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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

beat the chances

English answer:

beat the odds/increase your chances

Added to glossary by Yvonne Gallagher
Feb 12, 2014 14:46
10 yrs ago
4 viewers *
English term

beat the chances

English Art/Literary Other
I was translating an occasional rhyme this morning as part of a much larger chunk of prose, and this "beat the chances" fit right in as a tag line. Now, of course, the more standard way of saying it would be "beat the odds," but I googled the above and was quite surprised to get over 180K hits, of which by far not all appear to be non-native, accidental or machine-translated. Now, my question to you, proud owners of native English ears, is how natural this really sounds and how much of a stretch it would be to use this particular coinage. The translated rhyme tentatively came down to this, at least so far:

When dreams come true,
It is so fancy
To know that you
Beat all the chances.

Never mind the quality of the poetry itself, it actually sounds much murkier in the original. The writer isn't quite a man of letters.

Many thanks in advance. Any and all native opinions welcome.
Responses
3 +2 increase your chances
5 same as beat the odds
3 after all came through
Change log

Feb 14, 2014 15:55: Yvonne Gallagher Created KOG entry

Discussion

Václav Pinkava Feb 12, 2014:
US vs UK British English does not rhyme fancy and chancy/chances :)
Helena Chavarria Feb 12, 2014:
@The Misha From what I can see, either the expression is used to refer to lotteries and gambling (games of chance), or 'beat' is the end of one phrase and 'the chances' is the beginning of another. For example, 'apart from the electrical malfunction in its beat, the chances of me having a stroke...'.
The Misha (asker) Feb 12, 2014:
That was my original expectation too but here's what Goggle gives me where I sit:

https://www.google.com/search?q="beat the chances"&ie=utf-8&...
Helena Chavarria Feb 12, 2014:
When I google 'Beat the chances' I get results for 'beat the odds', 'chance at beating', etc. I'm a native speaker of English but I can't say I've heard 'beat the chances' very often, if at all.

Responses

+2
29 mins
Selected

increase your chances

not sure if this will work for you but really, "beat the chances" doesn't look/sound English to me and a lot of those ghits are bout a greyhound with that moniker!

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Note added at 32 mins (2014-02-12 15:19:18 GMT)
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or

IMPROVE your chances

not a direct synonym for "beat the odds" but close enough I think

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Note added at 34 mins (2014-02-12 15:21:34 GMT)
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When dreams come true,
It is so mighty
To know that you
Got the odds right.

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Note added at 35 mins (2014-02-12 15:22:26 GMT)
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I'm sure others will weigh in with more...

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Note added at 1 hr (2014-02-12 15:54:26 GMT)
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This one is better I think...

When dreams come true,
It's so sublime
To know you beat
The odds this time.


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Note added at 2 days1 hr (2014-02-14 15:56:27 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have helped
Note from asker:
Or better yet, "Came out alrighty":) Twisting the rhyme around isn't a problem, I can always come up with something else. I just wanted a second opinion - and you gave me one. Thanks.
Peer comment(s):
agree Tina Vonhof (X)
34 mins
Thanks Tina:-)
agree Helena Chavarria : I like your last suggestion (not that I'm an expert on poetry).
3 hrs
Thanks Helena:-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
41 mins

same as beat the odds

means overcoming improbability. That is, something is not likely to happen, but either by luck or skill (or a little of both), it happens anyway.

"Chance" and "Odd" are synonyms, see: http://thesaurus.com/browse/chance

In Probability Theory (Mathematics), both chance and odds are synonymously used.
Note from asker:
Thanks for your input, but did you even read my original question?
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

after all came through

I would suggest .. to keep the rhyme and the meaning

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Note added at 5 hrs (2014-02-12 20:17:33 GMT)
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without knowing the original

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Note added at 5 hrs (2014-02-12 20:21:18 GMT)
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came true

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Note added at 5 hrs (2014-02-12 20:22:06 GMT)
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with the multiple nuances it implies
Something went wrong...
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