# Today’s Final Jeopardy – July 13, 2018 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875 "2018-07-14T02:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**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 26, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/21 "2018-09-26T07:05:32Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > “My Fair Lady” is a play, but the quote in the clue is from the preface to “Pygmalion”, so “My Fair Lady” would have been wrong. Yes, I figured that. But the quote and the song lyrics are close enough for them to be easily confused. I have a copy of _ **Pygmalion** _, so I knew where the quote was from, but I doubt most people would right offhand. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/22 "2018-09-26T07:10:34Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I believe Alex said the typo was just on that one contestant’s screen. Or, as suggested above, it was corrected when that episode was edited for broadcast. Either way, I was surprised when they revealed the mistake, since I hadn’t noticed anything. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/23 "2018-09-26T07:13:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, I figured that. But the quote and the song lyrics are close enough for them to be easily confused. > > I have a copy of _ **Pygmalion** _, so I knew where the quote was from, but I doubt most people would right offhand. I think it’s more likely they would recognize the lyrics from the movie, rather than a quote from the play’s preface. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/24 "2018-09-26T08:09:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, I figured that. But the quote and the song lyrics are close enough for them to be easily confused. > > I have a copy of _ **Pygmalion** _, so I knew where the quote was from, but I doubt most people would right offhand. No, but many (probably most) Final Jeopardy questions do not demand that you know offhand, but enable you to put the pieces together, from general knowledge. If you know something about Shaw (granted, many people don’t, but then it wouldn’t do for everybody to be right every time), you know that he liked to write lengthy prefaces to his plays, and that is unusual. Few, though, who didn’t have to act in “My Fair Lady” are likely to have read it as a play. ---
**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 26, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/25 "2018-09-26T11:52:51Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > No, but many (probably most) Final Jeopardy questions do not demand that you know offhand, but enable you to put the pieces together, from general knowledge. If you know something about Shaw (granted, many people don’t, but then it wouldn’t do for everybody to be right every time), you know that he liked to write lengthy prefaces to his plays, and that is unusual. Few, though, who didn’t have to act in “My Fair Lady” are likely to have read it as a play. I didn’t know that about Shaw, but I did remember the lyric that terentii quoted from _My Fair Lady_. Figuring that Professor Higgins was probably a similar character in the play and the musical, and that Alan Jay Lerner may have taken some lyrical inspiration from the play’s preface, I guessed _Pygmalion_. I wasn’t certain until one of the contestants got it right. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/26 "2018-09-26T11:58:05Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > No, but many (probably most) Final Jeopardy questions do not demand that you know offhand, but enable you to put the pieces together, from general knowledge. If you know something about Shaw (granted, many people don’t, but then it wouldn’t do for everybody to be right every time), you know that he liked to write lengthy prefaces to his plays, and that is unusual. Absolutely correct. The key words “From its preface” both provide a major clue and remove any possible ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/27 "2018-09-26T14:24:37Z")
There was never any question in my mind that they meant “Pygmalion” and not “My Fair Lady.” Of course, I knew the quote they used, so there wasn’t much deduction involved. 😃 ---
**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 26, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/28 "2018-09-26T14:39:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Absolutely correct. The key words “From its preface” both provide a major clue and remove any possible ambiguity. How do you know the text of the musical doesn’t have a preface? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/29 "2018-09-26T15:22:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > How do you know the text of the musical doesn’t have a preface? :dubious: Musicals don’t have prefaces; they have overtures. 😛 ---
**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 26, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875/30 "2018-09-26T15:37:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Musicals don’t have prefaces; they have overtures. 😛 [Overtures, curtains, and lights!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21217216&postcount=14) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-s-final-jeopardy-july-13-2018/817875.md?page=1)