Final Jeopardy: Old Words (3-27-24)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/27/2024) in the category “Old Words” was:
First appearing in an English dictionary in 1623, Mesonoxian means pertaining to this word
Today’s Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament contestants are: Alex Jacob, an online trivia league host from Tulsa, OK; Jennifer Quail, a wine-tasting consultant from Dowagiac, MI; and Brandon Blackwell, a writer & TV personality orig. from Jamaica, NY.
Round 1 Categories: Trending – Musical Instruments – Equine Words – Auto Parts 101 – Cruise Lines – Ports of Call
Brandon found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Musical Instruments” under the $1,000 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He and Alex were tied at $800. Jennifer didn’t have any money yet. Brandon bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
Also known as an etherophone, this boxy electronic instrument was used by the Beach Boys show
Alex finished in the lead with $6,600. Brandon was in second place with $6,200. Jennifer was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: During James Buchanan’s Presidency – Architects – World Literature – Music Collabs – I’ve Got a Bone to Pick with You – The 3 “R”s
Jennifer found the first Daily Double in “During James Buchanan’s Presidency” under the $1,200 clue on the 6th pick of the round. She was in last place with $5,600, $1,000 less than Alex’s lead. Jennifer bet $5,000 and she was RIGHT.
On December 2, 1859 he rode to the gallows on his coffin & remarked, “This is a beautiful country” show
Brandon found the last Daily Double in “World Literature” under the $800 clue on the 17th pick of the round. He was in second place with $11,400, $2,000 less than Alex’s lead. Brandon chose to bet 100% of his score and he was RIGHT.
In this Hermann Hesse novel, Harry Haller reads a treatise about his dual inner self, caught between a man & a lupine creature show
Brandon finished in the lead with $23,600. Alex was in second place with $14,200. Jennifer was last with $11,000. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS MIDNIGHT?
Mesonoxian is an adjective, first found in “The English Dictionarie, or, An Interpreter of Hard English Words” (1623) by Henry Cockeram. That book was also the first collection of word definitions to use the title “Dictionarie”. The page on which mesonoxian appears makes no mention of “meso” from the Greek for “middle” and “nox” from Latin for “night”.
If the “nox” part reminded you of equinox, you’d be home free with this one. Etymology Online says equinox was in use 2 centuries before mesonoxian. However, Henry does not have “equinox” in his dictionarie. (I looked.) He has “Equinoctial line, a line passing in the middle between the two Poles of Heaven, to which line the Sun coming twice a year, namely, about the eleventh of March, and the eleventh of September, maketh the dayes and nights of equal length.”
Jennifer got it right. She bet the farm and doubled her score to $22,000.
Alex was trying to write a love note to Sabrina but only got as far as “I <3 U Sa". That cost his whole $$14,200.
Brandon came up with “asleep”. He lost $4,801 and finished with $18,799. That handed the win and the semi-final spot to Jennifer Quail.
A triple stumper from each round:
TRENDING ($600) The manual for this robotic ’90s toy says, “You can feed me by inserting your fingertip into my mouth”
WORLD LITERATURE ($2000) This Chilean author of “The Savage Detectives” has gained wide fame in English translation since his early death in 2003
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Poems”
The title of this poem comes from a 1920 book that refers to its possible “restoration to fruitfulness” show
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Got Final by just parsing it out: meso – middle nox – night. After getting the theremin, I was surprised Brandon didn’t get it.
I have to be honest – I don’t remember Brandon from 2008. It’s just like Victoria Groce – don’t remember her either. Then again, I didn’t recall Ryan Chaffee on J! on MasterMinds, either!
I used to play HQ Trivia (and they robbed me of $26.13 that they owed me!), and Alex Jacob won exactly once – for $25,000. It was a special prize, and that was all his historical winnings. HQ was 12 multiple choice questions, where you had to get it right to get the next question. Get all 12, you won or split the prize money. The one Alex won, if I recall correctly, was a special one, where questions were given until there was only one person left. And, as time went on, even in the regular games, the Q’s got arcane – like, the name of the Lone Ranger’s nephew’s horse – which was Victor. (Notably, in A Christmas Story, Ralphie’s mother says that exact thing, but it sounds like she’s just making up an answer.)
Jennifer seemed like she was left behind, but, getting FJ will sure change that! Hope she can keep up in the next round!
Wow, a tough FJ in today’s game, but Jennifer got it. Kudos to her! Anyways, as I was saying, a FJ so tough that I couldn’t find ‘mesonoxian’ anywhere in my American Heritage dictionary. Well, ‘mesonoxian’ may have been found in some English dictionary after the Mayflower landed, but I’m sure that later editions had simply dropped that archaic, little known and profoundly little used word. Lest I was mistaken, ‘mesonoxian’ was made up of some hodgepodge derived from both Greek and Latin.
Quite a battle tonight. I figured “meso” meant “middle” but stopped there.
Surprised no one knew the country megastar from her photo, or the Tesla charger connection.
I knew Jennifer a bit from a weekly, difficult, online trivia game we played a few years ago. Actually outscored her about half the time. There was a subgroup for J! alums but she wasn’t in it. Haven’t received the quiz for quite a while now, so I guess the host discontinued it.