Final Jeopardy: International Symbols (12-25-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (12/25/2014), in the category “International Symbols” was:
Inspired by the 5th letter of the Greek Alphabet, its symbol includes 2 horizontal lines to represent stability.
New champ Brian Hamilton won $20,201 yesterday because he knew the two Best Actress Oscar winners with the same last name. On Christmas Day, he is up against these two players: Heather Seal-Breslin, from Flower Mound, TX; and Jason Zbanek, from Bloomfield Hills, MI.
Round 1: Jason found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Adjectives for Your Resumé” under the $1,000 clue before the first break. He was in second place with $400, $200 less than Heather’s lead. He bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
This word for one who foresees a need & makes changes in advance is on a list of “overused business buzzwords”. show
Brian finished in the lead with $3,200. Heather was second with $2,600 and Jason was last with $2,400.
Round 2: Jason found the first Daily Double in “Squares” under the $1,600 clue. He was now in second place with $5,200, $1,000 less than Heather’s lead. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
Statues of foreign heroes of the Revolutionary War are at each corner of this D.C. Square named for one of those heroes. show
Brian found the last Daily Double in “__ Law” under the $2,000 clue, the first clue picked in that category. In third place with $6,400, he had $4,000 less than Jason’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
Jurist Sir Frederick Pollock said it refers to government acts when there is “war within the realm”. show
Brian finished in the lead with $15,600. Jason was next with $12,000 and Heather was in third place with $7,000.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“The euro… took a long time to come about…. designers submitted their ideas and a winner was determined by way of polling and an eventual choice made by the European Commission. The Commission released a statement saying the sign for the euro was inspired by the Greek symbol epsilon. Epsilon is an “E” in English, representing the first letter of the word “Europe.” The parallel lines across the epsilon are to certify the stability of the currency. (Investopedia: Origin of The Origins Of Common Currency Symbols)
Heather came up with the dollar sign. That cost her $3,000 and she finished with $4,000.
Jason thought it was NATO. That cost him $10,000 and he wound up with $2,000.
Brian got it right and added $8,401 so he won his second match with $24,001. His 2-day total is $45,202.
2 years ago:: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “FIGHTING MONARCHS”
Seen here is a suit of armor worn by this monarch at the siege of Boulogne in 1544 when he was 53. show
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Yeah, well, I saw it but I STILL don’t believe it.
I thought it was bad the other day with someone thinking Scrooge dates from the 1950s (or that “decade” means “one hundred years”.)
Now we have to wrap our minds around the concept that the lines in a dollar sign are horizontal.
I can’t excuse nerves for this. If you confuse horizontal with vertical, you’re not “Jeopardy” material, and shouldn’t go on. There are spots for you on “Wheel of Fortune” and “Family Feud,” though.
Also, “International Symbols” kind of hints that it won’t be something we use in the USA, doesn’t it? (Never mind that it has nothing to do with the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet — I mean, that response stunk on so many levels, it’s depressing.)
So, as 2014 winds down, “What is a dollar sign?” gets in under the wire as one of the worst FJ responses of the year!
i could not agree more. the “international” lapse again….
Tom, you are so correct. At least Jason was in the ballpark of international symbols. NATO symbol has a compass rose with a horizontal line pointing to the east and a horizontal line pointing to the west as well as a vertical line pointing to the north and a vertical line pointing to the south. Wrong as he was at least he knows the difference between vertical and horizontal as well as the meaning of “international.”
ah, triumph!!
to be european AND having had a classical (humanistic) education that included latin and greek, epsilon and consequently the euro were like stealing candy from a baby for me.
again a correct bet in fj by brian, a correct dd, finishing in the lead and the only one with the correct fj. again, congratulations, brian. well deserved!!
nice 2 day total as well. he just MIGHT be staying around for a little while.
@John, forget international news. How about the difference between a vertical line and a horizontal line? It will take me days to get over this fj.
Someone who does not know the € is not the issue. It is on the keyboard on my tablet and most American keyboards as shown in my prior sentence. The issue is paying attention to the clue. Some people just don’t pay attention.
true, but forget heather. jason was not exactly a slouch, 2 correct dd answers. BUT not knowing at least the main greek letters did him in. but even without that, a simple thought process: you underline something to stress it’s importance.(a vertical line) so VERY important would be multiple (e.g. TWO vertical lines). and what should be stable -hopefully- internationally? a currency comes to mind. ergo: what (major) currency has 2 vertical lines??
But John, I didn’t laugh. I was stunned and still am. As for greek letters most Americans who attend college ARE familiar with Greek letters through honor societies, fraternities, sororities, etc. I’m assuming that most people who appear on Jeopardy are college graduates. I’m standing by my “not paying attention” position.
I’m with you, Jacob. The dollar sign answer was appalling. That’s exactly what Tom was ranting about the other day (or was it yesterday?)
The ABC stations outside of the PST time zone have NBA coverage preempting J! and WOF in most cases.
For anyone in the suburbs of Philadelphia viewing area Jeopardy can be seen on Fox21 at 7:30 pm.
I can’t wait to see how a contestant confuses vertical which is what the line(s) on the dollar sign is with horizontal which is what the lines on the euro is.
MERRY CHRISTMAS fellow fikkle famers!
i agree, jacob! and not just in the vertical/horizontal sense…if you want to read my post, let me know what YOU think please.
in any event, brian seems to be a solid contestant in every sense, so i hope he WILL be around for a little bit and break the one/two day jinx!
@John, as long as Brian has opponents like Heather he will be around a long, long time. I’m not making fun of her but let’s get real.
Guess I am lucky to live in an area where Jeopardy is shown at 7 o’clock on one channel and at 7:30 on another channel. On the first channel it was preempted due to the NBA game. On the 7:30 channel I was able to watch Jeopardy.
Lucky for Brian there was a category on law since he is a lawyer. Heather blew me away on fj. She not only gave an incorrect response, she drew a dollar sign with a vertical line in her response to support what she wrote. I guess nerves just kick in during fj to not differentiate between vertical and horizontal which is the word the clue had. This was one of those “you had to see it to believe it.”
a variation of what i said yesterday: my motto in life is “i believe it when i see it”…..some things are really unbelievable and seem virtually impossible until you see them, positive AND negative!