Final Jeopardy: Modern Words (4-20-23)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (4/20/2023) in the category “Modern Words” was:
Neal Stephenson coined this word in his 1992 novel “snow crash”; it was later shortened by a company to become its new name
New champ Devin Lohman, an architectural designer and masters student from PeachTree City, GA, won $1,200 yesterday. In Game 2, his opponents are: Sam Claussen, a history professor from Santa Clarita, CA; and Emma Hill Kepron, a librarian from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Round 1 Categories: History – Literary Fruit Stand – Flying Colors – Missing U – ’80s & ’90s R&B Songs – My Prerogative
Devin found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Flying Colors” under the $800 clue on the 20th of the round. He was in third place with $2,400, $3,200 less than Sam’s lead. Devin made it a true Daily Double and guessed Polynesian Airlines. That was WRONG.
This airline’s planes sport purple, fuchsia & coral to depict Pualani, the flower of the sky, who wears a hibiscus in her hair show
Emma finished in the lead with $6,600. Sam was second with $6,400. Devin was last with negative $1,000. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Face the Politician – Globetrotting – Reptiles – “P”otpourri – Triple Homophones – Remembering Barbara Walters
Devin found the first Daily Double in “Globetrotting” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was in third place with $200 now, $6,400 less than Emma’s lead. Devin bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
This second-holiest Muslim city contains the tomb of Muhammad show
Just two clues later, Devin got the last Daily Double in “Retitles” under the $1,600 clue. In third place still with $4,200, he had $2,200 less than Emma’s lead. Devin bet $3,200 and he was RIGHT.
A kin of alligators & crocodiles, this Central & South American reptile lends its name to an island group near Jamaica show
Sam finished in the lead with $18,400. Emma was second with $15,400 and Devin was last with $10,200. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS METAVERSE?
Even if you never read Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash”, you may have heard of Facebook changing its corporate name from Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms, Inc., doing business as “Meta” in October 2021. According to Investopedia, “Meta defines the metaverse as ‘a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you.'” But first, unlike several other articles I saw, Investopedia acknowledges that “science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term metaverse in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. In the book, human avatars and software agents interact in a three-dimensional virtual space.”
Merriam-Webster added “metaverse” to its dictionary in 2022. The entry makes no mention of Neal Stephenson or “Snow Crash”, although the word’s first appearance is cited as 1992.
Devin wrote down powder. He lost $8,300 and finished with $1,900.
Emma went with uber. She lost $4,000 and finished with $11,400.
Sam thought it could be avalanche. He lost $12,401 and finished with $5,999. That made Emma Hill Kepron the new Jeopardy! champ.
2 triple stumpers from the first round:
LITERARY FRUIT STAND ($1000) Despite the title of Sandra Cisneros’ beloved novel, there is no street of this name in Chicago (Avenue, yes)
’80S & ’90S R&B SONGS ($600) “My Prerogative” by this singer is known as a prime example of R&B’s New Jack Swing era
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Physics”
Modern formulations of Newton’s 2 most famous equations both begin with this quantity that’s measured in newtons show
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Very tough final, although in hindsight the latter part of the clue made it at least guessable. How Devin missed that cinch DD about the airline was shocking.
That triple homophone stumper was tricky, but “ancient ruler” led me there.
As a long-ago NYer, I knew “Baba Wawa’s” college, but that was a toughie.
Howard, I agree with you about Sarah Lawrence College. When I grew up in New York we heard about it a lot. I guess we just assumed it was well-known outside of the state too. The same thing applies to Cornell. I guess Columbia University is the most famous university to out-of-staters. 🤔
I thought it was pretty funny that “My Prerogative” was chosen for a category name, then no one knew who sang it when it showed up in the song category
As Ken said that the player Devin Lohman is the lowest winning score of the season after Emma became a Jeopardy champion.
And that is our second triple stumper this week as got another tough final.