Wildcard, Wild Card, or Wild-Card?

Vanessa Obioha

Did you find yourself scratching your head on the correct way to spell ‘wild card’, the new twist introduced by Big Brother Naija? You are not alone. Not only were fans and viewers perplexed by the meaning of the twist, but they were also confused on how to spell it. Is the term spelt together, hyphenated or as a single word?

On Google trends, the ‘wildcard’ search by regions placed Nigeria in the fourth position with the leading query being ‘what is the meaning of wildcard in bbn?’

So, being a wildcard means gaining the opportunity to play in a game when they have not qualified in the usual way. In the ongoing Big Brother Naija Show, Maria and Pere were allowed to play in the house provided they masked their pseudo status from being discovered.

Eventually, both wildcards escaped elimination to become eligible contestants, vying for the N90 million prize money with the other 20 housemates. The live show ended, and everyone in the house moved on. Well, except for those of us who became confused as to how to correctly spell the compound word that was the hashtag of the day: Wild Card, Wildcard or Wild-card?

If you type the three words on your keyboard, you are likely to get a thumbs up from Mr Autocorrect. But that doesn’t in any way clear the fog. On the internet, every dictionary site adopted a different iteration but with the commonly used form being ‘wild card’. As it stood, a wild card is an amorphous compound word that assumes whatever form it pleases. It just doesn’t care if it’s hyphenated, torn apart, or glued together as one word. The other compound words must be seething at this privilege.

You can heave a sigh of relief now because irrespective of how you spelt it, you were right. For once, we can be grateful that the term is not as complicated as ‘mothers in law.’ Oops! It’s mothers-in-law.