Monday, March 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[bomtr]

Which apology carries more weight: one from a TenPoundHemmer, or from a ThreeHundredPoundRush?

I'll take the Hammer; his last statement seemed truly contrite, and at least he didn't say he was merely stooping to the level of the rest of us.

[Johnblue]

I'd rather have Rush as the photo than miss Fluke. She's nasty.

Seaborgium, the fact is that they did miss the DDs. I was rooting for the woman since I have a ton of cousins too & she seemed sharp in the beginning. Anyway, it's just a disappointment I have with the show lately. Too many triple stumpers on fairly easy questions AND there are many easy $2000 questions, relatively speaking. Lately the FJs are tougher than the DJ questions.

[bpmod]

I was gonna say three weeks after eating breakfast.

OMG, that can't be right. No supermodel would ever consider catwalking after having eaten so recently.

Yes. That's what was so amazing about it.

Brian

[Volante]

Civilizations
Starting in the 300s B.C., Hellenistic civilization was spread from this land where a new country was declared in 1991.

The point is that it's laughable for the Greeks to claim Macedonia as part of their ongoing historical identity - back in 340 BC the Macedonians were not kindly looked upon. It's fair to say that the culture being spread was Greek - the Macedonians were not much for culture themselves.

Exactly. It may have been Hellenic culture that was being spread, but it wasn't being done from Macedonia, only by a Macedonian and his followers.

A bad, ill-conceived clue.

And that Macedonian was from...where? Albania?

I often wonder about the thought process that goes to a clue like this, the initial pitch and proceeding re-writes, especially ones to trim length. Continued rereading makes it seem they tried to make it harder (or not as obvious) by trying to explicitly separate the land from the country, but make you implicitly make the connection between the two. Might as well spell that part out, so something else has to be made harder. 300BC is meant to point to Alex, cause no one else fits that time span...

Hellenistic civilization spread by conquest from this ancient land that shares its name with a new country declared in 1991.

Would require cross checking each of the states from the (first) Yugoslavian breakup and make sure none of them also match...but is that better?

[alamble]

I often wonder about the thought process that goes to a clue like this, the initial pitch and proceeding re-writes, especially ones to trim length. Continued rereading makes it seem they tried to make it harder (or not as obvious) by trying to explicitly separate the land from the country, but make you implicitly make the connection between the two. Might as well spell that part out, so something else has to be made harder. 300BC is meant to point to Alex, cause no one else fits that time span...

Hellenistic civilization spread by conquest from this ancient land that shares its name with a new country declared in 1991.

Would require cross checking each of the states from the (first) Yugoslavian breakup and make sure none of them also match...but is that better?

It is, at minimum, more accurate, which is certainly something that I think we can agree that the J! writers should be striving for.

[dhkendall]

That kind of threw me for a while -- I knew when it was formed it was The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but has a different name now. So using the date it became independent under a different name was confusing me.

Actually, that's incorrect, it's always had the same name since independence. The problem is, that name is either The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or the Republic of Macedonia depending on what country you're in (Greece, Australia, Mexico, UN, Olympics, and others for the former; Canada, US, UK, Russia, India, and others for the latter. See your friendly neighbourhood Wikipedia for more information.)

[seaborgium]

Unrelated to this episode, I hate when people with foreign accents appear on Jeopardy. Why can't they just speak English the way it was meant to be spoken!?

This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Who cares how one speaks English or a language? As long as the message is conveyed, the pace/sounding/pronunciation are all irrelevant. Who is to say what's real English and what makes you think your English is superior to that of others just by judging how one speaks?

Shame on you! If you can't interact with people, please leave the social circle!

Er... I think the comment was intended to be sarcasm...

And the context was ripped away from around it.

[StevenH]

Macedonia was my first instinct on the FJ clue but I thought that it became a country before 1991, so I switched to Serbia, even though I knew it couldn't be right. Ouch.

[TreehugginCowgirl]

I giggled when Alex mentioned that diesel was about $3.50. It's over $4.00 in most places now. Mentioning fuel prices is probably a bad idea if you don't want to give away the time lag between filming and airing.

I swept seafood, chess and chemistry. I also hated the dwarves. I kind of wish they'd saved these clues for if and when I make it on the air This was actually the best score I've had since I began keeping track.

[Vanya]

Not acceptable on this forum: insulting gays.

Acceptable: fat jokes.

Got it.

[alietr]

Not acceptable on this forum: insulting gays.

Acceptable: fat jokes.

Got it.

Neither are appropriate in my book, but "acceptable" posts are tougher to define. As I've stated previously, it's my intent to use a light hand in moderating and censoring and am wont to do so, especially unprompted (although my finger kept twitching on TPH's post). Anytime someone has a problem with a post, they can bring it to my attention and I'll try to make the appropriate call.

[bomtr]

Not acceptable on this forum: insulting gays.

Acceptable: fat jokes.

Got it.

Neither are appropriate in my book, but "acceptable" posts are tougher to define. As I've stated previously, it's my intent to use a light hand in moderating and censoring and am wont to do so, especially unprompted (although my finger kept twitching on TPH's post). Anytime someone has a problem with a post, they can bring it to my attention and I'll try to make the appropriate call.

The only 'fat joke' I can find in this thread is Sage's reference to ten pound hammer vs 300 pound rush. As is so often the case, Vanya has a problem with equivalence, intimating that a personal barbed complaint about the sexuality of someone on the show--and a potential member of this community--is the same offense as an offhand joke about the size of an outsized personality who by the very nature of his professional life invites insult. A reference to the weight of a contestant on the show would obviously be an entirely different matter and, indeed, equivalent.

Your moderation is impeccable, alietr, and TPH, to his credit, self-censored anyway when called on it.

[seaborgium]

Not acceptable on this forum: insulting gays.

Acceptable: fat jokes.

Got it.

More like "Not acceptable: ascribing a sexual orientation to a speech impediment, implying it's an affectation, while expressing annoyance at a likely uncontrollable aspect of a Jeopardy contestant."

[Vanya]

The only 'fat joke' I can find in this thread is Sage's reference to ten pound hammer vs 300 pound rush. As is so often the case, Vanya has a problem with equivalence, intimating that a personal barbed complaint about the sexuality of someone on the show--and a potential member of this community--is the same offense as an offhand joke about the size of an outsized personality who by the very nature of his professional life invites insult. A reference to the weight of a contestant on the show would obviously be an entirely different matter and, indeed, equivalent.

Your moderation is impeccable, alietr, and TPH, to his credit, self-censored anyway when called on it.

Such is the result of a belief in moral relativism: an attempt to excuse bad behavior by saying it's not as bad as other bad behavior, or by saying the target of said behavior somehow deserved it (an argument you might expect from a child). Both comments insult an entire group of people; there's your equivalence, not that it matters to me.

[seaborgium]

It's not a fat joke to call someone three hundred pounds who has weighed three hundred pounds. I would say SotH is just behind the times.

[bpmod]

I was rooting for the woman since I have a ton of cousins too & she seemed sharp in the beginning.

Actually, I was going to comment on this, as well as another interview segment, but I didn't.

Since when is 32 cousins a lot? Especially when counting both sides?

And 2/3 of a mile? That might be a far swim (I don't swim much), but as a walk, it's not even worth mentioning.

But then again, people look at me askance when I refuse to wait for the elevator if I'm only going as far as the 4th or 5th floor. (and by 'wait', I don't mean the time the elevator takes to get to me.)

Brian

[Johnblue]

I'm actually one of about 56 cousins. Is that enough for you?

I agree with what Vanya is saying. It's not like Rush is visiting this site but there are plenty of fat people who do & they're the ones who get hurt. As for the guy with the lisp, I wouldn't insult him for that but he was a poor contender. I'm amazed at how certain folks get on the show and don't play well at all.

[OrangeSAM]

...Since when is 32 cousins a lot? Especially when counting both sides?...

Brian

Well, to me, with zero first cousins, it sounds like a lot.

[Paucle]

...Since when is 32 cousins a lot? Especially when counting both sides?...
Brian

Well, to me, with zero first cousins, it sounds like a lot.

I'm pretty sure "first" is redundant there. All levels/ removals generate from your first cousins. (I think!)
Edited pre-posting to add: actually, no. If you are the only child at that generational level in the tree, it works.

[bpmod]

I'm actually one of about 56 cousins. Is that enough for you?

I'm sure it would be. But I have always found that upon mentioning my 75 first cousins, people generally react with "is that all?"

So, I've had to resort to mentioning the span between my oldest and youngest first cousins' ages, because I think that is impressive. My oldest first cousin is 70. My youngest first cousin is 32. It is only fair to mention, though, that they are on opposite sides of my family. However, my youngest cousin on the same side as my oldest cousin is 35 (so, first cousins to each other 35 years apart).

Well, to me, with zero first cousins, it sounds like a lot.

Wow! I'd say that that would be (for me at least) a culture shock of sorts.

Brian