Buckley’s chance

At work the other day I wanted to express in an email how unlikely it was that a proposal would be approved. So I naturally typed: you’ve got buckley’s and none of getting that through. Just as I was about to click send, I thought I’d test the expression out on a colleague. Blank stare. Slight giggle.

Allowing for the possibility that he was just too young to have heard it, I googled it. Nope, it’s a purely Australian expression. Something about a convict named William Buckley escaping into an Aboriginal community and nobody expecting him to survive. Then the ‘and none’ bit seems to have been added in relation to an old Aussie department store called Buckley and Nunn. Seemingly, neither of these events captured England’s attention.

That’s one weird thing about living away: you always have to watch your tongue if you want to be understood!