# Jeopardy discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [January 4, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207 "2022-01-04T18:16:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 40
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/781 "2022-05-30T21:20:42Z")
“Grab 'em by the pussy.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/782 "2022-05-30T21:22:49Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I don’t know why you are blaming Mayim for this. The judges rule on matters like this, not Mayim. She just goes with what she hears in her ear. I wonder if the judges are getting tired of doing her job for her, instead of serving as backup. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/783 "2022-05-31T00:55:01Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I don’t know why you are blaming Mayim for this. The judges rule on matters like this, not Mayim. She just goes with what she hears in her ear. There was also a clear edit after she gave her answer where they must have stopped filming to go over her response. Unless you’ve got some hard evidence to the contrary, I don’t think she looks at the judges and awaits their ruling for every response. Just ones on which she is unsure. Some [people on Jboard.tv](https://jboard.tv/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6633&start=20) thought the same thing I did, and someone posted a clip. If you view it, you can see that Mayim’s “yes” was pretty quick, though there was some uncertainty in her tone of voice, and there was no edit until _after_ that ruling. There have been plenty of times in the past when a contestant’s response wasn’t enunciated very clearly (for a response in which pronunciation matters,) and they were asked to repeat it. She could have said “say it again?” Alex used to do that. > [@Procrustus](#): > > This is what us oldsters are remarking about. Pearl Harbor Day comes every year on December 7th. It is something we would think is as common knowledge as July 4th. Or New Years being January 1st. It’s not something we just learned in history class, it was pervasive throughout the culture. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. > > I guess I’m coming around to the idea that the times they are a changing. How old do you have to be for it to have been pervasive, throughout the culture, though? Presumably you don’t mean actually remembering it. The earliest “where were you when” event for me was the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster; I was 9 years old at the time. Someone who was 9 in 1941 is 90 today. There aren’t very many people left who remember it being in the news. It would be interesting to quiz my Baby Boomer parents and aunts and uncles, next time I see them, on whether they can immediately give the exact date of the Pearl Harbor attack when asked. > [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > I assume you picked that date at random to represent how baffling you found that FJ. (BTW, it was my 4th anniversary.) I agree with those who said it was poorly written. > > However, would you be able to respond correctly to a question/clue like these? > •In Ronald Reagan’s speech in Florida on March 8, 1983, he first used this alliterative, derogatory term to describe the USSR. > > Evil Empire > > •In Ronald Reagan’s speech in Berlin on June 12, 1987, he said, “Mr Gorbachev,” perform this action. > > Tear down this wall. Yes, it’s not a great analogy because that’s just a random date, whereas I acknowledge December 7, 1941 is a noteworthy date, even if it’s not one I keep committed to memory. However, your two examples give the context (or even part of the famous quote itself) in the clue. That would be more analogous to my example of a clue saying “FDR called Pearl Harbor this.” What if a clue went, “In a draft of Ronald Reagan’s speech in Berlin on June 12, 1987, the words ‘vertical barrier’ were changed to this one word.” That requires at least one additional step of reasoning. You might say, not 30 seconds’ worth, and if you recognize the context of Berlin you should still get it easily, but still, it’s more complex and much less direct. And also, you’re relying more on “this makes sense” rather than “I know this for a fact.” Everybody knows “date that will live in infamy;” almost nobody knows that in a previous draft it was “date that will live in world history.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/784 "2022-05-31T01:09:41Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > > I don’t know why you are blaming Mayim for this. The judges rule on matters like this, not Mayim. She just goes with what she hears in her ear. > > I wonder if the judges are getting tired of doing her job for her, instead of serving as backup. I’m not sure what you mean. As far as I know, even when Alex Trebek was hosting, he wasn’t the one making the decisions about whether contestant responses were correct. In other words, it’s not Mayim’s job to decide. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/785 "2022-05-31T01:23:26Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > It would be interesting to quiz my Baby Boomer parents and aunts and uncles, next time I see them, on whether they can immediately give the exact date of the Pearl Harbor attack when asked. It’s not just something Boomers learned in history books. Our parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and next door neighbors all lived through it. They talked about where they were when they heard the news the same way Boomers talked about where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot or Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon; how Gen X recalls where they were when the Challenger blew up and how Millennials remember 9/11. December 7 was the subject of big budget movies (_Tora! Tora! Tora!_), TV miniseries (_Pearl_) and even showed up in shows like _The Waltons_. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/786 "2022-05-31T01:36:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean. As far as I know, even when Alex Trebek was hosting, he wasn’t the one making the decisions about whether contestant responses were correct. In other words, it’s not Mayim’s job to decide. This is only the second time–both times being in this thread the past 2 days–I have ever heard someone imply that the host of Jeopardy looks to the judges for a ruling on _every_ response. Do you have any evidence for this? > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > It’s not just something Boomers learned in history books. Our parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and next door neighbors all lived through it. They talked about where they were when they heard the news the same way Boomers talked about where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot or Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon; how Gen X recalls where they were when the Challenger blew up and how Millennials remember 9/11. December 7 was the subject of big budget movies ( _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ ), TV miniseries ( _Pearl_ ) and even showed up in shows like _The Waltons_ . Understood, but I remember where I was when the Challenger blew up but don’t remember the exact date, and while supposedly the Boomers (my parents’ generation) talked about where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot or Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, I don’t know those exact dates either. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/787 "2022-05-31T01:37:51Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > It would be interesting to quiz my Baby Boomer parents and aunts and uncles, next time I see them, on whether they can immediately give the exact date of the Pearl Harbor attack when asked. I bet close to 100%. I was born 20 years after 1941, and everyone knew the date of the Pearl Harbor attack. It was like knowing who George Washington was. You didn’t have to learn it in history class. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/788 "2022-05-31T01:50:48Z")
Agreed - I was born in 1964 so was about 7 on the 30th anniversary - so it was pretty recent history that you didn’t just experience in class, even as a little kid. My dad was 3 and told me about his dim memories of his dad and uncles listening to the radio news and realizing it was a serious, unusual thing. My 22 year old says she knew about the general event but only knew the date because her accounting teacher (older than me) mentioned it on the morning of Dec. 7 in class, and it was memorably out of context so it stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/789 "2022-05-31T03:06:37Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I bet close to 100%. I was born 20 years after 1941, and everyone knew the date of the Pearl Harbor attack. It was like knowing who George Washington was. You didn’t have to learn it in history class. I bet exactly 100%. Not to know that date would be akin to the lady I used to chat with in my regular bar back in Texas who honestly did not know where Mexico was. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/790 "2022-05-31T04:27:57Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > How old do you have to be for it to have been pervasive, throughout the culture, though? I asked my daughter (37) and my son (33) what date was the attack on Pearl Harbor, and they both instantly said, “December 7, 1941.” The son added, “… a date which will live in infamy.” My guess is that this knowledge varies widely. I know that’s not very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/791 "2022-05-31T05:23:16Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > It would be interesting to quiz my Baby Boomer parents and aunts and uncles, next time I see them, on whether they can immediately give the exact date of the Pearl Harbor attack when asked. I doubt there’ll be anything interesting about that at all, as 100% will know it. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/792 "2022-05-31T06:27:07Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > This is only the second time–both times being in this thread the past 2 days–I have ever heard someone imply that the host of Jeopardy looks to the judges for a ruling on _every_ response. Exactly. I’ve watched J! since the early 90’s and my impression has always been that the judges were _backup_ for Alex (and Ken, more recently), and _corrected_ the host only when necessary, which was seldom. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/793 "2022-05-31T06:55:36Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Understood, but I remember where I was when the Challenger blew up but don’t remember the exact date, and while supposedly the Boomers (my parents’ generation) talked about where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot or Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, I don’t know those exact dates either. Maybe you’re just not paying attention. I know all of those dates. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/794 "2022-06-01T00:28:38Z")
I’m calling bullshit on the “privateering” ruling ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/795 "2022-06-01T00:54:56Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’m calling bullshit on the “privateering” ruling How so? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/796 "2022-06-01T00:57:18Z")
Letters of marque were licenses to privateer: specifically targeting an enemy nation’s ships and ports. Not open piracy on any and all ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/797 "2022-06-01T01:03:04Z")
Again, when in doubt, check the [Jeopardy Archive](https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=7369) for the actual wording of the clue: > [@](#): > > A letter of marque was a government grant to a private individual to engage in naval operations otherwise considered this Key word: _otherwise_. In other words, a letter of marque was a government grant to a private individual to engage in naval operations which, were it not for the letter of marque, would be considered piracy. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/798 "2022-06-01T05:36:03Z")
My first impression was “privateering” also, based on the Stan Rogers song, “Barrett’s Privateers”: _O the year was Seventeen Seventy-Eight,_ _How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!_ _A **letter of marque came from the king,** _ _To the scummiest vessel I’ve ever seen,_ _God damn them all!_ _I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold,_ _We’d fire no guns, shed no tears,_ _Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier,_ _The last of **Barrett’s Privateers**._ Bolding added by me. But I can understand “piracy” also, as the song obviously refers to committing acts of piracy on American ships. At any rate, if a letter of marque allowed one to engage in certain naval operations, that could be known as either piracy or privateering, then either answer should be considered correct. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/799 "2022-06-01T06:57:49Z")
One presumes that the master of the American ship would refer to them as “pirates,” and that should the intended victim capture the privateers and return them to port to stand trial, the charge would be “piracy” and not “privateering.” ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/800 "2022-06-01T12:58:51Z")
Exactly. The whole point of the clue is that letters of marque made it NOT piracy. At least from the point of view of the government issuing the letters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207.md?page=39) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207.md?page=41)