# 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:** 58
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1141 "2022-07-09T14:58:46Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > FJ seemed like 50/50 guess between Sodom and Gomorrah. I was of the same opinion, so I pulled up Genesis 19 and read the entire chapter. While most of the story focuses on Lot and his family while they are staying in Sodom, the text clearly states that both Sodom and Gomorrah were both destroyed. I wonder how an answer of ‘What is Gomorrah?’ would have been ruled? (As an aside, the last few verses of that chapter describe how Lot’s two daughters got him drunk so they could have sex with him and become pregnant. Funny, I don’t remember that being taught in Sunday school.) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1142 "2022-07-09T15:02:35Z")
That was my first guess, because when aren’t Sodom and Gomorrah sort of a single thing? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1143 "2022-07-09T15:15:35Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > She clearly said Elsa, with an E, not Ilsa, with an I, which is the correct reply. I was expecting a correction, but no. But in the end, it made no difference to the final outcome. I dunno…I think the judges have to allow for contestants’ accents and possible speech impediments, and give some latitude. When i was a contestant I knew an answer was [Hugo Winterhalter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Winterhalter), but I wasn’t sure if it was Winterholder or Winterhalter. I kinda landed on something in between and got away with it. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1144 "2022-07-09T16:28:43Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > FJ seemed like 50/50 guess between Sodom and Gomorrah. Or, as Archie Bunker put it, “Sodom and Glocca Morra.” ---
**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:** [July 9, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1145 "2022-07-09T16:36:47Z")
Or _Sodom and Begorrah_, as Yeats and Lady Gregory at the Abbey Theater called Mac Liammóir and Edwards over at the Gate ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1146 "2022-07-09T16:54:52Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I dunno…I think the judges have to allow for contestants’ accents and possible speech impediments, and give some latitude. Except that Ilsa and Elsa are 2 clearly different names, like Rick and Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1147 "2022-07-09T17:56:57Z")
You are a tough and inconsistent crowd. Other posters above say “don’t leave money in the table”. If the only way Leigh could win is if Robert got it wrong, then betting what she did nets her more moolah. And I would have written “Sodom and Gomorrah”. They were a metroplex, like DFW. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1148 "2022-07-09T18:11:07Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > If the only way Leigh could win is if Robert got it wrong, then betting what she did nets her more moolah. But a small bet, as I explained above, also nets her the win if she also gets the answer wrong. When she bet it all, she gave herself no chance if she missed the question. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1149 "2022-07-09T18:49:45Z")
I always wondered if Gomorrah was like those all-Mormon exurbs whose inhabitants make their living from the liquor distributorship monopoly in Las Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1150 "2022-07-09T22:43:57Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Wow. I _swear_ the clue said the exact opposite of that. > > Never mind! It’s sometimes hard in the few seconds you have to read/hear the clue, to process the sentence correctly and realize what exactly the antecedent of “this.” That’s what it all comes down to. If the clue had instead been "Add a ‘B’ to _this_ chess piece to turn it into _a_ babbling stream,’ the correct response of course would have been “rook.” > [@commasense](#): > > But the most annoying thing was an error that Mayim and the judges didn’t catch: in the Jeopardy round, the clue was “These are the first names of the 2 characters played by Humphrey & Ingrid in ‘Casablanca.’” Leigh answered, “Rick and Elsa.” She clearly said Elsa, with an E, not Ilsa, with an I, which is the correct reply. I was expecting a correction, but no. But in the end, it made no difference to the final outcome. This is one of the many ways in which Mayim sucks. Sometimes she hesitates for a long, awkward pause, presumably waiting for a cue from the judges, when a contestant has just given what should very obviously be ruled a correct response; then at other times she immediately rules on a response that should garner a “be more specific” or input from the judges. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1151 "2022-07-09T23:52:31Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Sometimes she hesitates for a long, awkward pause, presumably waiting for a cue from the judges, There’s probably no way to find out, but I’d be surprised if she’s waiting for a cue. She has the answers right in front of her, and there’s no reason she should need help from the judges that often. Her pauses seem long because they’re longer than Alex or Ken usually took/take, but are probably only about a second. My WAG is that it takes her that long to glance down and check the answer before she speaks. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1152 "2022-07-10T00:39:54Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > That was my first guess, because when aren’t Sodom and Gomorrah sort of a single thing? Ever hear of someone committing Gomorrahy? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1153 "2022-07-10T00:41:04Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Ever hear of someone committing Gomorrahy? Well, when the moon hits your eye… ---
**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:** [July 10, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1154 "2022-07-10T21:00:47Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I disagree completely. Not everyone knows who is alive and who is dead at any given time (see: FDR in 2018) and one can’t assume the contestants know, so clarification was necessary. We’ll have to agree to disagree. Fortunately for me, I have the full force of the _Jeopardy_ production people on my side in saying that “Bush” alone was sufficient. Also over the past week: I too was hollering at the TV when no one could get the Bronx as the fifth borough of NYC. Regardless of whether ordinary mortals should know it’s a borough, when the three contestants together knew the other four but not a single one knew the Bronx, that’s just pathetic. Manhattan is an island. Get over it. I enjoyed Yungsheng Wang’s short run and wished we could have seen more of him. With his bow tie and facial expressions, he struck me as a Chinese Arthur Lake. Lake played Dagwood Bumstead in the _Blondie_ movie series of the 1930s and '40s. This morning I took the Jeopardy Anytime Test again. You can take it once a year. I’ve been doing it for I think three years now but never been called. They don’t reveal scores. I won’t say what the questions were, but there were two whose answers I knew but could not think of until it was too late. Still, I think I did okay. I’m sure I did better on the 50-question real test than I did on the 30-question practice test beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1155 "2022-07-10T23:14:45Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > …the text clearly states that both Sodom and Gomorrah were both destroyed. I wonder how an answer of ‘What is Gomorrah?’ would have been ruled? I wonder about this, too. If they are two separate cities and not a ‘metroplex’ as someone here waggishly suggested, shouldn’t either work as a response? I could see why “Babel” seemed like a good response in the circumstances. It, at least, is a single city (or place, perhaps.) > > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I enjoyed Yungsheng Wang’s short run and wished we could have seen more of him. With his bow tie and facial expressions, he struck me as a Chinese Arthur Lake. … Every time we get a ‘performing’ contestant such as Mr. Wang, I’m reminded of the 1984 movie _Quiz Show_, in which John Turturro’s character describes the coaching he was given in the display of fake emotion. (I’m not a fan of that sort of thing on _Jeopardy!_) ---
**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:** [July 11, 2022, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1156 "2022-07-11T03:45:51Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Every time we get a ‘performing’ contestant such as Mr. Wang, I’m reminded of the 1984 movie _Quiz Show_, in which John Turturro’s character describes the coaching he was given in the display of fake emotion. (I’m not a fan of that sort of thing on _Jeopardy!_) I didn’t have the impression that Yungsheng was “performing.” That seemed just to be his personality. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1157 "2022-07-11T05:08:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Also over the past week: I too was hollering at the TV when no one could get the Bronx as the fifth borough of NYC. Regardless of whether ordinary mortals should know it’s a borough, when the three contestants together knew the other four but not a single one knew the Bronx, that’s just pathetic. It’s not necessarily guaranteed that the five clues will be about five different boroughs. Even if you know that the Bronx hasn’t been mentioned yet, you’re taking a bit of a risk if you ring in based on nothing more than that. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1158 "2022-07-11T20:20:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I didn’t have the impression that Yungsheng was “performing.” That seemed just to be his personality. I think it was both. Like Sherrerd I don’t care for contestants who take mugging to an extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1159 "2022-07-11T22:31:35Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > > I didn’t have the impression that Yungsheng was “performing.” That seemed just to be his personality. > > I think it was both. Like Sherrerd I don’t care for contestants who take mugging to an extreme. - Yeah. Maybe part of that is a preference for a show like _Jeopardy!_ where the content is emphasized, as compared with shows that are mainly about people behaving ‘big’. In a lot of game shows the personality of the contestants is central to the entertainment value. Probably we can all agree that our reactions to contestants have a large degree of subjectivity. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207/1160 "2022-07-11T22:33:24Z")
I wonder if “Hos before bros” would have worked in the familial phrases category 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-discussion/957207.md?page=59)