Final Jeopardy: The Mediterranean (6-9-14)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (6/9/2014), in the category “The Mediterranean” was:
It’s the only UN member country in the Mediterranean where English is an official national language.
2x champ Molly LaLonde is back to kick off the week with us. Her winnings so far are $26,600. Here are today’s opponents: Jack Barry, from Raleigh, NC; and Heather Heffner, from St. Louis, MO.
Round 1: Molly found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “American Cities” under the $1,000 clue. She was in the lead with $1,400, $600 ahead of Jack in second place. She made it a true Daily Double and came up with Phoenix. That was WRONG.
The southernmost major city on the U.S. mainland, it had a population of only 343 when the railroad arrived in 1896. show
Jack finished in the lead with $5,200. Heather was second with $3,600 and Molly was last with $2,000.
Round 2: Molly found the first Daily Double in “Novels & Novelists” under the $2,000 clue. After catching up with a category right in her wheelhouse and doing well in this category, she was in the lead with $11,200, $6,000 more than Jack in second place. She bet $3,000 and thought it was “Call of the Wild.” That was WRONG.
This 1906 novel was partly inspired by an article in the San Francisco Chronicle called “The Call of the Tame.” show
Heather found the last Daily Double in “The Century’s First Year” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $10,400, she had $1,000 more than Molly in second place. She bet $1,000 but did not know so she was WRONG.
On July 3, 1801 this U.S. inventor’s nautilus submarine descended to a depth of 25 feet in a test in France. show
Molly finished in the lead with $14,200. Heather was next with $8,200 and Jack was in third place with $7,600.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
There are only two islands in the Mediterranean that are independent nations: Cyprus and Malta. Both are UN members. English and Maltese are the official languages of Malta. Turkish and Greek are the official languages of Cyprus, except in Northern Cyprus, a self-declared state that makes up the northeastern portion of the island. Northern Cyprus is only recognized by Turkey. Its only official language is Turkish.
According to wikipedia, The Times (of Malta), published in English, is the most widely read newspaper in Malta. In-Nazzjon is a daily newspaper published in Maltese.
Phileleftheros, the most widely read newspaper in Cyprus, is in Greek. Cyprus also has English languages newspapers. The most widely read is the Cyprus Mail.
Jack wrote down “Vatican City.” That cost him $5,000 so he finished with $2,600.
Heather thought it was Cyprus. She lost $8,000, finishing with $200.
Molly wrote down Morocco. She lost $2,300 and still had $11,900 left to win the game. Her 3-day total is $38,500.
Well, at least one of the players had a U.N. member in the Mediterranean, even if it was the wrong one. The language difference between Malta and Cyprus is already in the info section. Vatican City is located within the City of Rome and it is not a U.N. member. Its official language is Italian. Morocco is located on the northwest coast of Africa. Its official languages are Arabic and Berber.
2 years ago:: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Cliches”
In an 1873 Thomas Hardy serial, a chapter ends with a character dangling from an “enormous sea-bord” this. show
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The total shutout was bad enough, but I think we should have some sort of award from worse FJ response: the one that makes you laugh the hardest. I think that last week’s response of Treaty of Versailles might be VJ’s favorite. Mine is today’s Vatican City.
Any other nominations, or favorites from the past that come to mind?
Maybe the award could be called: The Most Likely To Win a Darwin Award?
yeah, phoenix as the southermost major u.s.city on the mainland. on top of it, the indians were still playing around there at the time given in the clue.1896 arizona still had 16 years to go before becoming even a state.
molly got 1 right. the no brainer “statue of liberty”. heather came closest, just the wrong side of the coin, so maybe 50 %.
STILL, A TRIPLE MISS !
but molly,molly,molly!
any average contestant would wipe the floor with you! at least you were not THAT far apart with morocco and malta as you were with the pilot’s license and versaille…just 19 years and the entire atlantic.
maybe you have watched “casablanca” too often and think morocco is a french province???
WHAT are they teaching in schools and colleges today?? molly is not exactly 90 and also does not look like she watches “frasier” or “cheers” marathons every day….go figure.
an episode best to be forgotten. just mho.
Molly is mainly good at literature and medical stuff (she works in that field). It sure was a lucky break for her that a medical AND a literature category showed up in the second round!
PS – (moving this comment up so everybody sees the links in it)
wikipedia also has a list of countries where English is an official language.
Also — as to UN Member, that is just about every country in the world. The only non-members the U.N. lists (and calls permanent observers) are The Holy See (the Vatican) and Palestine. Other sources list Kosovo, too, so I guess the U.N. doesn’t even recognize Kosovo.
I think that even if the clue had said countries in and bordering the Mediterranean, Malta is still the only one that has English as an official language — correct me if I’m wrong. Anyhow, I knew this FJ because I like to read world newspapers online and I have read the Times of Malta from time to time. They had an article in there not too long ago bemoaning how their youth don’t know the Maltese language very well.
Here is a link to refdesk’s list of newspapers. I also like to read local newspapers that are in or near the actual place where something happens.
NOBODY deserved to win this game. PHOENIX???? arizona became a state in 1912, florida was ceded to the u.s. by spain in 1912. the clue said 1 8 9 6 !! and you don’t need a map to know that miami is more to the south than phoenix. had she said “key west” it would have made more sense.
MOROCCO IS IN AFRICA!!!!! not a single country of the e.u. is outside of europe. turkey- mostly asian- WANTS to become a member, but there are still a lot of legal problems before they are even admitted on a provisional basis. if you want to split hairs: there are french and dutch possessions in the caribbean (st.martin/sint maarten) that are considered french/dutch soil and not a territory. hence that island is part of the e.u., at least de jure.
the u.n. part of the fj clue was redundant. there are only 2 island nations in the med and BOTH are u.n. members. sicily is part of italy, e.g.
molly being a 3 day champ with almost 40K is a farce. my memory is a little foggy right now, did she get one single fj right???
yes she got the FJ on 6-5-14 right and so did everyone else. (The Statue of Liberty)
PS — Sorry about the site being down for a while. The problem was, according to my webhost, caused by a plugin so I removed it. We won’t be seeing those most commented threads on the sidebar anymore.
thanks for taking care of it! is there anything you CAN’T do??
Wow. I just realized that this game was a shutout for the DDs and the FJ.
Maybe Jeopardy is on a budget.
The question whose answer was “Didjeridu” was not a Didjeridu. A Didjeridu has a lower, continuous drone sound due to the circular breathing technique used to play the instrument. What they played was something plucked, perhaps a piphat or Asian mouth harp.
Excuse me, I meant to say “in a piphat”. A piphat is an ensemble, not an instrument.
I try to have empathy for almost every player, but Vatican City? Holy Carp. He probably thinks their official languages are English and Swiss. I mean, at least guess Italy.
I’m starting to feel like Tom.
I agree, Eric. Vatican City!!! 🙂
first of all, the vatican is completely surrounded by italy. but even so, if you would walk from vatican city to the med you would need dr. scholl’s….
Hi VJ. Why do you say ” one of them had a U.N. member in the Mediterranean”? Both Cyprus and Morocco are Mediterranean countries, right?
I didn’t get the FJ either. Saw the clue in the morning, racked my brain, then looked at the list of Mediterranean countries and knew it was Malta. One of those clues that either you get right away or have to look up after giving up.
Sorry, forgot to add that Wikipedia’s “List of Mediterranean countries” includes Morocco.
I think there is a little wordplay between the word in and on (where on means ‘in’ the area): in, of course, could only mean an island. Way too tricky for the morning!
For whatever it’s worth, I read the question the same as you did, but also in the morning.
and there is NO country on the european continent that borders the med where english is the official language.
gibraltar e.g. is a u.k. overseas territory and NOT a country.
By “one of them”, I meant one of the contestants, Nomi.
The clue said countries IN the Mediterranean. Malta and Cyprus are the only nations in the Mediterranean Sea.
btw, there is a part of Cyprus where English is the official language — Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia that belongs to the U.K.
Look up List of Islands in the Mediterranean in wikipedia.
they are u.k overseas territories (like gibraltar) and therefore NOT countries.