# Jeopardy! Season 42. It is what it is **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [August 10, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905 "2025-08-10T14:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/41 "2025-09-14T14:18:57Z")
I guess I’m dumb; I don’t get why that’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/42 "2025-09-14T14:22:50Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I don’t get why that’s funny. During his run of wins, there was a clue about a garden instrument that was also an immoral pleasure seeker. The correct response was “What is a rake?” but Ken buzzed in and said “What is a hoe?”, causing Trebeck to give several “woahs!” in reply. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NJO7hcinS-U/hqdefault.jpg "Jeopardy! 10/8/2004 - Ken Jennings' "Hoe" Moment | #RIPAlexTrebek") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJO7hcinS-U) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/43 "2025-09-14T14:26:34Z")
What about the “Big Piles” reference? I only remember the rake thing after it was explained. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/44 "2025-09-14T14:48:15Z")
Just a run-of-the-mill hemorrhoid joke. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/45 "2025-09-14T14:48:42Z")
Piles are another word for hemmerhoids. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/46 "2025-09-14T15:02:58Z")
Ken Jennings _appeared_ to be, or presented as an innocent clean-cut Mormon boy, so some were surprised by this guess or by him doing well on Potent Potable categories. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/47 "2025-09-14T20:02:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Ken Jennings _appeared_ to be, or presented as an innocent clean-cut Mormon boy, I’ve read all of his books and he presents no facade of clean-cut innocence. BTW his books are delightful, intelligent, and FUNNY. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/48 "2025-09-20T13:45:01Z")
The 9/11/2025 show had a category; **PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT** The clue was “You’re holding 3 of a kind, but you know your opponent has a flush; your odds of drawing a pair for this winning poker hand? Not great” The contestant answered: “What is a Full House” which is correct. I think “Four of a Kind” is also a correct. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/49 "2025-09-20T14:43:09Z")
Three of a kind plus a pair is a full house. Four of a kind is wrong. There are only four cards of each suit. You can’t draw a pair and have four of the same. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/50 "2025-09-20T14:47:44Z")
Unless there are wildcards? ---
**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:** [September 20, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/51 "2025-09-20T14:51:50Z")
I don’t think normal poker uses wildcards but even so then you’d have 5. The way the question is written, Four of a Kind is simply wrong. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/52 "2025-09-20T14:55:25Z")
In Texas Hold’em, if you have pair of Jacks in Holdem and the flop is J 9 5 and the turn is a 4 and the River is a J, the board pairs and you would have 4 of a kind (or quads). ---
**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:** [September 24, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/53 "2025-09-24T00:32:38Z")
Oh my we have a new son of Amodio. What’s…Steven is annoying AF. Must you pause every time? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/54 "2025-09-24T17:40:36Z")
Man, I kicked ass today! (The show that aired yesterday, we watch it at lunch.) So Ken was setting them up and I was knocking them down like Amy Schneider. Getting cocky, too. Then the final Jeopardy category: Children’s Books! It couldn’t have been more up my alley if I’d chosen it myself. I bet all my imaginary money. And promptly lost it. It was cold comfort that the TV contestants didn’t know it either. The answer: _Realizing he couldn’t draw horses, the man behind this 1963 book drew the title characters purely from his imagination._ Did y’all get it? ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/55 "2025-09-24T17:58:12Z")
My wife got it. I drew a blank. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/56 "2025-09-24T18:59:48Z")
Still haven’t got it. (haven’t seen the episode yet: missed it in real time for 2001 in the theater) It’s a good one, got me stumped so far. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/57 "2025-09-24T19:05:47Z")
Beats me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/58 "2025-09-24T19:24:42Z")
Does it, though? 🙂 ---
**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:** [September 24, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/59 "2025-09-24T19:28:22Z")
You guys are too smugly coy. Do I need to go look this one up on J! Archive? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905/60 "2025-09-24T19:41:04Z")
Where The Wild Things Are. I’d never have come up with it in a million years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-season-42-it-is-what-it-is/1021905.md?page=4)