes until 200.
And so this is your last chance to get it at the discounted rate.
So let's go ahead and get started. As usual, we'll start with the joke.
Are you ready? Why don't bears wear shoes?
Any idea? Because they love their bare feet.
Do you get it? This is a play on words, or what we call a pun.
The word bear in English, bear, A-R-E means without covering.
So if you have bare feet, it means you're not wearing shoes. or socks.
I often yell at my daughters when they go outside, why are you walking barefoot?
Put on some shoes. Bear sounds just like the word bear, bee.
They're pronounced exactly the same. And B-E-A-R is, of course, that big animal that lives in the forest.
Think of Winnie the Pooh. Do you remember him?
He wears the little red shirt and loves honey.
Bears, of course, have feathers. feet. So bare feet help them walk.
Technically, they're paws and they have claws.
But to simplify, we can just call them feet.
Bare feet. So the joke works because bare feet without shoes and bare feet, the animal's feet, sound exactly the same.
These are called homophones, so words that sound the same, but they have different meanings and spellings.
So let's hear the joke one last time. Why don't bears wear shoes?
Because they love their bear feet. I like that one.
I'll definitely tell it to my daughters later to see if they understand it.
Sometimes at their age six and four going on five, It's necessary for me to explain expressions in all idiomatic language.
I feel like their English level is also at a high intermediate level.
Sometimes they make the exact same mistakes as English learners.
So just know you're not alone. So let's move on to the expression of the day against all odds.
Let's first break this idiom into pieces.
Against? means in opposition to or in conflict with.
For example, the rebels fought against the army.
My chair in my office right now is leaning against the wall, right?
It's up against it. It's pressing on it.
It's another way you can use against. All means everything.
100%. So last night at dinner, we had mashed potatoes and Clara ate all her mashed potatoes without complaining.
And then odds, well, that means the chances or likelihood of something happening.
And it comes from gambling. The odds of winning the lottery are extremely low.
But people still buy tickets. When we say against all odds, it means someone succeeds even though almost nobody believed it was possible.
In other words, in spite of everything, or despite all the difficulties...
When the chances of success were almost zero, zip! nada, they still succeeded.
All right? So if something happens against all odds, it's surprising.
Because the person or group was expected to fail.
Maybe because there were too many challenges or obstacles.
He succeeded against all odds. In spite of everything, he succeeded.
Now what's the etymology or the origin of the phrase against all odds?
Where did it come from? The word odds comes from the word odd, just like in numbers.
1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are odd numbers. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. are even numbers.
So odd originally meant uneven or not equal.
There was a lack of balance. By the 1600s, the meaning shifted into probability and chance, especially in betting and gambling. if you say the odds are three to one, it means that You're expected to lose three times for every one time you win.
In other words, you probably won't win because the odds are against you.
The chances are against you. From there, the phrase against all odds grew naturally.
Now today, it's very common In survival stories?
In sports? In horse racing? In gambling? and actually any situation that involves success and failure.
So let's go ahead and go through some more in-depth examples so that you feel more confident using it in discussion.
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So example number one, and let's start with the survival one because this really catches my attention.
So many years ago, there was a group of pioneers.
These pioneers, known as the Donner Party, got trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.
And they were in a snowstorm. They had practically no food, no warm shelter, and the temperature dropped well below freezing.
There were no rescue teams at the time, and given the circumstances, it was very unlikely that any of them would survive.
Yet, against all odds, some manage to endure the long journey. brutal winter by building fires and resorting to desperate measures like cannibalism.
Many of them became cannibals. It's a true story.
We talked about it in episode 27, so check that out.
But the point is, they survived against all odds.
In spite of all the obstacles they endured.
As we can see, literal survival stories work really well with this expression, but we can also use it when we experience very intense... personal challenges, business or financial struggles.
When the chances are high, that will fail.
But when we succeed, we can use this expression.
That brings me to example number two. Imagine a boy growing up in a poor neighborhood in Detroit.
His father left, his mother struggled, and he didn't do well in school.
Nobody thought this boy would go anywhere in life.
Now add that to the fact that he wanted to be a rapper and he was white.
Nobody believed a white kid could make it in hip-hop.
He faced rejection after rejection, but he didn't give up.
He kept writing lyrics, practicing every day, and performing in small clubs.
Eventually, he was discovered and signed by a famous producer named Dr. Dre.
Against all odds, Eminem became one of the most successful rappers in history.
Nobody believed he would make it. His success went against everyone's expectations.
In spite of many setbacks, he succeeded.
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I wonder how global he was. Do you guys remember listening to Eminem?
I sure do. Anyway, yeah, I like these success stories.
It really shows how someone can truly change their own life if they're willing to.
Take a minute and think of somebody that you know or somebody famous who succeeded against all odds.
Can you think of someone? So we talked about survival with the Donner Party.
We talked about Eminem and a personal success story.
And example number three, we're going to talk about sports.
So, and this is true, in 1980, during the Cold War...
The U.S. men's hockey team played against the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Now the Soviets were the best team in the world.
They had won almost every international game for 20 years.
The American team, however, was made up of young college players, and nobody thought they stood a chance.
They were what we'd call the underdog, the team that did not have a high probability of winning.
Yet, against all odds, the US beat the Soviets in one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
In the United States, it's still called the Miracle on Ice, and it's so legendary that Hollywood had to make a film about it.
It's called Miracle. So check it out if you're interested.
Once again, they won against all odds. So in sports, you'll hear this expression a lot.
Do you guys enjoy hearing about triumphant stories where people go from rags to riches?
And people succeed against all odds. Unexpected triumphs, in my opinion, make for wonderful movies, documentaries. podcast episodes.
It's why I talk about them a lot. Now, I find them both entertaining and inspiring.
And that's why I'd like to give you a few recommendations for other episodes I've already done.
Number one. Walt Disney in episode number 60.
Against all odds, Walt Disney went from being a broke artist to with a lot of rejection, to the creator of a global empire.
Once again, that's episode 60. In episode 70, we talked about Elvis Presley.
Against all odds... Elvis went from a poor Southern boy to being the king of rock and roll.
That was episode 70. So once again, episode 60 was Walt Disney.
70 was Elvis. Episode 27 was the Donner Party.
Against all odds, some members of the Donner Party survived one of the deadliest winters in the Sierra Nevadas.
In episode 180.2, I spoke about swimming from Cuba to Florida.
The epic irregular verb story of Diana Nyad?
And yeah, that was very entertaining. She swam without a shark cage. more than 100 miles in the open ocean, and lived to tell the tale.
Against all odds, she completed the swim after four failed attempts, proving it's never too late to chase a dream.
Then we had episode 100 and what is it? Let me check.
Episode 117. The survival story of Aaron Ralston?
Yeah, in 2003, while canyoneering in Utah...
Aaron became trapped under a boulder. After a few days, he made the choice to cut off his own arm and to escape.
Against all odds, Aaron hiked to safety and lived to tell his story.
As you can see, I like these types of stories.
I hope you check the other ones out. And stay tuned until next week.
We'll share the story of Hugh Glass. who was mauled by a grizzly bear.
He was abandoned by his friends. And then with broken bones and no supplies, the guy should have died, but he didn't.
He survived against all odds. Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless.
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See mintmobile.com. That brings me to the pronunciation practice.
Today, we'll use the phrase, I survived against all odds.
Repeat after me. I survived. I survived against all.
I survived against all odds. I survived against all odds.
Again, stall. Again, stall. Pay attention to that.
We'll get to that in a second. Now let's practice with subjects and different verbs.
Repeat after me. I succeeded against all odds.
You survived, against all odds. She made it, against all odds.
He thrived against all odds. We kept going against all odds.
They won against all odds. Notice how when speaking these at a natural pace, against all sounds like against all. native speakers smooth it out.
Because a vowel sound follows the T, it turns that T into a flap T. So it makes a very quick...
Sort of D sound. Listen closely. Against all odds.
Against all odds, she finished the marathon even though her leg hurt badly.
So that's today's expression, against all odds.
Once again, it means surviving. succeeding or achieving something when the chances of success are almost zero.
Can you think of a time in your life when you achieved something that was surprising or difficult?
Did you succeed against all odds? Try to create a sentence and share it with me on Instagram.
You can find me at American English Podcast.
And don't forget, next week we'll dive into the story of Hugh Glass' survival.
If you would like to prepare for that lesson, check out the movie The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio.
I mean, who doesn't like Leo? Or at least I do.
If you would like the transcript, word glossary.com. the quiz flashcards and the podcast reader for this episode, head to AmericanEnglishPodcast.com and sign up for premium content.
With season four, you'll get all of the bonus content for episodes 151 to 200.
We're reaching episode 200. really soon, which is the end of season four.
So sign up now to get that content before the price increases.
Now that's it for today. Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll see you in the next episode.
Bye. Thank you for watching. It's my goal here to not only help you improve your listening comprehension, but to show you how to speak like someone from the States.
If you want to receive the full transcript for this episode or you just want to support this podcast, Make sure to sign up to premium content on American English podcast dot com.
Thanks and hope to see you soon. Girls, do you want to hear a joke?
Yeah. Yeah. Why didn't the bear wear shoes?
Because he was barefoot. You knew that one?
It's got bear and then foot. And then it's like a bear.
Did you guess that? Why did you? I actually didn't.
No, I didn't know it. I just noticed that there was parents in both of them.
It was barefoot. That's cute, Julia. I'm glad you understood that.
