# The Jeopardy thread \[was James Holzhauer\]\[contains spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [April 17, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696 "2019-04-17T21:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 70
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1381 "2020-09-30T00:20:45Z")
Was anyone as baffled as I was by Final Jeopardy… the Great Lakes question? Also, the reigning champ had an answer ruled incorrect just before Final… without telling what the right answer was. All in all, a less than satisfying episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1382 "2020-09-30T00:27:26Z")
I thought FJ was pretty easy, so long as you know the opening of _ **The Song of Hiawatha** _: _By the shore of Gitche Gumee,_ _By the shining Big-Sea-Water,_ _At the doorway of his wigwam,_ _In the pleasant Summer morning,_ _Hiawatha stood and waited._ If you don’t know Longfellow, you should at least be familiar with Gordon Lightfoot: _The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down_ _Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee_ _The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead_ _When the skies of November turn gloomy_ ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1383 "2020-09-30T00:42:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I thought FJ was pretty easy, so long as you know the opening of _ **The Song of Hiawatha** _ : I know the poem. I thought the clue was, which lake didn’t have a Native American name? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1384 "2020-09-30T00:44:06Z")
Also, the four lower lakes all have Aboriginal names: Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario. Superior (the one at the head of the system) does not. Its name is derived from the French term _lac supérieur_, or “upper lake.” ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1385 "2020-09-30T00:46:29Z")
Right. My guess was Superior. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1386 "2020-09-30T00:47:39Z")
Here is the FJ clue: _An 1855 poem gives us this Native American name for the 1 Great Lake not known to us today by a Native American word or a tribe’s name_ It’s clear they wanted to know the Aboriginal name of Lake Superior. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1387 "2020-09-30T00:49:18Z")
I guess you’re right. Although I always thought Gitchi Gumee was a fictional name. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1388 "2020-09-30T00:51:34Z")
Nope. Chippewa (Ojibwe). “Big-Sea-Water,” just like in the poem. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1389 "2020-09-30T00:52:54Z")
Thanks. Now I’m still wondering about the lightheadedness… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1390 "2020-09-30T00:54:11Z")
Good question. I fail to see how it differs from “dizziness” (if that was what they were going for). ---
**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 30, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1391 "2020-09-30T01:05:21Z")
I knew it was Superior, and tha Gitchee Goomy was a native name, but for some reason I was confused as to which one they wanted (in hindsight it is clearer) It helps that I have bicycled along some of the shore several times. Brian ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1392 "2020-09-30T01:23:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I thought FJ was pretty easy, so long as you know the opening of _ **The Song of Hiawatha** _ : > > _By the shore of Gitche Gumee,_ > _By the shining Big-Sea-Water,_ > _At the doorway of his wigwam,_ > _In the pleasant Summer morning,_ > _Hiawatha stood and waited._ I did get Final Jeopardy, and I looked up the poem afterwards. There are numerous references to Gitche Gumee; the section you quoted is the last one, near the end. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1393 "2020-09-30T01:25:26Z")
I think the contestant said “what is lightheadedness”, but according to a search, syncope specifically means fainting. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1394 "2020-09-30T01:27:54Z")
Uh, don’t think so. Here’s a link to the poem. It’s right at the start: > **[Longfellow: The Song of Hiawatha, The Song of Hiawatha](https://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=296)** > > The Song of Hiawatha Maybe you’re reading the Hebrew version…? 🤔 ---
**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:** [September 30, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1395 "2020-09-30T01:33:15Z")
That link goes to the XXII stanza (or verse, or whatever the sections are called). On the right are links to the others. This page has the full text: [The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Song of Hiawatha, by Henry W. Longfellow](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19/19-h/19-h.htm) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1396 "2020-09-30T01:37:52Z")
Wow! That’s one freakin’ long poem! 😮 The part I quoted is the only one I’ve ever heard. I wonder how many other people would say the same. (Or have ever bothered to read the whole poem.) 🤔 ---
**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 30, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1397 "2020-09-30T01:58:08Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Also, the reigning champ had an answer ruled incorrect just before Final… without telling what the right answer was Alex gave the correct answer when the champ first answered: Fainting. I knew they wanted the Native American name for Lake Superior but there was no way in hell I would ever be able to figure out what that was. I’ve _heard_ of Gitchee Gumee, nothing makes me associate that with Lake Superior. I just thought that was some made up words for a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1398 "2020-09-30T03:16:19Z")
Either Song of Hiawatha or The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald would give one the answer. > The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down > Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1399 "2020-09-30T03:21:26Z")
Also, I am unsure whether I’d have been ruled correct on that. I had the correct answer, but I would definitely have spelt it as Gitchigumi. Whether the judges would have ruled that as changing the pronunciation (as they did with Barry Gordy vs Berry Gordy), I don’t know. ---
**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 30, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/1400 "2020-09-30T04:35:50Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I had the correct answer, but I would definitely have spelt it as Gitchigumi. Whether the judges would have ruled that as changing the pronunciation I don’t see how that would change the pronunciation at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=69) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=71)