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.
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
I know the poem. I thought the clue was, which lake didn’t have a Native American name?
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.”
Right. My guess was Superior.
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.
I guess you’re right. Although I always thought Gitchi Gumee was a fictional name.
Nope. Chippewa (Ojibwe). “Big-Sea-Water,” just like in the poem.
Thanks. Now I’m still wondering about the lightheadedness…
Good question. I fail to see how it differs from “dizziness” (if that was what they were going for).
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
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.
I think the contestant said “what is lightheadedness”, but according to a search, syncope specifically means fainting.
Uh, don’t think so. Here’s a link to the poem. It’s right at the start:
Maybe you’re reading the Hebrew version…? 
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
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.) 
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.
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
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.
I don’t see how that would change the pronunciation at all.