Final Jeopardy: Etymology (10-24-17)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (10/24/2017) in the category “Etymology” was:
This 8-letter word meaning “cultured” or “intellectual” originated with a phrenology concept.
New champ Nan Bauer won $15,001 in her first game. In her second, she is up against these two players: Rod Swain, from Columbus, OH; and Kristina Witzling, from Flemington, NJ.
Round 1 Categories: Art & Mythology – Florida Cities – Sullivan Award Winners – Hold My Beer – Robots – “R”2 “D”2
Rod found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Robots” under the $800 clue, with 7 clues left after it. He was in the lead with $3,800, $1,800 ahead of Nan in second place. He bet $1,500 and he was RIGHT.
Used to move equipment & supplies, the 55-foot-long Canadarm2 is a giant robotic arm on this facility. show
Rod finished in the lead with $7,100. Nan was second with $2,000 and Kristina was last, at zero.
Round 2 Categories: Organizations – Come Sail Away – Professors – Hit TV Theme Songs – The Play’s the Thing – In Other Words, Dead
Kristina found the first Daily Double in “Organizations” under the $1,200 clue on the 8th pick. She was in a second place tie with Nan at this point. They both had $2,000, $8,300 behind Rod’s lead. She bet $1,000 and she was RIGHT.
In 2011 & 2012 it was named the sixth-largest homebuilder in the United States. show
Nan found the last Daily Double in “Professors” under the $1,600 clue, with 11 clues left after it. In second place with $4,800, she had $6,700 less than Rod’s lead. She bet $3,000 and she was RIGHT.
A practicing physician, he became Professor of Botany as well as Medicine at the University of Uppsala in 1741. show
Rod finished in the lead with $15,900. Nan was next with $13,400 and Kristina was in third place with $3,400.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“Highbrow, lowbrow, and middlebrow as categories for arts, tastes, and culture in general originated in the early 20th century, with roots in the previous century’s popular practice of phrenology. According to phrenology, the study of a person’s skull could reveal the character of their mind. People believed that a high brow literally signified intelligence, and it was ideas such as this one that led some to use phrenology to validate the racism and classism of the period.” (What We Mean When We Say Highbrow)
The Victorian Web traces the history of phrenology from the studies of German physiologist Franz Joseph Gall to the Fowler Brothers, who popularized “head reading” in America, laying the blame for ethnic and racial stereotypes associated with the practice at the Fowlers’ feet.
Kristina went with cerebral. She didn’t bet anything so she stayed at $3,400.
Nan came up with eggheaded, though she didn’t quite finish her last “d.” She lost her $6,601 bet, dropping her down to $6,799.
Rod wrote down “adroit.” That cost him $11,000. He had $4,900 left, not enough to take the crown away from Nan. She remained the Jeopardy! champ with a 2-day total of $21,800.
A triple stumper from each round:
SULLIVAN AWARD WINNERS ($600) Female gymnast (& future “Dancing with the Stars” winner)
COME SAIL AWAY ($2000) He led the 1608 expedition that sailed from France & founded Quebec
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “The Founding Fathers”
On an alphabetical list of Declaration of Independence signers, he comes between Lyman Hall & Benjamin Harrison. show
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
This last two Tuesday games have been tough on the players, especially Manny.
Hey, Eric, when I read the FJ responses here it made me think of you.The first time I heard the word egghead was when you called me that on twitter. I asked someone what it meant, lol.
And this FJ tripped me up, too. 🙂
I hope that person told you it was a complement!
Or a compliment. Lol. Sometimes using voice command is like herding cats.
Herding cats—the mental image is hilarious!
Nan was in an ideal situation to wager.
I’m sure Lou really knew the answer. RIGHT LOU!!
Yup, the moment I saw the episode, I knew exactly what it was. Still though, you got to give Nan credit for being creative. Furthermore, whenever I write stories on word, I use more advanced vocabulary when necessary.
Nan Bauer doesn’t remind me of Nan Cohen, the lady who got dethroned by eventual Teachers Tournament winner David Clemmons.
Well it’s her own fault for wagering a lot on the first final game 1.
Great wager by Nan, but still I can’t believe no one knew highbrow. It’s the easiest etymology term to remember, don’t you agree VJ? Still though Rob should have bet at least 4000 if he wants to be champion. Also.eggheaded is not what I would use in my vocabulary. Also what etymology words do you normally use.when you are typing.something on the computer, VJ? You know common words that.are not found in the dictionary?
@Lou, I’ve heard people call bald people “egghead” but that was a long time ago. I can see how phrenology made Nan think of that word. I’m sure all the words I use when typing anything are in the dictionary. But you made me think of my mom and smile. She liked to impress people with her vocabulary so she would often say “in the interim” rather than “in the meantime.” It became kind of a joke because I would roll my eyes and smirk and make her laugh.
LINK: 11 more clues from this match
Rob should have wagered $10,901.
Yeah but with 4999, its still not going to be enough to take the crown away from Nan though, Dalton. Still good prediction on that though. But furthermore, what happened to kristina? I thought she had a little more knowledge on today’s jeopardy?
VJ, you made me think of my mom and smile, too. My mom used to like to say she didn’t care for the “ahmbiahnce” of a place, which caused me to roll my eyes, too.
lol, Rhonda. Funny stuff!
Great wager by Nan! Yet another example of why the player in second place should not bet everything.
Eric, 1 of the reasons that wagers like these get put into columns is that, because there are no ties, it makes things easy to go back and say ”Add 1 to the left column: The Minimum Wager, to make sure that you cover a double-up by the 2nd place player, and then SUBTRACT a dollar from the right column: The Maximum Wager”. I think Nan made a mistake of adding a dollar to the right column when she was supposed to subtract it, because if Nan missed, which she did, and Kristina got it right and wagered everything, Nan would have costly lost by $1. Uh, Nan, you can’t do that!