No chance whatever. The term dates from the latter half of the nineteenth century, when Chinese
immigrants came
to California
to help
build railroads. Their
presence
was sharply
opposed because
they
would
work
for far
less than
white workers.
“We are
ruined
by cheap labor,” wrote Bret Harte
in his
poem “Plain Lan-
guage from Truthful James.” According
to some authorities, the term applied
to those Chinese who tried to supplement
their earnings by working claims and streams abandoned
by gold
prospectors, a virtually hopeless
undertak- ing. Others, poet John Ciardi among them, believe it derives from the way they were regarded as virtually subhuman and had no legal recourse if, for
example, they were robbed,
attacked,
or otherwise
abused. It largely replaced the older not a dog’s chance, at least in America, but is now consid-
ered offensive. Also see FAT CHANCE; SNOWBALL’S CHANCE.
