Just a brag. The category was medieval literature. As is the custom at the Stone household, everyone yells out the question based only on category prior to the commercial break. As I only know a dozen or so names of pieces of medieval literature I guessed The Song of Roland. Upon return from our sponsors, the question gives away that it is French with clues about Riems and a French Duke and it being 4000 lines long. My roommates were convinced prior to this that I watched earlier in the day, now they are mad with jealousy! Mad I say! One contestant got it, the losers guessed The Canterbury Tales. Ha!
The…
checks
OK, yes, as the name indicates, those aren’t French.
Were the people who guessed those guessing before or after the clues were given? Because if it was before I can see it, but if it was after it was bad…
The players guess after the clue, “the answer” in jeopardese, is given. Guessing “the question” before the answer is provided is only done at my house.
Bace when I was in grad school, my house mates and I watched Jeopardy pretty much every night. We used to play that game too. I think I was the only one ever to win and it was just one time.
Just a brag, I can spell “jeopardy.”
I would never have guessed the answer. It being French would have nullified any medieval literature I could remember. Impressed with your knowledge but not your spelling.
Well bully for you, little guy. Now get back to work.
- Alex Trebek
I managed this once a long time ago. The F.J. category was “Oscar-Winning Actor/Directors” and I correctly guessed “Kevin Costner”. Granted, it was a helluva lot easier than French Literature.
You’re a lawyer, right?
I did too, but my best performance was when I guessed the clue (in essence) from the category name, which was “household products”.
I’m going to move this over to Cafe Society.
I have also had that minor nerd moment of awesomeness.
Category was Women in History or something similar. My default answer to that category (before the clue is revealed) is Joan of Arc. One time, it was.
(State is Vermont, American President is Chester A. Arthur, Literature is Herman Melville/ Moby Dick.)
It’s not jeppurdee?:smack:
Damn I thought I was the only one who did this game. I’ve been able to do it twice. “Famous years” and “U.S. Landmarks.” Not nearly as hard as you category. But, twice.
If you want to play along:
1066 and the Statue of Liberty
Not quite on par with the OP, but once on Wheel of Fortune I guessed “Gone With The Wind” before any letters were turned.
Jeopardy! seldom deals with really arcane works, and there just aren’t that many examples of “Mediaeval Literature” that aren’t obscure. This limits the selection considerably. I knew it would have to be Song of Roland, Canterbury Tales, or maybe (maybe!) Beowulf or Morte d’Arthur. The French references in the answer once it was revealed were a dead giveaway.
For me, too. And yet two of the contestants missed it, both responding with The Canterbury Tales. And several people on another message board that I frequent said that they had never heard of The Song of Roland. I suspect that for a lot of people, The Canterbury Tales is the only Medieval literature they know of.
I’m not sure whether to lament how the kids today just don’t know their Medieval French chansons de geste, like we did when I was a boy, or if that just makes me sound insufferably smug. 
I got it once with World Capitals and Reykjavík.
wrong account
Suck it, Trebeck!
No, not really. I know very little about literature in general, but I had at least heard of Song of Roland, as I suspect anyone who ever sat through an undergrad survey of Western history has. College nowadays is what high school used to be until around 1965, and your average Jeopardy! contestant is a lot sharper than that. About all a BA does for most people is qualify them to watch PBS.*
*Quote: Alex P. Keaton. 