Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category The World of Today) for Monday, June 27, 2022 (Season 38, Game 206):
Partly because it was a monosyllable, this word was chosen as “a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Emma Henke, a writer from Madison, Wisconsin |
Armand Sanchez, a high school teacher from San Jose, California |
Joe Feldmann, a technology professional from Bethesda, Maryland (1-day total: $22,900) |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Joe Feldmann entered the weekend as champion after picking up a $22,900 victory on Friday. Today in his title defense, he faces San Jose’s Armand Sanchez and Madison’s Emma Henke. Some of North America’s more serious quizzers will certainly recognize Armand—Armand has been very involved in Online Quiz League play throughout the pandemic. Mayim Bialik begins her third-to-last week as host this season, as reports are that she will be hosting through July 15. Ken Jennings will then return to host the final two weeks of Season 38.
On a more personal note: For the past two and a half years, I have often raised money for the MS Society of Canada through their “Gamers vs. MS” program. This July, Gamers vs. MS is running a month-long fundraising campaign called “Boss Battles.” In an attempt to raise $25,000, the Gamers vs. MS team has designed a “fundraising adventure” to defeat eight evil bosses. (Much like a Mario game might have eight bosses to defeat.) You can get more information about the program at https://www.gamersvsms.ca/bossbattles.
PSA: The best way to keep COVID-19 at bay (and keep Jeopardy! producing new episodes) is for everybody to get their vaccinations as soon as they are able to, including any boosters as recommended. When wearing a mask, please ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my new Betting Strategy 101 page!
(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is “meme”?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2022 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The word “meme” was first defined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In defining the term, Dawkins wanted a monosyllabic word that sounded like “gene”; Dawkins also defined the term further with examples:
Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.
Memes have become a central cultural unit of the 21st century—for better or worse. The propagation of memes is often used to quickly disseminate information—both good and bad—to members of a group.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round categories:
F1 Grand Prix Sites; I Speak for the Trees; Business Names; Summer’s Here; More than One Meaning; Feeling Science-“E”
Challenger Armand got off to the best start today, holding a solid lead after 15 clues after successfully converting a True Daily Double. However, Joe and Emma recovered after the break, with Joe going 3/5 in the Formula One category to jump out to a lead after the Single Jeopardy! round.
Double Jeopardy! Round categories:
Art Lovers; Southern Capitals; The National League; Female Founders; Books & Their Movies; Ends in “S-T-Y”
Emma had an up-and-down round, splitting the two Daily Doubles for a pair of $3,000 bets. She did have the most number of correct responses in Double Jeopardy with 11, though. While Joe only had seven right in the round, two of them were at the $2,000 level—enough for him to hold the lead! Unfortunately for Armand, his late attempt at a comeback was derailed by Mayim’s ruling that he failed to respond in the form of a question to a $2,000 clue. This ruling left Armand in a distant third place going into Final Jeopardy. The scores going into Final Jeopardy were Joe at $11,800, Emma at $11,000, and Armand at $6,800.
Joe was the only correct respondent in Final Jeopardy—he’s now a 2-day champion with winnings at $45,000! He’ll go for victory number three in tomorrow’s game!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, June 27, 2022 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Joe $11,800
Emma $11,000
Armand $6,800
Tonight’s results:
Armand $6,800 – $5,000 = $1,800 (What um?)
Emma $11,000 – $4,000 = $7,000 (What is thought)
Joe $11,800 + $10,300 = $22,100 (What is a meme?) (2-day total: $45,000)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Joe $6,600
Armand $6,000
Emma $4,600
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) FEELING SCIENCE-“E” $800 (clue #11)
Armand 2000 +2000 (Joe 1800 Emma 2200)
2) BOOKS & THEIR MOVIES $2000 (clue #5)
Emma 6600 -3000 (Joe 8600 Armand 4400)
3) ART LOVERS $1200 (clue #8, $27600 left on board)
Emma 4800 +3000 (Joe 7800 Armand 4400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 117
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 83 (0.40 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Joe $11,800 Coryat, 18 correct, 3 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Emma $12,200 Coryat, 19 correct, 3 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Armand $5,600 Coryat, 14 correct, 4 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $29,600
Lach Trash: $10,600 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $13,800
Joe Feldmann, career statistics:
40 correct, 4 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
33.04% in first on buzzer (37/112)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,100
Armand Sanchez, career statistics:
14 correct, 5 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $5,600
Emma Henke, career statistics:
19 correct, 4 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $0)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,200
Joe Feldmann, to win:
3 games: 46.450%
4: 21.576%
5: 10.022%
6: 4.655%
7: 2.162%
Avg. streak: 2.867 games.
Today’s interviews:
Emma turned down The Call in 2005 because she was “very pregnant”.
Armand tried stand-up comedy and didn’t like it.
Joe went to the same university as his mother and two brothers at the same time.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Viewers are reminded that per the rules of the show, initial articles can be changed or removed with impunity, unless ambiguity is created. Thus, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Tree Grows in Brooklyn are all considered to be equally correct by the show. (Yes, this is one instance where Jeopardy!‘s rules are different than most other quiz competitions.)
- Listening at home, I was confused as to whether Armand’s initial attempt at the “S-T-Y” $2,000 clue contained phrasing or was an full response. I figure that if I am confused, I can’t expect the judges and Mayim to find phrasing there, either. Thus, I am concluding that they did make the correct ruling.
- Link to the box score: June 27, 2022 Box Score
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores going into Final: Joe $11,800 Emma $11,000 Armand $6,800).
Joe: Standard cover bet over Emma is $10,201. (Actual bet: $10,300)
Armand: If Joe and Emma bet to cover and are incorrect, they will fall to $1,599 and $8,399, respectively. Thus, you need to bet between $1,601 and $5,199 to give yourself the best chance of taking home as much prize money as possible. (Actual bet: $5,000)
Emma: Standard cover bet over Armand is $2,601. (Actual bet: $4,000)
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
I know the word meme. I use the word meme. But, I would have never gotten this one no matter how many guesses you gave me given the clue. Kudos to anyone who gets this today.
Agree completely. Maybe it’s in part a Monday morning thing, but the clue had my head spinning. Better days ahead…
That describes my reaction very well. Thanks
(It’s still spinning somewhat . . .)
Wait. WHat? It’s Monday? Already?
The good news is, it won’t take long to write if a contestant figures it out. It’ll be interesting to see how long they spend re-reading the clue before they start writing. Hopefully “unit of cultural transmission” means more to them than it did to me.
“Unit of cultural transmission” is what kept my head spinning too . . .
Thank you, MarkO, as I did get it immediately.
Ditto to what MarkO said!
I got this one immediately, but given that “meme” is 46 years old, what does it have to do with “The World of Today”? By that token “gonzo” and “factoid” (both coined in the 1970s) would fit the category as well. “Word origins” or even “potpourri” would be better category names.
To be fair, BB, memes are 100% ubiquitous in the world of today, whereas “gonzo” or “factoid” would not nearly be as ubiquitous today.
“Factoid” is used quite a bit today, it is just that originally it meant a statement that seems factual (especially when repeated) but actually is not. People without a good grasp of that kept using it to mean a short (probably quite interesting) fact — to the degree that it is now considered (by dictionaries) to be a valid alternate definition. [Does this maybe help explain how difficult it is to overcome misinformation?] I think this newer “definition” is almost as ubiquitous as “meme” in terms of how widespread the usage is, though probably not the frequency.
and to be REALLY fair, the “World of Today” at the time of the taping of the show would be the “World of 2 months ago” (within a couple days) for the viewers.
BB, I agree with Andy about why the category name is at least OK for this one. Since the clue doesn’t even imply how long ago this occurred, I think it is a fine choice for category. I’m sure it helped me think of the correct response so quickly and I’m sure I would have bet differently for that category than for “Word Origins” and [though for all I know they have done this before] I don’t think “Potpourri” is an appropriate category for Final Jeopardy — how would the contestants be able to let their personal knowledge strengths affect their bet at all?
I had no idea the origin of “meme” went back so far, but even it I had, it would not have kept me from choosing that as my response as I would have just taken “The World of Today” to be about the explosion in usage of the word.
Apparently watching meme channels on YouTube for five hours straight yesterday does (can you put the “does” in italics) have its benefits. Who would’ve thunk?
Somehow I could never warm up to this use of the word “meme” since I learned it from Richard Dawkins in the book Selfish Gene. I lost the battle and the war …
I got this one right away. I remember encountering the word when I was in college, but it took me a couple of decades to warm up to it!😅
Current FJ streak: 2W
I knew this one as well and i use memes on most social media websites. Still happy to see joe winning again. Is it Monday already?
I’m old and I’m not hip but bingo, bango, bongo, I got this one. Thanks Bill Shonley.
For me, I came to the correct answer in a somewhat odd way. When I read the clue, the word “emoji” immediately came to mind. Obviously, that is too many syllables. Having thought of emoji, that immediately led me to “meme.” which fit the clue so much better. Somehow, possibly because of the wide usage of both of them today, I associate emojis and memes as being somewhat related. Anyway, all of that happened at the speed of thought so it turned out to be correct.
As a side note, it’s great to see a hometown guy getting a couple of wins. I’m pulling for Joe to become a 5-day champ whether that puts him in this year’s ToC or next year’s ToC. I’d just like to see a Montgomery County native (or resident) make it in. Go Joe!
“I figure that if I am confused, I can’t expect the judges… to find phrasing there, either.”
Someone once told me (maybe it was you) that the judges have the ability to isolate contestant audio to better judge their responses. So I assume they “reviewed the tape” of that in this instance. (or perhaps not, I thought it was fairly obvious that he didn’t phrase in the form of a question)
Having now seen the episode, I can say unequivocally that Armand did not phrase his response correctly. He even took a second shot at it and still did not use the correct phrasing. In the end, it doesn’t matter as he would not have won anyway based on what followed.
Here’s a trivia question: on what responses have Jeopardy contestants been ruled incorrect due to an error in the leading article other than (The) Invisible Man?
I have no idea what the answer is.
when were they ruled incorrect on (The) Invisible Man?
and was it due to special category requirements? (i.e. “3 word titles” or something like that)
It’s a specific example used when you do have to use (or leave out) the article since Invisible Man and The Invisible Man are two different things.
I don’t have a record of when, but I’ve seen it happen. MarkO is correct as to the reason.
I have to gripe about the “lightest stable subatomic particle” clue. The electron is the lightest stable subatomic particle that fits the category i.e. starts with “e”. But the neutrino is lighter and also stable. (Not to mention that photons are massless.) The clue would have easily been fixed by adding the “fits the category” caveat.
JFYI, the first statement of the Wikipedia article “Subatomic particle” is, literally, “In physical sciences, a subatomic particle is a particle that composes an atom“.
(emphasis mine).