fat

Hi Taka,

I have to tell you, I admire your question. Native speakers tend not to notice these little quirks of the language.

Slim chance means very little chance, almost no chance. It's also acceptable in formal English.

fat chance means no chance, so the meaning is not quite the same. It's for informal English on

Hmm...an irony. Interesting.

So, getting back to the topic here (), isn't it possible to use 'bad' in 'a bad effect' as an irony, meaning something positive?

Here is a copy of that original question:

That movie influenced the audience badly.

I don't think that 'badly' necessarily means something negative. Maybe, depending on its context, it could be 'influence strongly', right?

So if the sentence was 'That movie had a bad influence on the audience,' c

Or how about 'unsuccessfully', in the sense that the film-maker had little or no success in making the desired impact on the audience?

Like 'He sings badly'.

Clive

My book says 'influence X badly/be influenced badly' is rarely used, perhaps because it's ambiguous between 'strongly' and 'negatively.'

Is it true?

Possibly, Taka. Badly as an amplifier tends to appear with certain verbs more often-- I badly need a drink!-- and it is sometimes a mere matter of placement that will clarify the ambiquity. But often, placement doesn't really help too much:

I badly misspoke myself.
I misspoke myself badly.

But I still cannot read influenced strongly into ei