Final Jeopardy: Historical Nicknames (3/24/14)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/24/2014), in the category “Historical Nicknames” was:
Nickname shared by George Armstrong Custer, Native American Chief Crazy Horse and a member of a 1930s comedy team.
New champ Joe Morse won $24,400 in last Friday’s game. He returns today to take on these two players: Derek Arnold, from Akron, OH; and Nancy Akerman, from Arlington, VA.
Round 1: Nancy found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Maps” under the $600 clue. She was in third place with $1,600, $2,400 less than Joe’s lead. She made it a true Daily Double, after realizing she couldn’t bet $2,000, and she was RIGHT.
Able to change naturally over time, an ambulatory boundary on a map is formed by one of these. show
Nancy finished in the lead with $6,400. Joe was second with $5,800 and Derek was last with $5,400.
Round 2: Joe found the first Daily Double in “City Seals” under the $1,600 clue. He was in third place with $7,000, $3,000 less than Nancy’s lead. He bet it all and thought it was a St. Bernard. That was WRONG.
The capital of Switzerland has had this animal on its seal since the 1200s. show
Derek found the last Daily Double in “Recent Nonfiction” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $13,800, $2,200 more than Nancy in second place. He bet $2,000 and thought it was the Mormon church. That was WRONG.
A 2012 expose goes “inside” this church to tell “the story of America’s most secretive religion.” show
Nancy finished in the lead with $13,200. Derek was next with $11,800 and Joe was in third place with $6,400.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Curly, according to wikipedia, was a nickname given to Chief Crazy Horse by his mother. Another boyhood nickname of Crazy Horse was “Yellow Fuzzy Hair,” according to several books that say the info came from the Chief’s friend He-Dog. That’s pretty darn close to General Custer’s well-known nickname “Yellow Hair.” Custer had many others. In addition to “Curly” or “Old Curly,” Custer was called the Boy General, Iron Butt, Ringlets, Fanny, Hard Ass and probably a lot of other things we don’t even want to look up.
A member of the Three Stooges, Jerry Horwitz is the only one known better by his stage name Curly (Howard) than his real name.
Joe couldn’t come up with anything. He bet and lost it all.
Derek thought it was “Hardy.” That cost him everything, too.
Nancy wrote down “Stonewall.” She bet $10,401 and finished with $2,799 and she won the game with that amount. Nancy will return as the newest one-day champ tomorrow.
Derek was no doubt thinking of Laurel and Hardy, but Hardy was not a nickname. It was the real last name of Oliver Hardy (born Norvell Hardy). His best-known nickname was Ollie. Stonewall was the nickname of Confederate general Thomas Jackson.
Wow, that was a tough game to watch. 3 good players, the guys lose all their money — twice in the same game for Joe! The winner doesn’t quite lose it all, but a lot!
2 years ago:: TWO players got this FJ in Toys & Games.
In 1953 the maker of this board game was flooded with letters with ideas for timing devices, turntables & bags to hold game pieces. show
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As a Custer officianado I was appalled at that dumb Jeopardy final question. Just because someone calls some one “Curly one time does not make it a nickname. Curly was Custers Scout. If crazy Horse’s mom wanted to call him Curly that’s her right but it must have been a name that was quickly dropped. As for the stooge-who gives a damn! In the military troops give the nicknames no one else. To his men Custer had a favorite nickname–“Old Iron BUTT! Shame on you Jeopardy!
The way I see it, Jeopardy used the term “historic” in the category very loosely and they should have went with Nicknames in Common or something else.
Curly appears to be a family nickname for Crazy Horse which would make it more equivalent to Custer’s family nickname Autie.
Repeating the link here to Custer’s wife, Libbie, mentioning Old Curly in a letter to her parents for anyone who missed it: google books.
I agree, there is no mention of Curly as a nickname for Custer anywhere in the history books. This was a bogus question and cost the players dearly. I watched this show and my first answer was Yellow Hair. I was shocked with the answer Curly.
The following is from Wikipedia — I know they’re not always right, but …
“Crazy Horse was named at birth Cha-O-Ha (“In the Wilderness” or “Among the Trees”, meaning he was one with nature.) His mother’s nickname for him was “Curly” or “Light Hair”; as his light curly hair resembled that of his mother”
This is footnoted to a film, done in 2006, called “he Authorized Biography of Crazy Horse and His Family Part One: Creation, Spirituality, and the Family Tree,
I looked this up because a friend thought, as you did, that this was either wrong or, if right, racist.
I went back and looked at a bio. of Custer. There are several references to his scout Curly, but never to Curly as a nickname for Custer.
This Final Jeopardy question is a FAIL for Jeopardy.
Custer’s Crow scout, Curly, is buried at the battlefield in Montana. I thought Jeopardy had blown it…I should have known better!!!
That question will give me nightmares for years to come…
Curly was not a nickname for George Armstrong Custer, but was the name of one of his Indian Scouts.
Numerous books say Custer had a Crow scout named Curly. Numerous books also say Custer himself was called Curly or Old Curly by some.
This is from “The Language of the Civil War” (2001): “Curly” A nickname for Union Major General Armstrong Custer, because of his long curly hair.
Agree- Curly was not a Custer nickname. His family nicknamed him Autie, because he garbled his middle name “Armstrong” in childhood. “Yellow-hair” was given him by the Indians. He was called many other things by many others, perhaps even “Curly” by someone, but it was never his nickname, which, I understand as “commonly used”. Custer’s wife also used the family nickname, “Autie”
One of the books that has an “Old Curly” reference is “The Custer Story: The Life and Intimate Letters of General George A. Custer and His Wife Elizabeth.” It’s in a letter that Custer’s wife wrote to her parents. She writes “Old Curly was Autie…”
Here’s a link to that page on google books. Of course, you don’t have to believe his wife if you don’t want to.
Well..I think you made my point. The link has Custer’s wife referring to him as “Autie” and having to explain that “Curly” was “Autie”. But…I was operating under the notion that a nickname was commonly understood. If every “tag” given by troops, individuals, friends and enemies is a nickname, I’ll concede that “Curly” was one.
Well, I’ll say this, too, Dave. It’s pretty rare that I have to look up so many things to see where the cluewriters got this from!!!
AHHHHH VJ–I see me and my hubby aren’t the only ones who research Jeopardy!’s answers!
And we agree, it’s getting dumber and more wrong by the show!
I wish they’d wise up, or they won’t have to worry about a replacement for Alex in a few years. The show will be cancelled for lack of ratings.
Perhaps someone at Jeopardy confused one of Custer’s actual nicknames – Ringlets – with (the incorrect) Curly/Curley. Oh well…
i’m a little surprised that nobody got this one. the “comedy team” part of the clue should have been a srong hint, since the 3 stooges are often mentioned in all kind of shows and “curly” is sort of a “trademark” in comedy. so even when you had no idea about armstrong or crazy horse….actually it was the first and only thing that came to my mind when i read the clue on ff.
it’s really funny how things turn out sometimes. you have a winner with 2.799 and often somebody with a final total way over 20K loses by a buck.