Indeed. It’s not a word I’d expect everyone to know, but it’s not unreasonable to expect Jeopardy contestants to know it. It comes up in crossword puzzles, too.
I rejected “hoe” because the definition ddn’t really fit (a ho isn’t really a pleasure-seeker) and because the spelling was different (so that it’s not, technically, the same term).
By the way, was Velvet Jones the one who introduced the term “ho” into popular culture?
Rake would have never occurred to me, and the point about “ho” and “hoe” being different words is right, but the meaning of “ho” really isn’t only “prostitute.” It can mean prostitute, but it can also mean slut, or just an undesirable woman. See Urban Dictionary.
“Potable” gets used fairly frequently out here in state and national parks. Water is left in tanks near camping areas and whether or not it’s potable matters because if it isn’t you have to boil it first.
“What is a dirty rotten no good cheating fucking slut, Alex?”
– or maybe I just have issues.
My mistake. I should have said “who uses potable as a noun.” I am familiar with its usage in camping and plumbing contexts.
And, yes, I know people do use it. But it’s not something you could spring on most people.
I don’t think “rake” as a “pleasure seeker” is all that obscure. Anyone who is unfamiliar with it probably doesn’t belong on Jeopardy. I think the Howie Mandel show with the suitcases might be a better fit for those people.
I remember that clue, and I remember thinking of both “rake” and “ho.” If I were actually up there, playing the game, I don’t know which I would have answered. Hopefully, “rake.”
I had never heard the word until I asked what it meant the first time that I saw it on a tank. I’d guess that most people haven’t heard it if they don’t do backwoods hiking and camping. It’s pretty situation specific, I think.
I probably would have answered “hoe” without hesitation, although I am familiar with the “rake” alternative as well.
I wonder how these answers break down based on age? I’m 30.
I remember when that happened, and I knew rake, but ONLY because it was used in a video game I had played a few years prior. I have never heard the word used in conversation, lecture, or otherwise seen it in print.
Like glee and others, I’d have said “rake.” I don’t mentally associate “ho” with a garden implement, and I don’t think of them as seeking pleasure.
“Rake and Ramblin’ Man” was a top ten Country chart hit for Don Williams in 1978. While I agree it’s not particularly common, it’s a long way from being obscure and relegated to the 19th century.
Slight hijack, but is “Potent Potables” the only category that is used over and over or are other categories repeated, as well?
There are others: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!_recurring_categories
The most amusing one IMHO is “Those Darned Etruscans”.
I’d have to say “What is hoe?”, I’d have assumed that spelling was common enough to be correct.
Same with a rake.
I’ve never heard the word “rake” used and according to the definition it is not specific to sexual pleasure seaking. However, a whore can either be a prostitute or a person who seeks out sex for pleasure (whoring around).
I’d just like to remind the people responding that it’s easy to sit at a keyboard and say what you’d say. I lost pretty miserably on that show - by Final Jeopardy the guy in first place couldn’t be caught.
I can look back at that tape today and cringe at some of my answers.
What would I say? Don’t know - I have documentary evidence that I’m capable of brilliant and stupid answers alike. Heaven knows which one I would have glommed onto at the time.
You mean all these people in this thread aren’t actually more knowledgeable than Ken Jennings?
(I’m sure someone is going to come in and say that he got the $200 question wrong just for the sake of making the joke, but that can’t be proven. It’s easily believable that it was the first answer that came to his mind and that he only smiled about after already having blurted it out.)