I never had made the "RKO > Welles" connection before; it's fixed in memory now. I wild-donkey guessed Cecil B. De Mille but pretty much knew it was wrong.
I really did know George Eliot (my mother made me read Silas Marner when I was 11 because she had to, and it was sheer torture for an entire summer) but I couldn't surface the name in my mind quickly enough. Maybe too much Sand in the way.
If "squeasy" is in a longstanding recognized reference work, and the definition fits the clue and the category, I say the judges had no choice but to accept it.
cinemaniax7 wrote:I'm surprised J. D. Salinger is doing so poorly in the poll. Didn't anyone read Shoeless Joe?
No. I only saw the movie.
Brian
Yes and yes. But, again, I didn't think it could be Salinger because I forgot he died.
Neither option on the "squeasy" controversy quite describes my feelings accurately. If the producers say it's correct, I'm contractually obligated to accept their word for it! But it bothers me a little that Alex backed into a correct response with what he thought was a made-up word.
I had to answer the Thursday and Friday FJ's from this post, because the stinking NCAA tournament preempted the show, and Channel 12 in Providence did not reschedule the games. I sent them a letter of complaint - not that it will do any good.
Not sure how I got Welles, but I did. I was spoiled on Tuesday but I think its one I would have gotten, so I'm counting it. I'm also surprised Salinger is polling so low, though the only way I knew he was reclusive was from reading Shoeless Joe, though I've never seen the movie.
No chance on Missouri as the date sent me looking for more recent states and went with New Mexico, thinking the quote referenced Land of Enchantment. Only a WAG of Monopoly on Friday.
I read Silas Marner in high school and thought it was horribly boring, but remembered the name of the man who wrote it. I knew Liz and Wally but could not pull out the king of Egypt.
If not for having a "Oh, instaget - the guy who wrote 'Catcher in the Rye', what's his name" , repeating ad nauseam for 30 seconds, it would have been a full week. My brain works, and alternately doesn't work, in mysterious ways.
If they found it in a dictionary, ok. However see below.
Miss Mellie wrote:
bpmod wrote:
cinemaniax7 wrote:I'm surprised J. D. Salinger is doing so poorly in the poll. Didn't anyone read Shoeless Joe?
No. I only saw the movie.
Brian
Yes and yes. But, again, I didn't think it could be Salinger because I forgot he died.
I think I knew for awhile that he was a recluse, but it was reinforced by the several news stories I saw on him when he died. Of course, if you didn't know he died, you probably didn't see the news stories recapping his life that week either.
Neither option on the "squeasy" controversy quite describes my feelings accurately. If the producers say it's correct, I'm contractually obligated to accept their word for it! But it bothers me a little that Alex backed into a correct response with what he thought was a made-up word.
Yeah, this was how I felt at the time, as it was pretty clear just from Alex's face (and he confirmed here himself) that he rang in expecting to say queasy, realized it didn't start with s, and just added the "s" almost subconsciously (he didn't really have time to think it through). On the other hand, lots of times people get clues right based on total wild guesses, so is this really any different?
debramc wrote:Yeah, this was how I felt at the time, as it was pretty clear just from Alex's face (and he confirmed here himself) that he rang in expecting to say queasy, realized it didn't start with s, and just added the "s" almost subconsciously (he didn't really have time to think it through). On the other hand, lots of times people get clues right based on total wild guesses, so is this really any different?
I thought he wanted to say queasy too, but in his post he said he knew it and blanked. But I agree with your last sentence.
No problem with squeasy being called correct if there's evidence for that position. I discarded "queasy" on way to the correct answer, so it seems not unreasonable if documented. Was there a TOM on Fri's FJ that I missed? I said Monopoly for lack of anything better. Timer and turntable I can see in retrospect, but hardly unique to Scrabble.
Woof wrote:Was there a TOM on Fri's FJ that I missed? I said Monopoly for lack of anything better. Timer and turntable I can see in retrospect, but hardly unique to Scrabble.
The first game I think of that has a "bag to hold game pieces" would be Scrabble and its letter tile bag. I have never seen a Monopoly set that had a bag.
I've never thought about the possibility of something like this before, but in this case it could have been possible for Alex to say "What is queasy?", and if he talked fast enough it would sound exactly like "What is squeasy?". In that case, he could have received credit for giving an answer that wasn't even what he actually said. I don't think this is what happened, as I agree with the majority opinion that he essentially added an "s" to the word queasy because he realized that queasy didn't fit the category. But can anyone think of a time in Jeopardy! history where a similar issue could have come up, where someone gave a response and it was impossible to tell whether or not they were putting an "s" in front of their response or if the "s" sound was coming from the end of the "What is"?
Here's a hypothetical example: The clue says something including the words "this capital of Estonia", and I buzz in and for some reason say "What is Stalin?" The capital of Estonia is actually Talinn, and I don't think the initial vowel is pronounced the same as the one in "Stalin", but I think most likely Alex would give me credit for that response as long as I didn't have an elongated pause between "is" and "Stalin".
jeff6286 wrote:I've never thought about the possibility of something like this before, but in this case it could have been possible for Alex to say "What is queasy?", and if he talked fast enough it would sound exactly like "What is squeasy?". In that case, he could have received credit for giving an answer that wasn't even what he actually said.
That reminds me of a Bonus Round puzzle on Wheel last season (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... xw44#t=75s). The puzzle was A KNOWN FACT and the only guess the contestant gave during her 10 seconds was AN UNKNOWN FACT. A visitor to the message board suggested that what she had said could theoretically be interpreted as the word AN followed immediately by the correct solution (as though she started off by used the wrong article and then corrected herself). A couple members agreed that she should have been credited with the solve even though it clearly wasn't what she actually said, while some viewed the idea as an unfair interpretation of the rules.
jeff6286 wrote:I've never thought about the possibility of something like this before, but in this case it could have been possible for Alex to say "What is queasy?", and if he talked fast enough it would sound exactly like "What is squeasy?". In that case, he could have received credit for giving an answer that wasn't even what he actually said. I don't think this is what happened, as I agree with the majority opinion that he essentially added an "s" to the word queasy because he realized that queasy didn't fit the category. But can anyone think of a time in Jeopardy! history where a similar issue could have come up, where someone gave a response and it was impossible to tell whether or not they were putting an "s" in front of their response or if the "s" sound was coming from the end of the "What is"?
Here's a hypothetical example: The clue says something including the words "this capital of Estonia", and I buzz in and for some reason say "What is Stalin?" The capital of Estonia is actually Talinn, and I don't think the initial vowel is pronounced the same as the one in "Stalin", but I think most likely Alex would give me credit for that response as long as I didn't have an elongated pause between "is" and "Stalin".
If it weren't for a small glottal stop earlier this season, a young woman would have gotten credit for "Who is Iggy Stardust?" and we would have been none the wiser.
Even though I knew it was Welles I kept nearly second guessing myself with DeMille, which I knew was wrong- I will blame my misspelling on the mental argument I was having (but it can't possibly be DeMille, he was never at RKO, stop thinking that and stick with Orson Welles!).
On the one hand I kind of felt "aw, man" over squeasy because it was clear he thought it was a wrong answer when he gave it. On the other hand, a contestant's confidence in their answer has nothing to do with its rightness or wrongness so I can't begrudge it.
Pavloved Welles from RKO, then crossed it out in favor of Hitchcock . Apparently the association in my mind between Welles/RKO was so strong that I believed it must have been his (Welles') own studio (imagining maybe the O was for Orson?? [turns out it's for Orpheum]), and it made no sense to tour one's own studio so it had to be some other director.
Silas Marner: one of my most favorite-est books (sic), so couldn't miss that one! (I know tastes in literature vary, but if it was something you read when you were very young, you might consider giving it another chance. It does take a bit for the story to get started (due to initial setting of time/place/characters), but well worth it in the end. Free volunteer-read audio version available at Librivox for those [like me] too tired/busy to read with their eyes.)
There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely knooooooooo-OW
A major arena in Los Angeles: "Staples Center" vs. "Staple Center". Pronounce it. It's become a running joke at my pub quiz after I chose to neg "Staple Center" one night.
Andy Saunders
J! Archive Founding Archivist
Publisher - The Jeopardy! Fan
seaborgium wrote:
If it weren't for a small glottal stop earlier this season, a young woman would have gotten credit for "Who is Iggy Stardust?" and we would have been none the wiser.
Having heard the name a number of times before finally seeing it in print,
I initially thought President Obama's new press secretary was named Jake Harney.
I guess that's one argument in favor of responding with both first and last names (if you believe you know them).
(And then saying them really, really fast, just in case ...!)
Would be funny to see this kind of phonetically correct incorrectness happen in Final Jeopardy!
(unless it's me up there, of course, in which case: NOT FUNNY AT ALL ) Spoiler
His name is Jay Carney.
There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely knooooooooo-OW
. Apparently the association in my mind between Welles/RKO was so strong that I believed it must have been his (Welles') own studio (imagining maybe the O was for Orson?? [turns out it's for Orpheum]), and it made no sense to tour one's own studio so it had to be some other director. 
)