Expression: A Shot in the Dark

黑暗中的一枪

American English Podcast

2025-12-11

21 分钟
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In today’s episode, we break down the common English expression “a shot in the dark,” which describes taking a guess or making an attempt with little to no information. You’ll hear where the idiom comes from, how people from the U.S. use it, and three real-life examples—from kids guessing ages, to ordering pintxos in Spain, to recreating Banana Kahlúa French toast (with no instructions!). We’ll also go over the joke of the day (“Why did the man take a ladder to the bar?”), cover some advanced terms and phrases, and finish with a pronunciation exercise focused on flap Ts. I highly recommend practicing them to sound more natural when speaking. At the end, I’ll challenge you to think of a moment when you took a shot in the dark. For the full transcript, glossary, and quiz, check out the Academy. Enjoy! Mentioned in the Episode The Academy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  • Hi everybody!

  • My name is Shauna and this is the American English Podcast.

  • My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States.

  • Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories,

  • I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting.

  • Let's do it!

  • we make guesses about the world around us.

  • We may guess what the weather will be like based on the color of the sky.

  • We might open the fridge at night and guess whether the pasta from two nights ago is still edible.

  • We might base that on the way it looks, the way it smells.

  • We do this sort of on the spot.

  • decision-making all the time.

  • And sometimes our guesses are based on past experiences or information,

  • like maybe there's mold or some stink to that pasta.

  • In other words, not good to eat.

  • Other times, our guesses are based on nothing.

  • Zip, nada.

  • When a guess has absolutely no foundation, no clues, no evidence,

  • no logic, we call that a shot in the dark.

  • Right now, if you asked me a question about quantum physics,