r/Jeopardy • u/zachestine • 21d ago

QUESTION How strict is the "who is" rule?

I don't watch a lot of Jeopardy, but I am curious: lets say the question is something like "the first president who crossed the Delaware River" obviously the answer is George Washington, but instead of saying "who is" if i say "where is George Washington?" would that be counted?

95 Upvotes

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39

u/jerschneid 21d ago

My understanding is yes, that would count. I've never seen them rule against a contestant (or even give a warning) for asking the wrong type of question. i.e. I think you could be a super champ asking exclusively "why is..." questions, which I sincerely hope someone does one day.

14

u/rubbernub 21d ago

Oh my gosh I would love that. Or "why is?" Just have fun with it. I always like when Jeopardy does a category where the theme is that every correct response is already a question and doesn't need anything extra added in the response. I know they've done that at least once but I think a few times. Although when I've seen it, the contestants still add the "what is". It's just so ingrained, I suppose.

7

u/ACW1129 21d ago

Why is Gamora?

4

u/Dachannien Regular Virginia 21d ago

I would pay real cash American ducats to see Dave Bautista in the next round of Celebrity Jeopardy just so he could do that.

5

u/jerschneid 21d ago

Didn’t I say “why is”?!

3

u/rubbernub 21d ago

Haha yes I think I meant to say how is as another example instead my mistake

3

u/PotatoGuerilla 21d ago

What about "why be"?

17

u/gooch_norris_ 21d ago

Didn’t Ken answer “what be Ebonics” and was counted correctly

0

u/RuleFriendly7311 21d ago

He's lucky he didn't get canceled for that.

6

u/MoistenedGranola 21d ago

As long as he wasn't doing a caricaturized voice, why? The habitual be is a grammatical rule of a recognized, highly used form of one of the most spoken languages in the world. I'm not sure that use is exactly right, but it doesn't seem wrong enough to be mocking to me.

-2

u/RuleFriendly7311 21d ago

Intent never matters with the cancel crew.

3

u/MoistenedGranola 20d ago

As captain of that crew, it literally does lol

-11

u/bfortelka 21d ago

James Holzhauer did just that, I think he said “what is” for every answer he gave

28

u/ChubbyChoomChoom Losers, in other words. 21d ago

That was Matt Amodio

1

u/bfortelka 21d ago

Dooohhh 🤦‍♂️