Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 126. The noun phrase today is
game changer. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. A game changer is an event,
idea or new situation which causes a significant change in the state of a
situation. So it probably changed it to go in a completely different direction. Then
we say something is a game changer. The phrase is most often used in business or
politics now. Although, really it became more famous in sports. Okay. So let's
continue here. The origin may have appeared as early as the 1930s when
there were some attempts about changing the rules of the game of bridge. You know,
the card game. Those that were in favor of change were referred to as the
game changers. So this is where the term kind of came into use. Originally. There
were a number of events in which sports writers started to use this term,
especially in the 1980s and 1990s to refer to something that changed the
momentum and the results of games. So something, something happened. A
significant event happened in the game and suddenly you know, it looked like
this team was winning and now that team was winning. And it just completely
changed the whole feeling of the game and the results just went in a different
direction then. So we often say something is a game changer. So it did really work
its way into sports. The business world picked up the term from sports in the
1980s and it naturally worked its way into politics. Okay. Let's continue.The
phrase was commonly used during the 2008 political campaign of Obama versus McCain.
McCain , John McCain probably you know, we even heard it when even before that
when Obama was going against Hillary Clinton. That was a very competitive
contest just to see who was going to be the Democrat candidate at that time.
And you often heard about like this or that could be a game-changer. This or
that even though this may be a little important but it's not really a
game-changer. So this term was thrown around a lot at that time. It was often
mentioned if something could be a game-changer. After the Republican
primary (convention) you know, of Sarah Palin first came on the scene. And she did really,
really well to begin when she made some speeches and she impressed a lot of
people. And people were starting to have some question marks about Obama at that
time. And that for a very short time was kind of a game changer for a couple of
weeks. And it was the only time during that time that that McCain, John
McCain actually went ahead in the polls for you know, probably a couple of weeks
that's it. Then the media went on attack against Sarah Palin and a very serious one. It
was a very obvious one and then the financial crisis hit the banking ... More
banks went down and that was probably it. That was the final game changer. So you
had a game changer one way going in the Republican;s favor they went ahead for a
few weeks and then between the attacks of on Sarah Palin and the financial
crash hitting that was it. That was clearly another game changer. That was
not recoverable. So Obama easily sailed in to win that election at that time. But
it was very often used during the 2008 campaign. You often hear... you often heard
about game changers at that time. Okay. Anyway, we just got a couple of examples
here. That new product could be a game changer for our market share. So this
could be a company. Maybe you know, they're competing with other companies
But maybe they came out with some new invention or a new kind of product that
could really steal market share away from another company. So this new product
by itself could be a game changer. Okay. Or number two here. Signing that
superstar ball player could be a game-changer. He is just the
player we need to become more competitive. Yeah. So maybe a team could
have a little bit of a chance but they needed some like superstar home run
hitter or a great pitcher, and just acquiring this one player could be just
the right player. You know to, to bring the team around. Or you know one player
won't do it all but one player could make a significant difference. And you
know suddenly change the situation. In that sense, it could be a game changer
Okay. Anyway I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.