I was quite disappointed today when I turned on the TV as soon as I got home, and caught the tail-end of Jeopardy. The question was from the category "Classic Children's Book Characters."
"The name of this character who lives in a forest is a shortening of an Italian word for a newborn."
STOP NOW AND THINK OF YOUR ANSWER!
The correct answer is only three sentenced below. So you have been warned of the spoiler.
The Pony had just sat down on the couch to plug his phone into the charger, and looked up to see the question. Of course I ruined it for him by shouting out the answer. "BAMBI!" I did not waste any time. Nor did I put my answer in the form of a question, because we're all informal here at the homestead, shouting out answers willy-nilly as the mood strikes us. We'd sound pretty silly saying, "Who is Bambi, Alex." Besides, that lets somebody else steal the win. Oh, who am I kidding? Only The Pony and I are coming up with correct answers. Hick is not even home yet on most evenings.
Can you believe that only ONE of those contestants knew the answer? And she was older than the hills. Not so old that God signed her yearbook. Nor so old that her social security number is "1." That would be Mrs. Thevictorian, according to former pupils. Anyhoo...the two younger contestants had no clue. The man said, "Winnie the Pooh." Because, I guess, Italians refer to newborns as "pooh." The woman said, "Gretel." Because, perhaps, Italians want to shove that newborn in the oven. I don't know their reasoning. So don't go hatin' on Val because she tries to psychoanalyze what young Jeopardy contestants think of Italians and their diminutive terms for babies.
I told The Pony, "I can't BELIEVE they didn't know that! That's...like...the easiest question EVER for Final Jeopardy! A child would know that!"
Apparently, not MY child. "Mom. I didn't know it."
Yes. I was quite disappointed. Despite my show of knowledge.
What is wrong with society today? I KNOW I mentioned Bambi to my kids. Really. Later, The Pony even verified that he knows who Bambi is. A little fawn who lives in the forest. "And his mother got shot!" Huh. Perhaps The Pony should have been exposed to TV shows like The Sopranos. Even though he claimed he knows what a bambino is.
I've got to get my proposed handbasket factory off the back burner and into production.
I thought that little deer was named after Babe Ruth.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I said after "bambino" was, "You know, like Babe Ruth! The Bambino!" The Pony was not impressed. He was probably thinking about candy bars.
DeleteYes, I wouldn't waste time getting that handbasket factory into production.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I could put Hick to work on a "Welcome to the Handbasket Factory" shed. We could show samples of the materials, and a price list, and serve a few free snacks, just to get people hooked, and then SELL them snacks. Yeah. There's an idea to get Hick on the stick.
Delete"A new study finds that individuals with high working-memory capacity, which normally allows them to excel, crack under pressure and do worse on simple exams than when allowed to work with no constraints. Those with less capacity score low, too, but they tend not to be affected by pressure."
ReplyDeleteThis may explain why the contestants choked on national television. Maybe Hick would do better under those conditions? Of course a contestant has to know something to forget it.
If it was a category about NASCAR, Hick would excel. Famous Authors? Not so much. Let's not forget the "Betty" fiasco...
DeleteIt isn't that they don't know Bambi; they don't know Italian word for baby: bambino. Connection shorted out.
ReplyDeleteHow can they be so bereft of common knowledge? I guess those young 'uns were not baseball fans.
DeleteBa-Da-Bing! The Sopranos would have educated him in so many ways. Whack jobs. Strip joints. The lessons would have been never-ending...
ReplyDeleteActually, The Pony kind of needs those lessons before he heads off to college.
DeleteI knew it! I KNEW it! I KNEW IT!
ReplyDeleteWhat do I win?
Well, if you were that old lady, you would have won a skosh over $16,000, and the title of Champion for that day.
DeleteHere? You win nothing. Only intrinsic value.
Rats!
DeleteThe answer was super obvious once you said it, but I honestly sat there for a while and could not figure it out. I was going through only fairy tales trying to think of the answer, which might be what derailed the people on the show... I also have zero knowledge of the Italian language.
ReplyDeleteYou have proven Linda's theory to be correct. As for mine...are you a baseball fan?
DeleteI have to fess up, I'm a Yankee fan, my wife is half Italian, we are members of Disney Vacation Club, and I still didn't get the answer.
DeleteBut I can play the Jeopardy "Do do do" thinking tune on guitar!
Joe, thank you for making sure my blog remains in compliance with the Truth in Blogging Law.
DeleteI discovered today that Miss Mac has no idea who Dick Dastardly is - her education is seriously lacking - I feel I have failed her ...
ReplyDeleteDid you do the Muttley laugh to jog her memory?
DeleteYoung people today know nothing of the classics, they think Harry Potter is a classic. I feel so old.
ReplyDeleteEven when the Kindle was a big deal, and I downloaded a buttload of free classics for The Pony, he did not care to read them. Not even Tom Sawyer! He might have read a Jules Verne. That's it.
Delete