October 14, 2004

Judges?

Some things that sound too good to be true end up actually being true, though not very often. According to this, this one "checks out."

A guy on Jeopardy was cheated out of $200 when Alex Trebek rejected his response to this item: ""This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker."

The contestant buzzed in and said "What is a ho?" The correct response was alleged to be "what is a rake?"

via Volokh.

Posted by Dr. Frank at October 14, 2004 02:36 PM | TrackBack
Comments

I love that the discussion over there ended up being on "What is a word?"

Posted by: dave bug at October 14, 2004 11:15 PM

And I take it by your genericization of the details that you're not a Jeopardy watcher, or at least have avoided the whole Ken Jennings era? It's worth seeing a show or two to see that guy go.

Posted by: dave bug at October 14, 2004 11:16 PM

I saw that episode. I thought for sure they were going to give it to him. I mean come on. He was correct.

Posted by: mace at October 15, 2004 12:28 AM

If you want to get technical "ho" and "hoe" aren't actually the same word with two meanings while "rake" and "rake" are.

Posted by: Rude Girl Terry at October 15, 2004 01:12 AM

Is there really a proper spelling for an Ebonics/slang term such as "ho/hoe"?

Posted by: Zaphod at October 15, 2004 01:35 AM

I was in a diner, and jeopardy was on TV with the sound down. Me and my friend were getting annoyed, because we couldn't hear the answers, but we could read the lips pretty effectively as matching up or not matching up with our responses. Then this question came on, and we were going crazy trying to figure out what else other than ho it could be. So great to know 2milliondollar Ken was on our side.

Posted by: nick at October 15, 2004 05:02 AM

[quote] If you want to get technical "ho" and "hoe" aren't actually the same word with two meanings while "rake" and "rake" are. [/unquote]

Actually, if you really want to get technical about it, "ho" isn't a word at all, rappers notwithstanding. The word is "whore" (pronounced HORE). Furthermore, Webster's definition says nothing about seeking pleasure, but only about commerce:

>A woman who practices unlawful sexual commerce with men, especially one who prostitutes her body for hire; a prostitute; a harlot.

Good for Alex and the judges; it's easy to win if you can just make up words. But it suggests that the screening-for-bookworms system isn't what it used to be.

Posted by: Peter at October 15, 2004 09:07 PM