Final Jeopardy: Words from World War I (2-13-23)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (2/13/2023) in the category “Words from World War I” was:
“Cistern” & “reservoir” were suggested names for a secret invention, but the British preferred this less clumsy monosyllable
2x champ Mira Hayward, a writer from Portland, OR, won $37,000 last week. In Game 3, she is up against: Kendra Westerhaus, a licensed psychologist from Pocatello, ID; and Jeff Paine, a retired army officer from Colorado Springs, CO.
Round 1 Categories: First Lady Firsts – Brest, Budapest & Bucharest – Logos – Party On! – TV Catchphrases – Word History
Jeff found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Word History” under the $600 clue on the 6th pick of the round. Kendra had the lead with $1,000 while Jeff had no money. He bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
Reviewing a murder mystery in 1930, Donald Gordon coined this inquisitive 3-words-in-one word for a detective story show
Kendra finished in the lead with $5,800. Mira was second with $5,600 and Jeff was last with $5,000. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Lawyer Billboards – They’re “N”Titled – Botany – Airports Named for People – Also a Measurement – Bob Dylan Lyrics
Kendra found the first Daily Double in “They’re ‘N’ Titled” under the $1,200 clue on the 5th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $7,000, $600 less than Mira in second place. Kendra bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
Author Richard Wright played the role of Bigger Thomas in a 1951 film based on this novel of his show
Kendra got the last Daily Double in “Bob Dylan Lyrics” under the $1,600 clue with 2 clues left after it. In the lead with $15,000, she had $600 more than Mira in second place. Kendra bet $3,000 and she was RIGHT.
Singing about this comic who died in 1966: “He didn’t commit any crime, he just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time” show
Kendra finished in the lead with $18,000. Mira was second with $14,800 and Jeff was last with $13,000. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS TANK?
In 2000, Peter Wollen wrote a review of “Tank: The Progress of a Monstrous War Machine”, which covers a lot of ground (pun intended). Included are quotes from “Eyewitness: Being Personal Reminiscences of Certain Phases of the Great War, Including the Genesis of the Tank”, a memoir written by Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, a British Army Major-General. Here’s the pertinent part of the review in relation to the clue: “In 1903, in a short story published in the Strand magazine, H.G. Wells had conjured up the idea of gigantic machines which he called ‘Land Ironclads’: they were now on the verge of becoming a reality. On 28 December [1915] a further conference was convened, this time with the happy task of finding an official name for the new creation. ‘We rejected in turn – “container” – “receptacle” – “reservoir” – “cistern”,’ Swinton wrote in his memoirs. ‘The monosyllabic “tank” appealed to us as being likely to catch on and be remembered. That night, in the draft report of the conference, the word “tank” was employed in the new sense for the first time.’”
Although the article says Swinton was “apparently the coiner of the new name,” the Major-General’s Wikipedia article also credits Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Dally Jones, “with having initiated the use of the word “tank” as a code-name for the first tracked, armoured fighting vehicles.”
Jeff got it right. He bet it all and doubled his score to $26,000.
Mira wrote down “water”, but only said she wasn’t going to write down “tank” after that. She lost her $4,000 bet and finished with $10,800.
Kendra got it right, too. She bet $11,601 and won the game with $29,601. Kendra Westerhaus is the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
LAWYER BILLBOARDS ($400) Ask Sextus Roscus / The Innocent Have Nothing To Fear When I Spin My Oratory
($1200) Bostonians, You Love My Dad’s Poetry. Try My Pleading On For Size.
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “World Literature”
In a classic novel from 1866, the murders of 2 women take place in this city show
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What a great competition tonight! There were a few clues headed for Stumperville until someone rang in late and nailed them. I thought someone for sure would know that “Mister” Dylan clue, and the poet’s son.
Took me just seconds to figure out FJ, and I thought they’d all get it.
I have to wonder if they intentionally keep players from the same city/area separated. Supposedly each episode’s contestants are chosen at random. But Portlander Mira came on just after Matthew Marcus lost, and tomorrow another Portlander will be on now that Mira is off.
Why would a cistern or reservoir be in any connected to the rudimentary tank that was used during WWI? I mean, those clues threw me way off. Actually, based on those clues, I came up with a simple dam.
Rick, I think if that meeting was held nowadays, they might google synonyms for the words they were considering. The synonyms for “reservoir” include all the other words mentioned (container, cistern, tank).
Seems to me there was a copy of Roget’s Thesaurus at that meeting!
Well I supposed that I would have never equated cistern or reservoir with that antiquated contraption which they called a tank back in that era. Anyways, tomorrow is another day.
A definition of cistern is a tank for holding water. I thought it was a synonym of septic tank, which is what led me to the answer.
Pound is a unit of force. In the English system slug is the unit of mass
I was going to say that a pedant might point out that a “pound’ is a unit of weight, not mass. But it looks like “pound” is also used as a unit of mass.