Final Jeopardy: Odd Titles (12-28-20)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (11/23/09) in the category “ODD TITLES” was:
Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado”, not Milne, gave us this hyphenated title for a pompous functionary
Returning champ Ben Davis, a law student from Chicago, IL, had $20,801 to his credit when this episode aired on 11/23/09. In Game 2, his challengers were: Cathy Sorge, an archivist from Silver Spring, MD; and Patrick Pence, a GIS coordinator from Tallahassee, FL.
The highlight of this episode is the video category “A Journey Through Israel” with Alex Trebek and the Clue Crew.
Round 1 Categories: SNL Celebrity Jeopardy! – States That End In Hampshire – What Color Is Green? – Current Black Presidents – Sounds That Kitties Make – Twinkle Twinkle Little Word That Rhymes With Star
Ben found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Current Black Presidents” under the $800 clue, with just the $1,000 clue in the same category left after it. He was in second place with $5,400, $2,800 less than Patrick’s lead. He bet $600 and he was RIGHT.
President Laurent Gbagbo heads this country that goes by its French name most of the time. show
Patrick finished in the lead with $9,200. Ben was second with $6,000 and Cathy was last with $600. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Words Of Love – Needy No. 1 Hitmakers – Fruit – Ends With 3 Vowels – Don’t Be A Pain – A Journey Through Israel
Patrick found the first Daily Double in “Words of Love” under the $1,600 clue on the 24th pick. He was in second place with $11,600 now, $4,400 less than Ben’s lead. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
Virgil’s “omnia vincit amor” is translated as this show
Two clues later, Patrick got the last Daily Double in “Journey Through Israel” under the $1,600 clue. In second place with $15,800, he now had $200 less than Ben’s lead. He bet $300 and had no idea so he was WRONG.
This ruined fortress atop a mesa is where thousands of Israeli soldiers have taken an oath swearing that it shall not fall again. show
Ben finished in the lead with $20,800. Patrick was next with $15,500 and Cathy was in third place with $6,600. No clues went uncovered.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS A POO-BAH?
In Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera, THe Mikado (1885), takes place in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu. The ruler is the Mikado. When an ex-tailor named Ko-Ko is appointed the Lord High Executioner, all the town officials resign and the Poo-Bah takes on all their jobs and salaries as the Lord High Everything Else. The Poo-Bah describes himself as “a particularly haughty and exclusive person” who “was born sneering.” He claims that although the positions revolt him, he does it. Today in Masonic History has more on the topic, including how Grand Poobah turned up in “The Flintstones” and “Happy Days”.
In his Political Dictionary, William Safire defines poo-bah as a “big shot; pompous functionary. A huffing and puffing sound surrounds the word, imitative of the “high MUCKEY-MUCKS” it derogates”
Cathy wrote down “major general” but crossed it out and had no response. She bet and lost it all.
Patrick came up with “tigger”, another Milne character besides Pooh Bear. He lost $2,000, dropping him down to $13,500.
Ben got it right. He bet $10,201 and won the game with $31,001. That gave him a 2-day total of $51,802.
2 triple stumpers from the last round:
WORDS OF LOVE ($1200) In “Prometheus Unbound”, he wrote, “All love is sweet, given or returned. Common as light is love”
FRUIT ($1200) This fuzzy fruit is also a slang term meaning inform against or betray
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “British Names”
The last name of this 17th c. Baronet who held many offices is synonymous with the govt. & especially the PM’s residence show
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There was another game in jeopardy that had a similar clue about the grand poo bah. Still not a bad guess from patrick. I really wonder if Ben actually got more than three games won during his run? Little Howie’s great word adventure had this nickname as well.
Lou, I put the other poobah clue on Page 2 — it was a DD the other time.
I remember that clue with Alex floating in the Dead Sea, though I am not sure if I saw it on TV in this particular game or somewhere else!