oddly, odds and odd are not the same thing

odd means eccentric or weird. like one of 2011′s hot new musical acts odd future

or the fairly odd parents

cosmo & wanda

or sheldon on big bang theory

an odd friendship.  and a horrible karaoke.

speaking of big bang theory, a few weeks ago on my ustream show we talked about an episode in which sheldon and dr beverly hofstadter (leonard’s mom) hit it off despite  leonard’s cold relationship with her.  sheldon expressed his surprise and pleasure by asking rhetorically

what are the odds that two individuals as unique as ourselves would be connected by someone as comparatively workaday as your son?

odds is not the plural of odd.  odds are probablities.

we saw the related expression, odds are,  on my show last week when we talked about a clip from the movie old school where will ferell‘s character describes his thoughts about the waitress’s unperpants at the olive garden

I happen to look over at a certain point during the meal and see a waitress taking an order, and i found myself wondering what color her underpants might be.  Her panties. Uh, odds are they are probably basic white, cotton underpants.  But I started thinking, well maybe they’re silk panties, maybe it’s a thong. Maybe it’s something really cool that I don’t even know about.

is it odd to wonder about a waitress’s underpants?

the expression odds are means probably or what probabilities indicate.