I guess that should have been “Jeopardy!?”, but that sounded too excitable. Anyway, I’m jumping the gun here, but I’m auditioning in a couple weeks and realizing that there’s a crapload of things I’ve only read and never said or heard said. So what if I say it wrong? Big deal? I know they’re picky about exact names - it’s Sally Field, not Sally Fields, and somebody got busted a couple days ago for the “Bay of Fundit” instead of “Fundy”. So should I be studying pronunciaton as well as presidents, geography, current events, and world leaders? (I know Diaghilev established the Ballet Russes, but I have no idea how the hell he said his name. Would I get credit for “dee-A-glee-ev”, which is my guess?)
No, you wouldn’t, because you moved a vowel from between the “g” and the “l” to after the “l.” The thing to remember is that you can’t leave out essential sounds. You can usually change vowel sounds somewhat, or change the accent, but you can’t add or omit or move anything. That makes it a different word. Of course, if your pronunciation is discovered to be an “alternate” pronunciation, then you’d get credit for it.
In my experience, they aren’t at all strict about pronunciation during the audition. When I auditioned, during the sample games someone pronounced “Roosevelt” in a way that rhymed with “goose belt.” The answer was accepted.
If you make it onto the show, I think pronunciation counts only if the pronunciation of a name or word would turn it into a different name or word. Likewise, in Final Jeopardy, you can misspell a word, but not if it turns the word into another word.
deleted.
During my appearance, I stumbled over the pronunciation of “sashimi.” It came out as “shashimi.” However, since it was clear that I was merely tripping over my tongue and not purposefully adding the extra “sh” sound, I was given credit for a correct answer.
Isn’t “Rouse-velt” a perfectly valid pronunciation? I’ve heard it as “Roseavelt” just as often as the first way.
The Roosevelt referred to in the Jeopardy question (Franklin) pronounced the first syllable of his surname as “rose.” Cite: First inaugural address.
On a related note, how accurate are Alex’s pronunciations of foreign words?
My grandpa pronounced it “ROOS-a-velt” his whole life and he voted for the guy. But you should hear how he pronounced “New Orleans”. I can’t do it justice.
I’ve read that Alex spends a good amount of time in preparation for the show practicing his pronunciation of the foreign words and that sometimes they throw in the tough ones just to screw with him. He particularly hates the Welsh.
Two painful experiences of how serious they are about pronunciation:
- I answered a question “Bosnia-Herzegovinia” and was penalized.
- I pronounced the disgraced senator’s name “Joe McCarty” and got dinged on that, as well.
I’m still irked over a game several years ago when a guy answered Frederico Fellini and they didn’t give him the points because it’s Federico Fellini.
Personally, I speak Spanish and I know that it’s Federico and not Frederico, but I think it’s asking quite a lot for the average person to notice that minor difference. Especially since if he had only answered “Fellini,” he would have gotten the points.
I am still pissed off about a show a couple years ago when a contestant was dinged for mispronouncing “Mary Baker Eddy.” It’s supposed to be like “Eddie,” the man’s name, and he said it like “Edie,” as in “Eydie Gorme.” It was clear to me the contestant knew the answer and had probably seen it in writing but had never heard it pronounced, and guessed wrong. In my opinion, the contestant demonstrated that he knew the answer and should have gotten the money.
Also: has it ever happened that a contestant said, “I don’t know how to pronounce it, but ‘Who is Mary Baker E-D-D-Y’?” Are there rules about that?
That’s why they tell you to only say as much of the name as you need to identify the person. If they need more they’ll ask. Hard to remember to do, though.
ETA - is there some good website that has a lot of name pronunciations?
Did Alex say “Oh, sorry, the answer is ‘Who is Joe McCarTHy.’ That’s McCarTHy” in his condescending 6th grade teacher voice? If so, how difficult was it to resist the impulse to smack him?
I hear he’s not really like that, IRL. I hope not. He was pretty classy on that classic episode of one of those candid camera shows where they created a whole fan club - I think they called them the Trebekkies.
That Bay of Fundit thing seemed really unfair. For one thing, they counted it correct and then took it away from her later, and for another the “t” wasn’t really very strong and it could have been a slip of the tongue. I think if Alex counts you correct, you should have to be really wrong to have them take away your money later.
I don’t have much inside information, never having auditioned for the show, but here is some timely evidence that you get credit for a mispronunciation, so long as you don’t add letters/sounds that aren’t there…
The Colbert Report: 14August2008
Click on the video labeled “Jeopardy Shout-Out”
Not Jeopardy, but I was on a local high school quiz show once, and gave the answer “Marie Antionette” (which was correct), except that I pronounced it as “Mary”.
I didn’t get credit.
Heh, I remember once, several years ago, they had a category that was “10-Letter Names”, and for one of the responses they were looking for “Who is George Bush”? (The clue was about Bush the first, back before Dubya was president.) One contestant thought she was being really smart by answering “Who is George Herbert Walker Bush”, obviously forgetting the category name, and got the smack-down.
A contestant once said answered Clu Gallagher instead of Clu Gulager. He was ruled incorrect.