When you say 'jackpot,' would you normally refer to it as
- something that you should be happy about, or
- something that you can very highly unlikely obtain?
I find this use of 'jackpot' hard to understand in the following. (If 'I' said it with reference to (2), it might very well let Jack down ….) (I'm a non-native speaker. If you would explain it in some plain English, I would very much appreciate it.)
"I went to have chemo yesterday morning, and they did some blood work, and I have some numbers that aren't good," he said. "They have to be higher for me to be able to start chemo again."
"What does it mean?" I said.
"Nothing good," he said.
"Does it mean they can't try anymore?" I said.
"There's this shot can give me," he said. "Sort of a booster shot for my blood. If it works it can get the numbers high enough for me to have chemo again."
"Boy," I said. "Did you ever think we'd be talking about getting a booster shot for something like this?"
"I know," he said. "And if it works, the good news—the good news—is that I get to have chemotherapy. That's the payoff."
"Some jackpot," I said.
"You know," he said, "it's getting so that I don't even like it when people say 'What's going on?'. I find myself saying,'Oh, my pulse is down,' or, 'Well, I need a booster shot.'"
('And You Know You Should Be Glad' by Bob Greene)
Best Answer
This is an example of meaning #1, but "some jackpot" is being said sarcastically. If the potential payoff of the shot were a complete cure, that would indeed be a jackpot, but instead they're saying that chemotherapy, which is a very difficult and dangerous process, is potentially the good news here. Chemotherapy doesn't really seem like something to celebrate, so the speaker says, sarcastically, "Some jackpot."
It would be easier to understand if you could hear the speaker's tone of voice when he says it, but another clue is when the other speaker says, "the good news—the good news—is that I get to have chemotherapy." The repetition of the phrase "the good news" emphasizes that this phrase is being used in an unexpected way, to introduce something that isn't necessarily good.