Word of the Day: Odds
Odds are I’ve mentioned before that I used to live in Australia.
When I did, one thing I noticed was that betting is quite popular in Australia. It’s almost a national pastime.
The Americans have baseball, and the Ozzies have the local TAB (Totalizator* Agency Board) or in other words, a betting shop.
There is a well-known joke that if two flies land on a table, Ozzies will bet on which one will take off first.
So what does this have to do with today’s word, odds?
Actually, everything. You see, odds are the probability that something will or will not happen.
When the proverbial Australian takes a bet on which fly will take off first, they are betting on the odds (probability) of one fly doing something before the other fly.
Generally speaking, that’s all that betting is – thinking about the odds.
Totalizator: a machine that shows how many bets are placed on a race and their value.