Jeopardy! Season 37 (2020-2021)

[Cherpumple]

That was a wild ride! The two challengers came charging out of the gate while Bryce floundered for the whole first round. Then Bryce made a crazy comeback to first place, only to lose it all in FJ. Phew! I liked him and am sad to see him go, but all three players were strong, so I would have been happy with any outcome.

I did fairly well tonight. I got the TS of Tiffany Haddish (confident), Wrangler (confident), Bernini (wild guess), and Rood (confident, since "The Dream of the Rood" is one of my favorite Old English poems; it's the story of the Passion from the perspective of the cross).

FJ was an instaget somehow, but I spent the remaining time panicking about whether I would need to write "NY" or "New York" and if I needed to draw the heart or write "love". It was weirdly stressful!

ETA: for what it's worth, the few times I've said "primer" to refer to a textbook, I'm pretty sure I said "prymer". I think it's because I connect it to the word "primary". "Primmer" sounds very odd to me, but honestly, it's not a word I hear very often.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Cherpumple

[853fisher]

17 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Well, my first grade teacher definitely assigned me readings from my “preprimmer” not my “preprymer”. But then I guess I’m an old fogey who says zo-ology, not zoo-ology, and thinks there’s a difference between wine and whine. So I guess I’ll stop whining and get back to my wine. 

I think "primmer" must have sounded odd to me at first because it's another word I had read but never had cause to speak, in this sense.  I remember a book about "old school days" (far older than anyone on this thread) in which primers were discussed, and I'd certainly heard "prime" and maybe "primary," so why not pronounce "primer" the same way?  Well, because English, that's why.  What can one do?

I'll be looking at the primroses in the garden with some suspicion moving forward, though, I can promise you that.

Edited April 1, 2021 by 853fisher

[dankesean]

3 hours ago, secnarf said:

Also - I got the Chumash question because of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I honestly didn't even know (before tonight) if they were a real tribe or one made up by the show. But, I do know the state that BtVS takes place in!

Same here. Bonus points if you sang 'his penis got diseases from a Chumash tribe...' before answering.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Are there really places where “prymer” is the accepted pronunciation?

I think it's a pretty common mistake, and perhaps in fact one where that mispronunciation would be accepted in many a J! category other than where being a heteronym is the whole point.

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, opus said:

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Who is Sedaris?" needed a "be more specific." I guess Oz does not know of Amy Sedaris and just saw "David Sedaris" and thought it was good enough.

The clue did contain the word “his”,  so maybe that’s why.

Ah! I missed the “his” in the clue. 
 

 

8 hours ago, secnarf said:

I got the Chumash question because of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I honestly didn't even know (before tonight) if they were a real tribe or one made up by the show. But, I do know the state that BtVS takes place in!

The Chumash being in California was an instaget for me because my 3 kids went through the California public school system where middle schoolers study local tribes, so out of 3 daughters, at least one did a report on the Chumash. 
I never watched BTVS. We didn’t have TV then, and it’s just not a show I’ve since wanted to catch up on. Maybe you had to be there at the time, like with Lost?

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

That was a wild ride! The two challengers came charging out of the gate while Bryce floundered for the whole first round. Then Bryce made a crazy comeback to first place, only to lose it all in FJ. Phew! I liked him and am sad to see him go, but all three players were strong, so I would have been happy with any outcome.

Did anyone else think that Emily was using a deliberate strategy to confuse the champ and other challenger by jumping around from category to category?
It seemed to work!

 

 

 

8 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I have always thought primmer was the pronunciation for an introductory text, and it has bugged me no end to hear it pronounced like a coat of paint. Are there really places where “prymer” is the accepted pronunciation?

I did yell "prĭmmer!" (with the short ĭ sound) at the TV, so you're not alone, @SoMuchTV.
I think I may have learned it in Library classes when first getting my Librarian Technician's Certificate, or maybe later in a course for my MLS?
Or maybe in 1959 my 1st grade teacher actually asked us to "take out your primers." 

I tried to find a rule to vindicate all the long ī pronouncers stating that usually a vowel followed by a single consonant in a 2-syllable word typically get the long sound, but seemingly there is no such rule? Anyway, you still do want to ask at the paint store for "prīmer" with a long i sound.

 

 

[Katy M]

8 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Did anyone else think that Emily was using a deliberate strategy to confuse the champ and other challenger by jumping around from category to category?
It seemed to work!

Didn't work that well. She was in third place going into final.

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Didn't work that well. She was in third place going into final.

Yes, true.  
But what I meant to ask was: do you think it was a strategy or a nervous tic?

[Katy M]

Just now, shapeshifter said:

Yes, true.  
But what I meant to ask was: do you think it was a strategy or a nervous tic?

I imagine it was strategy.

[Clanstarling]

On 3/31/2021 at 5:57 AM, Mindthinkr said:

That annoyed me too. I also thought that the Kim Kardashian clue was too easy for it’s money value. At times you couldn’t get through the grocery store check out line without her being on at least one magazine cover. My game was so so and of course I missed FJ. 

Kim was easy. I pay very little attention to the Kardashians, but they are blasted over all kinds of media. She's the only one I actually recognize.

13 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I feel like I should have gotten FJ, but I did not.  I said the Big Apple.  I have no idea if that's even a logo.  But I think of "I ❤️ New York" as more of a slogan than a logo anyway.

I did too. I had no idea if there was a specific logo, but New York's the "Big Apple" and apples bruise.

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

However, I did relate to Oz for once when he mentioned you had to be old enough to know "a fifth." In high school, after my slightly older, only boyfriend was sent to Vietnam, a friend used to get her older brother to buy us a fifth of Scotch on weekends, which she would let me drink by myself. If my parents noticed, they never said, but they did send me on a 2 week visit in the summer to another friend who had moved away.

I'm old enough, but I never drank hard liquor (well, more accurately, I never bought hard liquor after tasting it). So it didn't come to mind.

[laredhead]

I think Emily was hunting for the Daily Double clues by jumping around between topics.  She seemed to have a strategy from the beginning, and it was working, until Bryce gained some traction in the second half.  Isn't that the strategy that James Holzhauer used, along with going for the big $$ clues as his first choices? 

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, laredhead said:

  She [Emily] seemed to have a strategy from the beginning, and it was working, until Bryce gained some traction in the second half.

Kudos to Bryce for recovering his mental mojo in the second half. If he'd known the answer to FJ, he would have won. 
But it was really just as much all about the wagering in FJ. I just noticed this page for the episode/game at J! Archive: https://www.j-archive.com/wageringcalculator.php?a=16800&b=16000&c=12600&player_a=Bryce&player_b=Kevin&player_c=Emily
Emily is definitely a strategic thinker. It will be interesting to see what she does this evening.

Regardless, assuming Bryce becomes a doctor, at least he won't likely flip out in the middle of surgery if something unexpected occurs. And maybe his Jeopardy experience will come to mind and help him stay cool. 

[Prevailing Wind]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I'm old enough, but I never drank hard liquor (well, more accurately, I never bought hard liquor after tasting it). So it didn't come to mind.

Taking to small talk...

[MrAtoz]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I tried to find a rule to vindicate all the long ī pronouncers stating that usually a vowel followed by a single consonant in a 2-syllable word typically get the long sound, but seemingly there is no such rule?

Both of my parents were teachers, and my wife is a teacher.  "Primmer" is the correct pronunciation for an introductory text.

That said, I believe it is generally true that a single consonant after a vowel usually makes that vowel long, while a double consonant makes it short.  Compare the pronunciations of "pining" and "pinning," or "diner" and "dinner."  If it's not a rule, as such, it is at least a common occurrence.  It just happens not to apply in this case.

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, MrAtoz said:

Both of my parents were teachers, and my wife is a teacher.  "Primmer" is the correct pronunciation for an introductory text.

That said, I believe it is generally true that a single consonant after a vowel usually makes that vowel long, while a double consonant makes it short.  Compare the pronunciations of "pining" and "pinning," or "diner" and "dinner."  If it's not a rule, as such, it is at least a common occurrence.  It just happens not to apply in this case.

Yes, the only rule I found referred to spelling rather than pronunciation and so was for doubling the consonant after a short vowel sound. 
But that would make it a "common occurance," which gives another reason for those who have never heard it pronounced to use the long i sound.

[ErinV]

15 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

FJ: I went with Uncle Sam Wants You (more than ever)

Since Amy Sedaris didn't write "Me Talk Pretty One Day" I guess it's OK that they didn't ask for BMS for her brother David, who DID write it. Personally, I think Amy's stuff is funnier than David's.

Only 2 more days of the Land of Oz.

 

I think they definitely should've asked for a BMS on the Sedaris one.

[ErinV]

7 minutes ago, ErinV said:

I think they definitely should've asked for a BMS on the Sedaris one.

Edit - I didn't realize the clue said "he" 🙂

 

[saber5055]

4 minutes ago, ErinV said:

I think they definitely should've asked for a BMS on the Sedaris one.

Yeah, since David has a brother and three sisters who might identify as a "he/his." Kevin might have meant Paul or Lisa Sedaris.

Clue: In 2017 this "Me Talk Pretty One Day" humorist opened HIS diaries for "Theft By Finding"

[Browncoat]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Regardless, assuming Bryce becomes a doctor, at least he won't likely flip out in the middle of surgery if something unexpected occurs. And maybe his Jeopardy experience will come to mind and help him stay cool. 

He just needs to work on not flailing his hands around quite so much.

[Clanstarling]

4 hours ago, Browncoat said:

He just needs to work on not flailing his hands around quite so much.

I didn't see it as flailing. For me that implies lack of control. I saw them as controlled sharp movements that seemed to be part of his process for recall and recitation.  They were a bit distracting at first, but then I found them interesting.

[853fisher]

Mehmet misses no opportunity to remind us he's a doctor, does he?  We get it, dude.  I can't blame him for the earthquake debacle, though.  A few more words from the writers could have neatly pinned that clue to a specific kind of disaster.

A bit rich coming from Mr. Pr-eye-mer, maybe, but I thought KT's pronunciation was a lot more like "Potomkin," and people have lost credit for much less.  She clearly knew it, so I won't lose sleep.

I've looked up "antidisestablishmentarianism" but didn't retain it.  Too bad.  "A real-life antidisestablishmentarian" did seem an odd way to put it.  Are there many fictional antidisestablishmentarians?

Another episode in which the winner was in third place after the first round.  This really is a very dynamic game.  I know some are getting antsy waiting for someone to have a big streak, but I don't mind having more different champs.

[PaulaO]

My reply to Thursday’s FJ!  was “what is I do not understand the question.” 

[ams1001]

28 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

Mehmet misses no opportunity to remind us he's a doctor, does he?  We get it, dude.  I can't blame him for the earthquake debacle, though.  A few more words from the writers could have neatly pinned that clue to a specific kind of disaster.

Still trying to figure out what him being a surgeon has to do with him being impressed that the show does its best to be fair in corrections/scoring...

No FJ here, and I wasn't paying enough attention to keep track of anything else. Don't feel like going back to the archive to see how I did. Probably not well.

[Ailianna]

44 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

I've looked up "antidisestablishmentarianism" but didn't retain it.  Too bad.  "A real-life antidisestablishmentarian" did seem an odd way to put it.  Are there many fictional antidisestablishmentarians?

Mostly in Monty Python, I think.

[Katy M]

I said Parliament for FJ.  Hey, if you don't know something you don't know something.

I got the ts of Berkeley, Berkshires, accidenture and Columbus.

I got the entire categories of Out and April Fool's right.

[Browncoat]

KT definitely should NOT have gotten credit for "Potomkin".  I'm glad she didn't win just because of that.

I was confused by the FJ clue as well, so obviously didn't have a response at all.  

I did, however, manage to get the TS of Berkshires, Nevada, Tricia Nixon, and Christopher Columbus.  I only know what the currency of Costa Rica is because I was supposed to go there last December.  Alas.  Hopefully next January.

[SoMuchTV]

The James River (in Virginia) empties into the St. Lawrence?  What a bizarre wild guess. 
 

ETA to be clear, I’m not surprised that someone doesn’t know that part of US geography. Anything out west might as well be on the moon for me. It’s just that if you’re familiar with one of those rivers and not the other, you’d probably know they’re nowhere each other. And if you didn’t know either of them, what would put the St. Lawrence in your mind?  For a wild guess the Mississippi would make more sense. 

Edited April 2, 2021 by SoMuchTV

[Prevailing Wind]

YAYYY...only one more day with Oz. He's a surgeon, y'know.

I'm sorry KT did so poorly. Still, she did better than I would have done.  I "know" her - we both belonged to a forum devoted to Warren Zevon. I'm glad she got to tell a WZ story for her interview.  But we're not BFFs or anything.

 

Boy, other countries have pretty money.

 

[Katy M]

Just now, SoMuchTV said:

The James River (in Virginia) empties into the St. Lawrence?  What a bizarre wild guess. 

Also, UCLA being named after someone?  that contestant had a couple of zany answers.

[shapeshifter]

And I was so proud of myself for instaget yelling “Earthquake! Earthquake! Earthquake!” 
*sigh*

[BuckeyeLou]

I had no idea for FJ....I said "Monarchy" thinking they represent the Establishment 🙂  I liked the girl's answer of FedEx...she was going to keep going with that, lol

[Bastet]

23 hours ago, Katy M said:

Also, UCLA being named after someone? 

The clue didn't say the university itself was named after Lawrence, just that one of its labs was named for him.

I'm going to be watching something else tonight, so I just "played" via the archive.

No one guessing Satan really surprised me.  No one guessing space station surprised me a bit, too, as did the accidentures TS.

So close - I almost ran the first round, but didn't know Bridgerton.  In DJ, I ran 1971, currencies, and overlap, and only missed one each in the other three categories.  But I didn't get FJ.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Bastet

[secnarf]

18 hours ago, dankesean said:

Same here. Bonus points if you sang 'his penis got diseases from a Chumash tribe...' before answering.

Oh, 100%.

[SoMuchTV]

12 minutes ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I had no idea for FJ....I said "Monarchy" thinking they represent the Establishment 🙂  I liked the girl's answer of FedEx...she was going to keep going with that, lol

One of these days, FedEx is going to be the correct FJ response!

[ams1001]

12 minutes ago, Bastet said:

So close - I almost ran the first round, but didn't know Bridgerton

I guessed Bridgerton based on some recent jokes about it on The Daily Show...

[shapeshifter]

50 minutes ago, Bastet said:

So close - I almost ran the first round, but didn't know Bridgerton

I thought I saw a look of embarrassment cross Emily’s face for knowing the answer as soon as she read “Lady Whistledown,” as did I. Heh. 

[saber5055]

4 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I didn't see it as flailing. For me that implies lack of control. I saw them as controlled sharp movements that seemed to be part of his process for recall and recitation.  They were a bit distracting at first, but then I found them interesting.

Totally agree. And they weren't the least bit distracting for me, I found them fascinating. A while back another contestant (I think he made it to ToC) would "write" his answers or do figuring in the air in front of him. I posted at that time that he fascinated me, I loved watching him. I feel the same about Bryce.

As someone posted at TJF, the FedEx "joke" is stale. Beyond stale IMO.

[Josiemae]

1 hour ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I had no idea for FJ....I said "Monarchy" thinking they represent the Establishment 🙂  I liked the girl's answer of FedEx...she was going to keep going with that, lol

I said "monarchy" too. DH got it right. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

No one guessing Satan really surprised me.

Not accepting “Beelzebub” for Satan surprised me. Wikipedia agrees:   
“In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelzebub).

[chessiegal]

5 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Not accepting “Beelzebub” for Satan surprised me. Wikipedia agrees:   
“In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelzebub).

Here is the clue:

Quote

In "Paradise Lost", not Santa but this guy says, "better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n"

They were looking for the specific name Milton used in "Paradise Lost". It was "Satan", thus the "Santa" (haha) in the clue.

[GreekGeek]

19 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Here is the clue:

They were looking for the specific name Milton used in "Paradise Lost". It was "Satan", thus the "Santa" (haha) in the clue.

Right, and in Paradise Lost, Satan and Beelzebub were two different characters: Beelzebub was Satan’s second in command. 

Lots of TS’s in tonight’s game; I got Berkeley, the Berkshires, earthquake,Tricia Nixon, Spring Awakening, and accidentures as well as Satan. No idea on FJ. I guessed the Welsh language, thinking back to The Crown and the episode on Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales.

[Driad]

I got lucky on FJ.  "Establishment" took me to "established church."

[Clanstarling]

13 hours ago, 853fisher said:

Mehmet misses no opportunity to remind us he's a doctor, does he?  We get it, dude.  I can't blame him for the earthquake debacle, though.  A few more words from the writers could have neatly pinned that clue to a specific kind of disaster.

Seems like anyone who's lived in California for any period of time would know that one right off. Are the contestants still drawn from Californian residents?
 

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And I was so proud of myself for instaget yelling “Earthquake! Earthquake! Earthquake!” 
*sigh*

You should be.

11 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I guessed Bridgerton based on some recent jokes about it on The Daily Show...

I watched one episode of Bridgerton. It's not a bad show if you like romances. I don't like romances. But I was willing to give it a try on a day when I was bored.

We used to live in the SF Bay Area, so Lawrence Livermore Labs was kind of an instaget. Well, that and the fact my husband had to go there once for work.

[saber5055]

15 hours ago, 853fisher said:

can't blame him for the earthquake debacle, though.  A few more words from the writers could have neatly pinned that clue to a specific kind of disaster.

I live in tornado land so was positive that was the answer. Trailer parks are tornado magnets, and those mobile homes are always sucked off their foundations and demolished. Always. So that was a no brainer for me, I was stunned it was not tornado, which means it had to be hurricane. Earthquake ... eh, who knew.

Edited April 2, 2021 by saber5055

[Katy M]

2 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I live in tornado land so was positive that was the answer. Trailer parks are tornado magnets, and those mobile homes are always sucked off their foundations and demolished. Always. So that was a no brainer for me, I was stunned it was not tornado, which means it had to be hurricane. Earthquake ... eh, who knew.

I had the exact same thought process.

[Clanstarling]

1 minute ago, saber5055 said:

I live in tornado land so was positive that was the answer. Trailer parks are tornado magnets, and those mobile homes are always sucked off their foundations and demolished. Always. So that was a no brainer for me, I was stunned it was not tornado, which means it had to be hurricane. Earthquake ... eh, who knew.

At least they did accept that as an answer once they thought about it. Calfornia-centric writers, I'm guessing.

[saber5055]

12 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

At least they did accept that as an answer once they thought about it. Calfornia-centric writers, I'm guessing.

Yes, California writers. Like the ones who wrote the plot of the X-Files movie that centered around bees pollinating corn.

[Clanstarling]

17 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Yes, California writers. Like the ones who wrote the plot of the X-Files movie that centered around bees pollinating corn.

You mean to say they don't?

[saber5055]

8 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

You mean to say they don't?

You're killin' me Clan, killin' me I say!

[Trey]

I got the ts of Christopher Columbus and earthquake was my first answer for that clue but I wasn't surprised that they reversed that ruling.

When I was a pre-teen/barely a teen I would go around spelling antidisestablishmentarianism to anyone who would listen - or even if they didn't😄

I even vaguely knew that it had something to do with the separation of church and state so FJ was an instaget for me. I was surprised that it was a ts.