# Jeopardy: opinions on no first name required in answers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155 "2007-03-08T20:42:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/1 "2007-03-08T20:42:19Z")
I understand why the contestants would be happy to minimize their chances of a wrong answer through a momentary lapse of reason, but “This man was the founder of Rhode Island.” “Who was Williams.” ?? Which Williams? That could be anyone. It doesn’t feel like the real answer. Am I the only one bugged by this? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/2 "2007-03-08T20:50:27Z")
It depends on the clue. For instance, for a clue about U.S. Presidents you might not get away with just responding “Who is Roosevelt?”, I’m sure you would have to specify Teddy or Franklin. The one that threw me one time was when a contestant responded “Who was Alexandre Dumas?” and Trebek asked “Which one?” (I had no idea there were two of them!) ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/3 "2007-03-08T20:50:31Z")
I have no problem with it. True, there may be cases in which the answers appear needlessly vague, but there are also many cases in which the context should make it reasonably clear who someone is referring to. To use an extreme example, if the topic is “US Presidents” and someone answers “Taft,” I think everyone would understand that this refers to William Howard Taft rather than the recent governor of Ohio. Admittedly, there are many cases where it’s not so obvious, but this is a fuzzy boundary. If necessary, Trebek (hah!) can always instruct the contestants to give the full name, provided that he does so at the start of the Jeopardy round. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/4 "2007-03-08T21:03:32Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] The one that threw me one time was when a contestant responded “Who was Alexandre Dumas?” and Trebek asked “Which one?” (I had no idea there were two of them!) [/QUOTE] Someone said “Who was Harrison?” in reference to a US President and Trebek said “Which one?” My thought, There were two Presidents named Harrison? :smack: I think I’m too dumb to be finding fault with Jeopardy. I know there were pere and fils Dumases but not which is which. ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/5 "2007-03-08T21:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] The one that threw me one time was when a contestant responded “Who was Alexandre Dumas?” and Trebek asked “Which one?” (I had no idea there were two of them!) [/QUOTE] Father and son. The son wrote La Dame aux Camelias (usually called just “Camille” in English, I think) which was turned into an opera by Verdi, a movie with Greta Garbo and various other stuff. The father wrote everything else. That would trip me up because they’re usually referred to as Alexandre Dumas pere and Alexandre Dumas fils. Which are the French words for father and son, I guess, and used like our senior and junior, but I can never remember which is which. I wonder if “Who was Alexandre Dumas Sr.?” would have been acceptable? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/6 "2007-03-08T21:13:27Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Someone said “Who was Harrison?” in reference to a US President and Trebek said “Which one?” My thought, There were two Presidents named Harrison? :smack: [/quote] You bet: [Benjamin Harrison](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Harrison), 23rd president [William Henry Harrison](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Harrison), 9th US president ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/7 "2007-03-08T21:31:30Z")
Ooo, that hits on one of my biggest peeves – Jepoardy contestants who blunder on first names. I don’t care how sure you are that the answer is John Smith, just say “Smith”. There’s always a chance that even though you’re “sure”, the answer is actually Joe Smith. No reason at all to take that chance. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/8 "2007-03-08T21:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] You bet: [Benjamin Harrison](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Harrison), 23rd president [William Henry Harrison](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Harrison), 9th US president [/QUOTE] Yep, I knew of William Henry Harrison, and that was the one the guy meant. For the life of me I couldn’t remember the other guy. :smack: pere - paternal fils - filial might help? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-opinions-on-no-first-name-required-in-answers/395155/9 "2007-03-08T21:33:33Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] Ooo, that hits on one of my biggest peeves – Jepoardy contestants who blunder on first names. I don’t care how sure you are that the answer is John Smith, just say “Smith”. There’s always a chance that even though you’re “sure”, the answer is actually Joe Smith. No reason at all to take that chance. [/QUOTE] The other night a woman spoonerized Winona Ryder corrected her pronounciation of the last name but I was surprised they didn’t ding her for “Rinona”.