Final Jeopardy: World Surnames (2-19-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (2/19/2021) in the category “World Surnames” was:
In 2019, for the first time, this nation allowed for non-gendered last names with the suffix -bur
New champ Alan Johnson, software engineering manager from Metuchen, NJ, won $14,800 yesterday. In Game 2, he is up against: Sam Stapleton, a college consultant from Los Gatos, CA; and Lauren Menke, a math teacher from Columbus, OH.
Round 1 Categories: Dead Precedents – Pop Culture – Loads of Roads – Hair’s to You – Rhyme Time – Baltimore: News Clues
Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Hair’s to You” under the $1,000 clue, with 9 clues to go after it. He was in the lead with $3,600, $400 more than Alan in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
It doesn’t get much higher than this hairstyle, named for a mistress of Louis XV. show
Sam finished in the lead with $8,000. Alan was second with $4,600 and Lauren was last with $2,000. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Mad about Madrigals – Movie Title Pairs – Historic Geography – Dr. Yes (M.D., No) – “Kon”Fusion – Reese’s Pieces of Literature
Sam found the first Daily Double in “Historic Geography” under the $800 clue on the 10th pick. He was in the lead with $10,800 now, $6,000 more than Lauren in second place. He bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
The Emperors of China had seasonal homes; Peking means “northern capital” & this city’s name means “southern capital” show
Sam got the last Daily Double in “Dr. Yes (M.D., No)” under the $2,000 clue, with 7 clues left after it. In the lead with $19,200, he had $8,600 more than Alan in second place. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
One of the 1st women to get a doctorate in this 2-word field, Barbara Jane Liskov won a Turing Award, the field’s highest honor. show
Sam finished in the lead with $22,200. Alan was next with $16,600 and Lauren was in third place with $9,600. No clues went uncovered.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
According to the Iceland Review, “The removal of gender from given names is one of the changes that will go into effect as part of the Gender Autonomy Act that parliament passed [in June 2019]. It applies to both parents naming their children and to adults who want to officially change their names. The Gender Autonomy Act also gives individuals the right to change their official gender according to their lived experience and register as neither male nor female (denoted with an “x” on documents).” The Act also permits those who register as “x” to use the gender neutral suffix -bur (or child), rather than the previous requirement of -son or –dóttir.
Change Takes Time: This guide to Icelandic names doesn’t seem to have been updated to reflect the 2019 changes.
Lauren added $9,599 to her score and finished with $19,199.
Alan’s $6,000 bet brought him up to $22,600.
Sam was in the middle, trying to act like he got it wrong. But he didn’t and he flashed a devilish smile. When his $11,001 bet was revealed, Sam became the new Jeopardy! champ with $33,201. That’s a lot of króna! (Iceland hasn’t adopted the euro yet.)
2 triple stumpers from the last round:
MOVIE TITLE PAIRS ($2000) 1998: Near the end of his life, the director of “Frankenstein” begins a friendship with his gardener
REESE’S PIECES OF LITERATURE ($1200) Reese picked “The Giver of Stars” by this woman who got the name Jojo from the Beatles’ song “Get Back”
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “19th Century Inventors”
He spent his life improving a plant-based substance he described as a “vegetable leather” or “elastic metal” show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS REGARDING GUEST HOSTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Icelandic game shows are a bit rougher than ours (LINK)
Ken Jennings has such a quick wit. I found it funny and entertaining when Ken said, “Party like it’s 1999” when a player finished with $1,999 the other day. I really hope the show keeps Ken. Also, I like that Ken doesn’t show irritability when the players miss a few questions in a row. Actually, Ken makes cute and charming witticisms when players miss a few questions such as “It doesn’t get any easier”. Ken is like a young Johnny Carson with his humor.
That was a killer Final. How did all 3 answer correctly? How are people expected to know that about Iceland or any other country? I am completely dumbfounded.
If you find out how they all answered it correctly, kindly let me know. Seriously though, all three of them had likely visited Iceland in recent years. Actually, the vast majority of contestants on the show typically do an extensive amount of traveling.
I was very surprised as well, but stopped just short of dumbfounded. I think their typical male/female formation of surnames is a fairly interesting bit of trivia that may stick with you if you see it, and it has made its way around the web.
It’s also possible that there have been headlines about the change (although none that I recall seeing), in relation to non-binary identifying individuals, which seems to be a major topic in the world today. Or at least the Western World that has the leisure to be concerned with such things.
Well, it just seems to me that even if you didn’t know about Iceland changing their naming laws, it still might be the first country some people would think of. How would they come across Iceland’s way of naming boys and girls -son and -dottir?
How about Sports teams where the guys all have last names with -son? That might make some folks curious. How about music like the singer Björk who just goes by her first name but if you look her up, you find out her last name is Guðmundsdóttir.
Most people know about the Russian patronymic suffixes, like -ovich, -evich and -ich, don’t they?
Congrats to all the players getting final correct. Sam might have what it takes to string up more wins after a rough week. Definitely great scores for today and I hope this trend continues. What year did the euro get introduced into Iceland, VJ?
VJ stated above that Iceland does NOT use the euro currency which is true.
See VJ’s last sentence just above her picture of the contestants for today’s game.
After a tough week of FJs, we finally end the week with everybody go it right. Happy to see that.