Last evening Alex took away something from a woman for some reason. Did you catch the explanation?
It seems that Alex started to give the correct response before the woman did. So they negated the question entirely in the name of fairness.
Assuming you mean the 2/17 show, he took away points because he when he called on her, he accidentally started to blurt out the answer instead of the woman’s name.
It was a real “WTF?!?” moment! I was surprised when at first it looked as though the judges were going to let it slide.
Well, did anybody see today’s episode? (2/18) A contestant gave the (wrong) question “What is a schmuck?” :eek: The correct answer was “What is a schlemeil” but schmuck just sailed right on through without anyone batting an eye.
A schlemeil is a Yiddish word for someone who is kind of a dork.
I’m more surprised it made it to air. I guess they needed the mistake so that you’d understand the score change. Otherwise, mistakes tend to get edited out.
What was the answer?
The category was insults and the answer was something like (I don’t remember the exact wording) "You don’t want to be around this person of Yiddish origin.
I guess Schmuck myself, because I’ve never heard of schlemeil before. I didn’t realize it was supposed to be a vile insult, I thought it was mild, along the lines of ‘jerk’ or ‘dork’.
My parents are native Yiddish speakers (their first language) and never used schmuck more than a mild insult, but as an English word. It means penis, so it’s calling someone a dick. While in the Yiddish it’s more vulgar, in English it’s pretty mild.
I was surprised at that too, in fact, I was planning to start a thread to ask what they do when Alex slips up like that. I figured they would let it slide as well since it was pretty clear she knew the answer, she practically started saying as soon as Alex looked at her.
Ahhhh, you’ve probably heard it here.
not surprised that they let schmuck on the air
they also had “jackass” as the answer to a question tonight
I guess not even Jeopardy! is safe for families anymore 
Yeah, JoeyP has a link to what most people would be familiar with. The opening to the Laverne and Shirley sitcom where they recite a ditty with “Schlemiel, Schlemozel”. So when the clue included schlemozel I was expecting schlemiel to come naturally to the contestant. When she blurted out schmuck it caught me by surprise but the show just moved right along as if she said jerk or dummy or something innocuous.
I guess it’s been watered down now. Kind of like saying something “sucks” which used to be quite vulgar too. I wasn’t offended or anything. In fact I found it funny as hell and missed the next 3 questions because I was laughing through them.
Here’s a link to the etymology of schmuck.
The clue included schlemozel? Then schlemeil should’ve been the answer, I agree.
There are lots of Yiddish words for a pitiful or unpleasant person, though. What a weird clue.
Shlimiel and shlimazel go together naturally, especially if you watched L&S in the '70s.
IIRC, a shlimiel is the guy who spills his beer; a shlimazel is the guy he spills it on.
I was watching that tonight at a bar. Some other people were also guessing and when the clue came up (I too guessed schmuck) I heard one of them say “Laverne & Shirley” and thought WTF?! Got it when I saw the right answer. And yes, schmuck is completely (almost comically) innocent in contemporary English. Kind of like the insult ‘wanker’. Here in America it’s just a nonsense word (The Simpsons used it repeatedly in the old U2 episode)even though in the UK it’s the equivalent of calling someone ‘a jerk-off’ which you most definitely cannot say on American broadcast TV.
To each his own, but calling someone a jackass (or even shortened to just an ‘ass’) has been understood to mean foolish, and be completely separate from the body part for quite a while now. I remember hearing/reading it in polite circles as a kid back in the 70s. Calling someone an ‘asshole’ however is definitely not allowed on network TV. Using it repeatedly in a film can be enough to earn you an R from the MPAA.
Hasenpfeffer Incorporated! 
I thought that was “putz”.
Pretty sure schmuck, schmecke, and putz all mean penis. I think putz is the rudest of those three.
Only in Yiddish, though. In German, putz is just, like, an ornament of some kind.
How many words for “penis” does Yiddish need?