Wild card

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kingfisher

#67831 Sat, 15 Jan 05 04:46 PM

Hi guys,

Would u do me a favor and explain the meaning of "wild card" to me?

I'd be very appreciative if you explain it in details and with examples. Although I found the meaning of it in many dictionaries but I could not really understand the meaning.

thanks

kingfisher

Joined on Mon, Dec 20 2004

Junior Member (56)

julielai

#67867 Sat, 15 Jan 05 08:10 PM

I've been following some skating competitions and Kostner has been referred to as the "wild card".

Reason: no one knows how well this "wild card" is going to do in this competition.
She may blow away the competition or she may bomb. No one can tell at this point.

julielai

Joined on Sun, Oct 24 2004

Planet earth

Senior Member (3,570)

Just another blogger (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/julie-lai)

maj

#67871 Sat, 15 Jan 05 08:13 PM

Do you mean she should keep a low profile?

maj

Joined on Mon, Mar 31 2003

Senior Member (4,756)

julielai

#67907 Sun, 16 Jan 05 03:06 AM

I don't know if she should. It's not for me to say and that's not what "wild cards" mean.

Wild cards are unpredictable because they can turn up to be "anything". In my example, Kostner can be 1st or last. She's definitely not the favorite, but she has the potential to "shake things up", so to speak.

Another example: there are "wild card spots" to the Olympics, right? In this case, we don't know who will get the spot, and that's why the spots are considered "wild cards".

Remember Scrabble? There are "blank tiles" that can substitute for any letter. They are the wild cards in the game.

julielai