Revisited. It’s probably not escaped your notice that the royal baby is on its way. The British love a little flutter every now and again and we’ll bet on almost anything, yes – you’ve guessed it, even on the baby’s name. For weeks now punters have been placing their bets at the bookies aka betting shop.
Betting is so ingrained in our culture that a lot of common phrases use the term “bet” – here’s my top 5:
1. “Your/The best bet is to …” = “The best bet is to call him on his mobile” (to give advice)
2. “Do you want to bet?” = “Liverpool are bound to win.” “Do you want to bet?” (= I disagree, I don’t think they will.)
3. “My bet is that ..” = “My bet is that they’ve been held up in traffic.” (to give an opinion about what is likely to happen or to have happened.)
4. “I wouldn’t bet on it.” = “She’ll soon get used to the situation. I wouldn’t bet on it” (you do not think that sth is very likely)
5. “You can bet your bottom dollar on it/sth.” = “You can bet your bottom dollar that he’ll be late”. (You are certain that something will happen).
To bet (wetten), to escape one’s notice (von jdm unbeachtet bleiben), little flutter (kleine Wette), punter (Wetter), betting shop (Wettbüro), to be ingrained (tief eingewurzelt sein), to be bound to (happen) ((Praktisch)) vorpogrammiert sein), to be held up in traffic (im Verkehrsstau aufgehalten werden), to be likely (wahrscheinlich), to get used to sth (sich an etw gewöhnen)