pointer

pointer, breed of large sporting dog developed in England more than 300 years ago. It stands between 23 and 26 in. (58.4-66.4 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 50 and 60 lb (22.7-27.2 kg). Its short, dense, shiny coat may be solid liver, black, yellow, or orange, or, more frequently, white with any of these colors as markings. The pointer is a scent hunter used for upland game birds. Having located its quarry, it stands rigidly poised with its body and nose facing the game, thus directing the hunter to it. Bred from crosses of foxhound, greyhound, and bloodhound with an early "setting" spaniel, the pointer was originally used to find and point hares, which were then chased and killed by greyhounds. With the rise in popularity of wing-shooting in the early 1700s, the pointer quickly became regarded as an expert gundog, a reputation it continues to enjoy today. The term pointer is also widely used to designate a dog of any breed that characteristically points its quarry. See dog.

or white shark

Large, aggressive shark (Carcharodon carcharias, family Lamnidae), considered the species most dangerous to humans. It is found in tropical and temperate regions of all oceans and is noted for its voracious appetite. Its diet includes fishes, sea turtles, birds, sea lions, small whales, carcasses, and ships' garbage. The great white is heavy-bodied and has a crescent-shaped tail and large, saw-edged, triangular teeth. It can reach a length of more than 20 ft (6 m) and is generally gray, bluish, or brownish, with the colour shading suddenly into a whitish belly. Though it is widely feared, only a few hundred humans are known to have ever been killed by the great white shark.

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Dog breed, of hound, spaniel, and setter ancestry, first recorded circa 1650 in Great Britain and named for the dog's rigid posture in the direction of quarry. Pointers were originally used to point out hares and were later trained as bird dogs. The pointer stands 23–28 in. (58–71 cm) tall and weighs 50–75 lb (23–34 kg); it has a long muzzle, hanging ears, tapered tail, and a short, smooth coat, usually white with dark markings. The German short-haired pointer, another sporting breed, tracks, points, and retrieves; it is about the size of a pointer and has a short coat of solid liver colour or liver and gray-white.

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Six pointer is a sporting cliché, particularly used in association football, used to describe a game between two teams with similar league positions, in leagues that employ a three points for a win system. In a two-points-for-a-win league, the corresponding term is four pointer.

The term is normally reserved for the latter part of the season, when the league standings approach the ranking they will have at the end of the season. Therefore the result of the game is likely to have a significant bearing on which of the two teams will eventually finish in the higher position. The term may be applied to a match either between two teams both chasing the championship or promotion, or else between two teams both near the bottom of the table — a "relegation six pointer". It is not applied to a match between one team at each end of the table: although such a match is important to both teams, they are not direct rivals competing for the same end-of-season prize. Nor is it applied to a match where both teams are in the middle of the table, because it is of little importance which team finishes ahead of the other.

For example, suppose the standings before a match between Team A and Team B are as follows:

Team	Points
Team A	40
Team B	38

If Team A wins the match, they will be five points ahead:

Team	Points
Team A	43
Team B	38

If Team A loses the match, they will be one point behind:

Team	Points
Team B	41
Team A	40

Thus, for Team A, the difference between winning and losing represents a six-point differential with respect to their rivals, Team B (five ahead versus one behind); even though it only represents a three-point differential with respect to all other teams in the league (43 points versus 40 points). A similar analysis to this match applies for Team B.

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In Australia the term six pointer can also be used in football (soccer) to describe a poor shot at goal where the ball goes between the posts but very high over the bar. It refers to Australian rules football, where a goal (worth 6 points) is scored at any height between goalposts which have no crossbar.

See also

• List of sports clichés