fat chance

Practically no chance at all. Although fat in this context means “good,” the term is always used ironically to mean hardly any oppor- tunity. A slangy Americanism of the twentieth century, it was used by P. G. Wodehouse in Laughing Gas: “A fat chance, of course. I should have known his psychology better.” For synonyms, see CHINAMAN’S CHANCE; SNOWBALL’S CHANCE.