Posted on 04/11/2014 6:54:40 PM PDT by SMGFan
A contestant named Julian from Indiana University must be feeling pretty stupid right about now. He had the chance to win $1 million, had the puzzle fully solved, and then lost because he pronounced Achilles like A-chill-us. Because of that mistake, the show decided not to give him the victory and instead, one of the other contestants who know the mythological hero got the chance to steal and did. (To win the full $1 million he would have had to overcome some other hurdles as well.)
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaite.com ...
I do that when some idiot says ‘day-ta-base’ but backwards! lol
omgawd Becky! how could he not know how to pronounce it????????????????????????????????? that is cray-cray!!! but seriously, that is... laughable... sad...
no way... they are strict about pronunciation... i remember a gal lost because she could not read, "nuclear disarmament." she messed up disarmament...
you must not be familiar with the rules... people lose now and then because of mispronounced words... you have to read what answer... just because he guessed all the correct letters does not mean he knows the answer... saying it correctly reveals whether or not he knows the answer...
Pretty lame reason not to give the guy the answer - I’ve heard contestants on game shows mangle “Chopin”, “Don Quixote”, “Gandhi” - and get awarded the answer. And they’re going to make a big deal over “Achilles”? Face it, no matter how you pronounce it, you’re probably not saying it the way Homer would have.
Does make him look like a bit of a heel....
Words, fail me.
We had mythology in 9th grade English. Of course, that was back in the dark ages.
I think they were a bit hard on him too, especially since pronunciation isn’t as easy to specify as spelling. (They make the rules, but maybe they should have made them differently.) Most persons with a strong interest in sports have heard ‘the Achilles tendon’ pronounced, even if they never discuss Homer (how many persons in this generation do?). It’s possible, though, to know a good bit about things from reading, and not know how to pronounce them.
I read a considerable amount of German literature in translation on my own before I studied German itself — and without discussing it with anybody — and thought the name of ‘Goethe’ (perhaps the best writer in the language) was pronounced the same way as ‘Goth’. :-) I had no need to discuss him, so why should I worry about the pronunciation? Also I read a couple of volumes of the French writer Gide’s journals, all the while thinking his name started with the sound of ‘g’ as in ‘get’.
[Obama I excuse less because as head of the armed forces he should make sure he knows how to pronounce ‘corpsman’.]
I wonder what standard the program uses for pronunciation. There are many different “standard” pronunciations: British RP, American, Australian (also regional pronunciations within the countries, including rhotic and non-rhotic in the United States, which can determine whether you pronounce an ‘r’ in some positions).
-— I guess pronunciation is his Achilles heel. -—
/rimshot
8-)
Did he sulk in his tent afterward?
College doesn’t mean crap. I read the Iliad and the odyssey in 7th grade because I really craved learning and always have. Then I dropped out of college to deal dope and now I am in the (legal) finance business. College means crap. The drive to better yourself and succeed matter far more. If he never ran into Homer’s story in all his years of expensive education, that’s his problem.
“The C students are the ones that run the world” - A really smart guy
-— And hes never heard of the Achilles heel? -—
Probably never saw it written.
I think they were right in their decision.
Kind of like using your word “puzzle” and pronouncing it as PUEZZLEE.
Every thing is in context.
at least he wasn’t the guy who guessed the wrong word to N _ G G E R S.
As a very long time Jeopardy watcher I was very,very disappointed that the producers could not have given Pat as so many times in the past that ‘we can accept that’ go. I tend to be prudish about pronunciations but in this case past allowances had no play. How sad for the fellow because he was on the verge of a very large take away and he played the game very daringly. I still have a bad taste on my tongue about this.
My wife and I were watching in horror over this contestant. He could have had a million dollar wedge, and a car, and won two more rounds, but fouled up royally.
He STILL won the game but f'd up the final puzzle which was easy.
I'm glad he won 11K, but he barely deserved that.
For the record, I've never seen a contestant LOSE when he has the whole puzzle solved.
A-chill-eez?
I honestly have never seen them be this strict.
But who doesn't know about Achilles heel?
I’ve seen Wheel of Fortune disqualify answers before when all the letters were filled in and the name mispronouced.
I’ve never seen it for a million dollars though.
Nevertheless, I am waiting for this name to come up.
“Krzyzewski”
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