Final Jeopardy: Word Origins (7-12-19)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/12/2019) in the category “Word Origins” was:
19th century boots made with India rubber made one quieter, leading to this slang term for one whose job involves surveillance
2x champ Sam Kavanaugh, a teacher from Minneapolis, MN, has now won $46,000. In Game 3, his challengers are: Justin Burden, in-house counsel for a beer company from West Hollywood, CA; and Heather Ringman, an engineer from Houston, TX.
Round 1 Categories: What’s That in Your Ear? – 3-Letter Reading – Let’s Make a New Deal – Men in Black – Pittsburgh – Vowel Flop
Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “New Deal” under the $1,000 clue on the 5th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $1,400, $800 more than Justin in second place. He bet it all and thought it was “Relations.” That was WRONG.
In the NRA of the 1930s New Deal, the “R” stood for this. show
Heather finished in the lead with $4,800. Sam was second with $4,600 and Justin was last with $3,200.
Round 2 Categories: Desert-pourri – Acronyms & Abbrevs. – The Olympic Games – Second Letter “Y” – Alien Invasion! – Take Me to Your Lieder
Sam found the first Daily Double in “Desert-Pourri” under the $2,000 clue on the 5th pick. He was in the lead with $7,400 at this point, $1,400 more than Heather in second place. He did another true Daily Double and this time, he was RIGHT.
This sea is the western border of the Arabian Desert. show
Heather got the last Daily Double in “Take Me to Your Lieder” under the $2,000 clue. There were 5 clues worth $2,000 left after it. She was in a tie for the lead with Sam at $16,400. Justin had $6,000. She bet $2,000 and guessed Beethoven. That was WRONG.
This Vienna-born composer was only 17 when he wrote “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel” & changed the lieder game in 1814. show
Sam finished in the lead with $17,200. Heather was next with $14,800 and Justin was in third place with $6,800.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
According to the Word Detective: “… the original ‘gumshoes’ of the late 1800’s were shoes or boots made of gum rubber, the soft-soled precursors of our modern sneakers. Like sneakers, gumshoes were much quieter than leather-soled shoes, and at the turn of the century “to gumshoe” meant to sneak around quietly as if wearing gumshoes, either in order to rob or, conversely, to catch thieves. ‘Gumshoe man’ was originally slang for a thief, but by about 1908 ‘gumshoe’ usually meant a police detective, as it has ever since.”
Gum rubber is one of the synonyms listed for India rubber on Vocabulary.com. I know a couple of poems that mention India rubber balls. One is King John’s Christmas by A.A. Milne and one is “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Justin got it right. He bet $6,500, bringing him up to $13,300.
Heather came up with sneaker. That cost her $14,700, leaving her with $100.
Sam got it right, too. He bet $12,401 and won the game with $29,601. His 3-day total is $75,601.
A triple stumper from each round:
PITTSBURGH ($600) Director George Romero worked for this Pittsburgh kids’ TV legend who came to the “Night of the Living Dead” premiere
THE OLYMPIC GAMES ($1600) The 1968 Olympics in Grenoble were dubbed the “Killympics” after the exploits of a man in this sport
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Contemporary American Authors”
This Pulitzer winner changed his first name to that of an Irish king, avoiding associations with a famous ventriloquist’s dummy. show
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Speaking of the FJ answer, I hear that word all the time from watching Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and of course playing the pc version of where in the USA and world. VJ, you must have heard of Carmen Sandiego when it came out in the 90s right? We finished off the week with a four time winner and setting off a possibility of another streaker in Sam. We still think of Lynne Thigpen.
Yes, Lou, I’ve heard of Carmen Sandiego. My kids played that.
Awww, that was too bad that Heather didn’t get out of that Lieder category and let someone else get that DD. Everyone had to know it was under that $1K clue and I wouldn’t have blamed them if they wasted enough time to intentionally leave it on the board.
LINK: 12 more clues from the game
We’re two weeks away until the Season Finale. 10 more games left. Congrats to Sam, a 3 day champion with $75,601.