AEE: No Dice! Fun Ways to Say Something Didn’t Work

This is the All Ears English Podcast. No dice. Fun ways to say something didn't work. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.

Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl. coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.

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When something doesn't work out, what can you say in a more lighthearted way without being too serious? Find out how this phrase maintains the connection today.

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Hey, Lindsay, how are you? I'm feeling good, Michelle. How are you? How's it going? Everything is good over here. Lindsay, is it easy to find parking where you live?

Yeah, no, not really. It's tough because I live in a neighborhood where a lot of people don't have a garage. And so there's a lot of street parking that happens. So it can be tricky.

But we actually have, we do have a garage, so we don't have to worry about it too much. So we're lucky. Yeah. What about you? No problem. When I used to live in the city.

Yeah. Forget it. Oh, gosh. I mean, I just remember circling and circling. Yeah. With Dan and then you have to park further away. But now, certainly it's much easier.

Yeah. But yeah, in the States, if you don't live in a big city, you drive a lot. And so depending on where you're going, parking can be tricky. Yes. But yeah, sometimes it can just feel like, all right, you circled around again and then you just go, no dice.

I know you really, no dice. Yeah. So yeah, when you try to find parking, you have no luck, say no dice, right? So I can say to you, hey, Michelle, any luck finding parking?

Yeah. no dice. Yeah. So are you talking about like playing a game, like a gambling game here? What are we talking about here? So yeah, no. Today we're talking about how to use this no dice and daily conversation.

And it's not just for parking. It's for any casual situation. To me, this is a really fun phrase to learn because it's an easy way to build connection. It's playful.

It's really about luck or not really so much being lucky, right? Right, right. Because it's more often used, it's really just used in the negative, right?

You don't ever say dice? No. No. So it's really not not being lucky. No, you wouldn't. It's only no dice. Right. So it's like saying you didn't get what you were looking for, didn't get what you were hoping for.

right? Yeah, but it's kind of a little bit lighthearted. It's a little relatable. So even if you're in an unlucky situation, it's a little on the lighter end.

Yep, totally. So we're going to get into this one today. We love giving you guys these supernatural expressions you probably never learned in school or in your dictionary or any other app or podcast.

We're getting into them here on the show. First, though, make sure you hit the follow button on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or if you're on YouTube, hit subscribe so you don't miss a single one of these episodes. All right. Exactly.

Yes. So, Lindsay, where does this phrase come from? Well, it was originally about gambling. We looked into it a little bit. So in dice games, if the roll wasn't what you wanted, you could say no dice, right?

But then, of course, it expanded to be a common everyday saying. I love thinking about etymology of words, Michelle. Yeah, it's really, really interesting. Yeah.

So, I mean, dice, of course, we all know dice there with the... Lindsay, is dice plural or singular? Yeah, I think so. I think die is the singular. Isn't that right?

Am I wrong? Yep. Okay, good. As far as I know, it's die and dice. Yeah. Roll the dice. But I don't – like when you're playing – if you're playing a game and – do you ever say like, give me the die?

Not really. Not really. Everyone just kind of says dice. I mean – Everyone kind of says dice. It sounds like a little like hoity-toity like, oh, can I have the die?

Right. No, no. No. Yeah. Yeah. But so how can we use no dice? Well, it's casual. So we're not going to use it for professional situations. Maybe if your boss asks you how that sales conversation went and it just totally fell through and it was a high stakes scenario, you might avoid it there.

Yeah. Or serious or emotional topics like health or relationship issues. Let's say you go back for like a scan or something as a bad result. It's too heavy.

This is too heavy, those topics, right? I mean, you could use it at work if it's, you know, more in your lighthearted, you know. Yeah. But not a very serious situation.

And it depends, of course, on your company culture and your relationships with everyone. But yeah, this in general, it's for lighter topics. It's basically like saying I tried something and it didn't work or I'm not going to get it. Right.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And other things you might say, no success. So, for example. Well, I mean, this is what like another kind of meaning. Right. It's just like it's no success.

Right. So. Yes. Um, did you get ahold of her? No dice. So I did not have success. Right. These are all the men of all the different like iterations of the meaning of no dice.

How about no luck? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Any luck finding your keys? No dice. Okay. Okay. Or if something didn't work, right? Yeah. I mean, did your computer finally work once you restarted it?

No dice, right? Oh, no. Yeah. I mean, and it can also be used, it doesn't have to be just if somebody's asking you the question. You might just say something like...

Oh my gosh. And today was like with storytelling. This is really good. Oh, I was trying. And then, um, Lindsay, you mentioned you almost got locked out of your apartment today.

Um, you know, so you could, I mean, you could say, and I was, I was putting the keys in and it was just every, I was trying everything, but no dice. No dice. Exactly. Right.

Yeah. That would be a great example. Uh, the, the little keypad stopped working cause the battery died. So I was standing out there, I was looking at my dog and I'm thinking we might be spending the day in the hallway.

Um, Wait, so what ended up happening? Luckily, my parents-in-law had a key in a lockbox right behind us. So yeah, very smart. So I was able to just get the key and get into the house.

But I was panicking for a minute there. My dog was too. Kiefer, he was like... whining he was hungry yeah um so but yeah this is great for storytelling um yeah and it can also be used for something that's just not allowed so like you asked you were told no or you already know it's not allowed from previous experience right so for example can we bring outside food into the theater

No dice. Yeah. So who would say that? And that would that be like a friend? You're asking a friend or would it be like, like a person working at the theater?

Just so we know the perspective there. I personally think, I don't think that the person working at the theater would say this, right? If it's a theater, maybe if it's a sports game, a little bit more casual, something like a theater, I feel like they would say, Oh, sorry. Right.

And that goes along with that episode we did about like something just isn't allowed. Right. Right. Right. So or something is impossible. But this would be more OK.

I've been at this theater before. You're asking me. And then I might say no dice and I might expand and say something like I wish we could. But no dice.

They've yelled at me about it. Right. Right. Right. This place is especially strict. So sorry. No. Right. Right. Right. Or maybe you're talking to your spouse.

Right. Can she watch the movie? No dice. She's too young. Right. So maybe one spouse has a very strong perspective on that. Right. Right. Yep. Exactly.

Yeah. That is a tricky thing. You know, what movies you can show your kids. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. If you're ready to start your business, start your business.

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You can find your period of 1 euro per month on Shopify.eu. All right. So let's talk about alternative phrases. No luck. I think our listeners have figured out that this is an alternative, right?

This is neutral, casual, a little less playful, but maybe it's softer than no dice. Maybe no dice has a bit of a... harder edge to it maybe potentially it's a little bit more blunt but it's still playful so it's kind of interesting yeah yeah it's kind of a unique expression so how's the job on going no luck so far right right so of course you could have said there no dice so far i guess i don't know if it goes with so far i think no dice period right um

It's like it stands on its own, that phrase. Yeah. But no luck so far is a good alternative. Any luck with the Wi-Fi? No luck. I just can't get it to work.

All right. And did you find a seat? No luck. What about no-go? Is that another thing we could say, Michelle? Yeah, that's another good one. So that, yeah, not allowed or not possible.

So it's more matter of fact, not quite as playful, but also really useful. So were you able to book a later flight? That's a no-go. yeah yeah um or can we park here no go or can you come out tonight no go i'm absolutely exhausted yeah i like to say that's a no-go it feels yeah that's a no-go same here yeah i i like that too i don't know i don't know that i would say like just no go but it's possible in some contexts

Yep. All right. So should we do a role play? Yeah. So here, Michelle, we are friends and we're trying to make last minute dinner plans. So we're going to try a few things here.

You ready? Okie dokie. Hey, any luck making a reservation for tonight? No dice. Everywhere is fully booked, unfortunately. What about that new place by yours?

Oh, no luck either. They're not answering their phone. Okay. So should we just grab takeout from that Chinese place and eat at mine? No go. It's actually closed today.

Wow. It sounds like tonight is not our night. I know. I say we just call it and try again next week. Agreed. Oh, there's so much good stuff in this role play.

Yeah, there's a lot of interesting things going on. Yep, I was thinking the same thing. So we'll focus here on our pieces for today. So yeah, you said, you know, any luck making a reservation?

And I said, oh, no dice. And I mean, it didn't work. I could not get us a reservation, right? Yes. And then you said, what about that new place by yours, which is...

Do you want to make a comment on that? So this is something I think we're going to do another episode on for sure. So in this role play, we said both buy yours or eat at mine. We're talking about our homes, our places where we live, our apartments.

But I actually don't think that we say this that much. I think it might be more British, actually. I think it's... I've heard Australians say this more, actually.

I don't know if it's British or Australian or both. Probably both because they're kind of like there's some connection there for sure. Yeah, I think you're right. That's interesting.

But I think it's good if our listeners know it because it does cross over into American English sometimes. Yeah. So I said, no luck either. They're not answering their phone.

And I said, should we just grab takeout from that Chinese place and eat at mine? And you said, no go. It's actually closed today. We're just going to starve.

No, there must be somewhere. We'll figure it out, Lindsay. Yeah. yeah um so guys check out episode 2555 that was capture the connection when you agree with someone in english yeah and there was another good bonus in this role play too in the last line you said i know i say we i say we just call it and try again next call it right so this could be an episode in the future michelle guys hit follow if you want to catch this ways of sort of saying you're going to give up

Right? Right? Call it. You know, let's declare a loss. I don't know. Well, you'll have to come up with what we're going to teach our listeners for that episode, but I know there's some good stuff.

Exactly. Exactly. Um, so yeah, takeaway for today is just, um, yeah, these are some really useful expressions. No dice. We talked about how useful it is.

Um, and yeah, sometimes things unfortunately just don't work. Sometimes things don't work out. And that's what this episode is about. It's nice though, if you can, I mean, these are scenarios that you can get pretty frustrated, especially the parking example is a good example.

Yeah. And especially if you don't know the person well, you want to maintain the connection. No dice is a way to like maybe hide your frustration a little bit. Yeah.

Yeah. Right. And be a little less serious about it, which can be good to build a relationship, I think. Yeah, definitely. All right. I think we should leave it at that.

All right. Sounds good, Michelle. See you next time. Take care. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Bye, guys. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level?

Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.