Thought this sentence was interesting: "An enigmatic politician with strong convictions, Mr Obama in many ways resembled the driven young spirits that venture

Thought this sentence was interesting: "An enigmatic politician with strong convictions, Mr Obama in many ways resembled the driven young spirits that venture capitalists love to take a punt on." I bet in British-English it comes out right, but in reference to American Football, 'taking a punt on' would mean passing on these driven young spirits and not backing them. Ahh linguistics