What is a Wild Card?
2022-10-01
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Katerina in Spain. She writes,
2Dear VOA,
3I have a question about something my American friend usually says.
4It is the... expression "a wild card."
5What does it mean? Thank you very much for your answer!
6Take care!
7Katarina
8Dear Katerina,
9Thank you for writing to us.
10This expression is like many that come to American English from card games, especially the game of poker.
11Each set of playing cards has two extra cards.
12These can take the place of lost or damaged cards.
13These cards are called "Jokers."
14They often have a picture of a clown-like person sometimes called a jester.
15In some card games, the "Joker" card is dealt to the players along with the usual kinds of cards.
16It serves as a "wild card" in the game.
17That means, if you have it in your hand, you can use it as any other card.
18Here is an example of how a player might talk about their use of a wild card in a game.
19I have three kings and one joker.
20I'll use the wild card as a king, so now I have four kings.
21But card games are not the only places you will hear the term "wild card."
22In sports, we use the expression for a team that is invited to compete for a championship.
23For example, in American football, the best teams play each other at the end of the season - in a series of games called "playoffs."
24A few teams that might not have the best records are invited to play against the top teams.
25It is possible, if the wildcard team is good enough, that it can win the championship.
26Here is an example showing how a wild card team won the championship of American football, the Super Bowl.
27In 2007, the New York Giants entered the playoffs as a wild card team, but they went on to beat the New England Patriots and win the Super Bowl.
28And, as you can probably guess, we use "wild card" to describe people as well.
29If a person is unpredictable, you cannot be sure of how they will act. Then you might say:
30My brother is a wild card when it comes to holidays - we never know if he is coming to our family dinners.
31Finally, in the world of computers, the term "wild card" describes a symbol that programmers use.
32It looks like a little star and is called an asterisk.
33It means anything can appear in that place.
34For example, if you want a computer to find all the words in a document that start with the prefix dis- so you can write a command: "Find dis*."
35The result will be a set of words like these: discover, discuss, dismiss, and the like.
36I hope this will help you to understand and even use the expression "wild card" yourself, Katerina.
37What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
38And that's Ask a Teacher.
39I'm Jill Robbins.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Katerina in Spain. She writes, 2Question: 3Dear VOA, 4I have a question about something my American friend usually says. It is the... expression "a wild card." What does it mean? Thank you very much for your answer! 5Take care! 6Katarina 7Answer: 8Dear Katerina, 9Thank you for writing to us. This expression is like many that come to American English from card games, especially the game of poker. 10Each set of playing cards has two extra cards. These can take the place of lost or damaged cards. These cards are called "Jokers." They often have a picture of a clown-like person sometimes called a jester. 11In some card games, the "Joker" card is dealt to the players along with the usual kinds of cards. It serves as a "wild card" in the game. That means, if you have it in your hand, you can use it as any other card. Here is an example of how a player might talk about their use of a wild card in a game. 12I have three kings and one joker. I'll use the wild card as a king, so now I have four kings. 13But card games are not the only places you will hear the term "wild card." In sports, we use the expression for a team that is invited to compete for a championship. For example, in American football, the best teams play each other at the end of the season - in a series of games called "playoffs." A few teams that might not have the best records are invited to play against the top teams. It is possible, if the wildcard team is good enough, that it can win the championship. 14Here is an example showing how a wild card team won the championship of American football, the Super Bowl. 15In 2007, the New York Giants entered the playoffs as a wild card team, but they went on to beat the New England Patriots and win the Super Bowl. 16And, as you can probably guess, we use "wild card" to describe people as well. If a person is unpredictable, you cannot be sure of how they will act. Then you might say: 17My brother is a wild card when it comes to holidays - we never know if he is coming to our family dinners. 18Finally, in the world of computers, the term "wild card" describes a symbol that programmers use. It looks like a little star and is called an asterisk. It means anything can appear in that place. For example, if you want a computer to find all the words in a document that start with the prefix dis- so you can write a command: "Find dis*." The result will be a set of words like these: discover, discuss, dismiss, and the like. 19I hope this will help you to understand and even use the expression "wild card" yourself, Katerina. What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com 20And that's Ask a Teacher. 21I'm Jill Robbins. 22Jill Robbins wrote this lesson for Learning English. 23______________________________________________________________________ 24Words in This Story 25asterisk - n. a small star-shaped symbol 26______________________________________________________________________ 27What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 28Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them.