# Alex Trebek...Alex Trebek **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503 "2011-04-15T16:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/21 "2011-04-19T15:54:54Z")
Well, he is Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/22 "2011-04-19T16:17:42Z")
> [@digs](#): > > All right, now HOW can I not do this at a dinner party tonight? > > I swear, if someone asks: “Mmm… is this basil in the souffle?” > > I’ll just have to answer: “Oh, I’m sorry… the correct answer is tarragon. Tarragon.” Ahem "Oh, I’m sorry… the correct _question_ is: “Is this tarragon? Tarragon.” d&r ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/23 "2011-04-19T16:48:55Z")
Fucking Canadians! Smug bastards. Impolite, too. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/24 "2011-04-19T17:34:31Z")
I really don’t get the hate people around here have for him. He repeats the answer? That is pretty common in trivia type things, to make sure everyone heard it. He saves up a little extra tidbit to look smart? Yeah, or maybe he/the writers think that people who watch the show juuuust might be fans of trivia. To me he comes off as a slightly goof ball old uncle. Maybe a little too happy with himself and should keep a couple of jokes to himself but hardly some big jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/25 "2011-04-19T17:48:03Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He should stick to French. Funny you should mention this. I once heard him do a rendition of “O Canada” in French (he gave us an extended story about learning it in French first - in yet another sign of smugness). Even in French, while his pronunciation is good, his accent is … odd. Maybe it’s the Canadian thing? I’m more familiar with native French accents than French-Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/26 "2011-04-19T18:56:49Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I really don’t get the hate people around here have for him. He repeats the answer? That is pretty common in trivia type things, to make sure everyone heard it. He saves up a little extra tidbit to look smart? Yeah, or maybe he/the writers think that people who watch the show juuuust might be fans of trivia. > > To me he comes off as a slightly goof ball old uncle. Maybe a little too happy with himself and should keep a couple of jokes to himself but hardly some big jerk. I don’t think he comes off as a jerk, just too full of himself. I do not have a problem with either of the two things you mentioned, actually, just the jokes, and condescending tone. And, yes, I find the accent thing funny. It’s highly linked to being snooty around here. But we also think saying foYAY instead of FOY-yer is snooty. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/27 "2011-04-19T19:23:05Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I remember sitting through one of the commercial breaks when Trebek was taking audience questions, and he brought up the fact that he always filed an income tax extension request and never fully settled before November. He noted that he thought it was odd that very few people in the audience did the same. That doesn’t even make sense. Filing for an extension simply means you don’t have to file in April. It does nothing about how much you owe or the interest for paying late. If he owes money then he has to pay more in interest for not paying by 15 April. If he is owed money then he’s just screwing himself out of having his own money sooner. Am I missing something? If this wasn’t the case, everyone would do it. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/28 "2011-04-19T19:29:11Z")
I always find it funny when he becomes visibly upset when the contestants are having a bad streak. Like when all three miss the same question or no one rings in on back to back questions and he has to wait out the timer. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/29 "2011-04-19T22:10:59Z")
I dunno, I watch a reasonable amount of Jeopardy, and I never thought of him as jerkish. I guess I’m out-voted though. Could it be that I myself tend to speak a little bit…nah, that can’t be it. Hey! Here’s a thought! Let’s call him Alex Two-Times like on _Goodfellas_! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/30 "2011-04-19T22:44:30Z")
One thing I don’t understand - sometimes a mispronounced answer is deemed wrong, and sometimes it’s accepted. I really hate watching the show - he irritates me. I miss Art Fleming - he was genial and didn’t pretend he knew all the answers off the top of his head. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/31 "2011-04-19T22:59:15Z")
I’ve always like Alex Trebek until reading this thread. Wait… I still like Alex Trebek. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/32 "2011-04-19T23:34:18Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > …Spanish words and names sound only about 100 times better with a Spanish accent. However, it also sounds funny to drop a Spanish pronunciation into an English sentence. It’s like this battle. But in sum, I agree - he seems to be pretty impressed with himself. Yes, and he can make himself sound ridiculous too. I am not a native speaker of Spanish, though I have studied it for several years, and am currently taking classes in it. I may also have too much free time, because from time to time I have watched some Jeopardy! games archived on YouTube, for example recently the “9/11/2001” game (September 11, and of course taped in some previous month). The J! Archive has a summary [here](http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=403). In the “Double Jeopardy! Round”, “COUNTRIES IN SPANISH” include LIBANO and SUECIA. You can see and hear them on YouTube [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXyoTrRKBfA#t=03m39s) during about 03:40-03:55. It sounds to me like Alex says “lee-BAH-no” and “soo-eh-CEE-uh”. Well, the pronunciation of “Líbano” (see [Wikipedia](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%ADbano) may not always be accented on the first syllable by Spanish speakers, despite the accent on the “i”, but “Suecia” is a lot more like “ehsuEH-theeuh” than “soo-eh-CEE-uh”. Here is a page, however accurate, with Spanish pronunciations: [E-spanish | Basic Spanish vocabulary](http://www.e-spanyol.hu/en/vocabulary/words_countries.php). I wonder if Alex’s advisors ever think of sandbagging him. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/33 "2011-04-19T23:40:03Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > One thing I don’t understand - sometimes a mispronounced answer is deemed wrong, and sometimes it’s accepted. > > I really hate watching the show - he irritates me. I miss Art Fleming - he was genial and didn’t pretend he knew all the answers off the top of his head. there are specific rules about what mispronunciations are acceptable. I don’t know them all, but I know that you can’t change the number of syllables, or flip two syllables. I think they’re more lenient with foreign names ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/34 "2011-04-20T00:14:53Z")
SNL did not plan on Sean Connery being a regular on their version of celeb jeopardy. The first plan was Norm MacDonald as Burt Reynolds to be the regular but MacDonald was fired so they made Hammond doing Connery the regular guest. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/35 "2011-05-02T06:02:49Z")
Here’s an example of Trebek being a bit hauhgty: [Strangest Jeopardy Ending Ever - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDYP04eWQK4) The guy’s device doesn’t work, and he acts like he should have already known to use the other method. And then there’s him saying “stop shaking.” It definitely comes off as humoring someone who is less than himself. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/36 "2011-05-02T14:32:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He tries to pronounce any foreign word in the appropriate accent. I call that Trebekking. During Friday’s episode it was pretty funny to hear him try to do a Borscht Belt accent for an entire category. He should stick to French. I keep waiting for him to ask a Helen Keller question with the appropriate “accent”… ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/37 "2011-05-02T19:02:16Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Funny you should mention this. I once heard him do a rendition of “O Canada” in French (he gave us an extended story about learning it in French first - in yet another sign of smugness). Even in French, while his pronunciation is good, his accent is … odd. > > Maybe it’s the Canadian thing? I’m more familiar with native French accents than French-Canadian. I know a lot of French-Canadians who would be profoundly insulted to be considered to not be “native French” speakers! I know what you mean, but please be careful with your words! 🆒 I’ve never heard him sing, but Trebek’s French accent is definitely Franco-Ontarian, which to my Quebecoise ear sounds like a French person speaking with an English accent (and a lot of English-speaking Franco-Ontarians sound like English people speaking with a French accent, though I don’t find that’s the case with Trebek!) As for O’Canada… Trebek may have been smug in telling his story, but the fact of having learned it in French first isn’t in itself a sign of smugness, though I might be misreading your meaning here. I learned both together, and am likely to sing in one language as easily as in the other (well…“sing” is a generous word…!) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/38 "2011-05-02T19:12:28Z")
Nobody has mentioned that the second time is always slower. Alex Trebek … A l e x … T r e b e k ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/39 "2011-05-02T19:16:11Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I know a lot of French-Canadians who would be profoundly insulted to be considered to not be “native French” speakers! I know what you mean, but please be careful with your words! 🆒 My apologies, then. But yes, it sounded like an accent from somebody who learned to speak the language somewhere other than France. Perhaps I should have used “native France” speakers, instead. > [@mnemosyne](#): > > As for O’Canada… Trebek may have been smug in telling his story, but the fact of having learned it in French first isn’t in itself a sign of smugness, Of course not. But he was inordinately proud that he didn’t even know there was an English version for several years. And apparently, this was to be taken as a measure of distinction by the audience. If there were any crickets in the audience, they’d have been chirping. I wasn’t expecting him to be quite as smug, but it really seemed like the kind of deal where he’s been successful for a while and forgotten that he’s not exactly representative of the average person. The tax thing was like that. Most of us really don’t have multi-state real estate holdings or incomes, so it’s not much of an issue to be done with the mess as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503/40 "2011-05-02T19:20:38Z")
> [@lukeinva](#): > > Well, he is Canadian. I am quite sure I have read he became a US citizen, and that amusingly he reiceved a jury duty summons about a week after taking the oath. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek-alex-trebek/578503.md?page=3)