the.com/joker
the wild card who answers to no suit and ruins every careful hand
means A joker is a person who jokes, jests, or fools around — or the extra, suit-less card in a deck that can stand in for any other or trump them all.
from From 'joke,' which English borrowed in the 17th century from Latin 'iocus,' meaning a jest or game (the same root behind 'jocular' and 'jocose'). The card sense is younger and homegrown: the joker was added to the deck in 19th-century America, originally for the trick-taking game euchre, where it served as the highest trump — the 'best bower' — before card-makers gave it a grinning jester's face to match the name.
- card origin
- Americans invented it for the game euchre around 1860
- laughing disease
- pseudobulbar affect causes real uncontrollable, unprovoked laughter
- oscar gold
- Two actors won Academy Awards playing the same villain
- court jester
- Medieval fools could mock kings without losing their heads
joaquin phoenix's joker — 2019 standalone film that became highest-grossing r-rated movie ever with $1 billion worldwide
jack nicholson's batman joker — actor's 1989 tim burton film interpretation that became iconic for generation