Jeopardy! fans regularly call out contentious mispronunciation rulings, but the consensus on social media seemed unanimous after Thursday, October 25’s episode, when a champ was ruled incorrect for a slight mispronunciation of the word “Weimaraner.”
The contestant in question was Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas, who attempted to answer the $1,600 Double Jeopardy! clue in the “Photographers and their Craft” category.
A photo of a man and a dog was displayed (see picture below) and the clue read, “William Wegman’s claim to fame–whimsical portraits of this dog breed that also starts with ‘W.’”
Wallace buzzed in and responded, “Weimar-ei-ner,” according to the J-Archive, and was otherwise correct.
Host Ken Jennings took a brief pause as Wallace looked unsure as to why, not changing his response, before ruling, “Mmm… no, won’t take that.” After Wallace’s fellow contestants didn’t buzz in, Jennings explained: “It’s actually a ‘Weimaraner.’”
Jennings drew out the “Ah” in the second-to-last syllable to emphasize that’s where Wallace went wrong.
While it didn’t end Wallace’s winning streak — he led going into Final Jeopardy and was the only player correct, doubling up to $26,799 for a three-day total of $55,598 — fans were left howling across social media.
Many argued that Wallace’s pronunciation was the most common way of saying the dog breed name, sparking a heated debate.
Pretty sure I was screaming Weimaraner the same way Will said it #Jeopardy— Franny Di (@FrannyDiP) October 24, 2024
Everyone says “weimaraner” the way Will did! I call foul Jeopardy! #jeopardy— James Lewison (@squand4) October 24, 2024
They’d better give Will credit for Weimaraner. #Jeopardy— Summer (@NoAlmonds) October 24, 2024
In the Reddit thread for the episode, multiple other fans called out the ruling including veterinarians and Wallace himself.
“That Weimeraner thing was rough,” one fan wrote, eliciting 84 upvotes.
“Agree. That seemed unnecessarily petty,” wrote another.
Wallace himself chimed in to agree, quipping: “More like whyyyyyymeraner amiright. (Crickets).”
“Agreed, I feel like both pronunciations are acceptable in American English!” echoed a fourth.
“Came to say the same. I was expecting Ken to say the judges had accepted his answer after the break before final,” wrote a fifth.
“Yeah, i don’t really see how they justify rejecting that but accepting “larnyx” (twice),” wrote a sixth.
“Both WeimerANNer and WeimerAHNer are fine, but Will said “Weimereiner”, which is incorrect,” argued another siding with the judges.
An additional fan wrote: “Came here looking for this. I work in the veterinary field and the way Ken said they wanted the answer to be is not how we pronounce the breed on the daily. I hope they give him the money back before final jeopardy!”
“As someone who works in vet med it frustrated me because people say it the way Will do all the time!!” echoed one more.
“Yep. I am former vet med and never heard differently,” a third vet agreed.
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One more shared: “Me too because it’s not like there is ANY other word or dog breed that could be mistaken with the other pronunciation.”
This isn’t the first time Jeopardy! has been hit with a mispronunciation controversy, with fans wondering if the judges could be more consistent. Last month, the denial of a player’s take on “anesthesiologist” caused a stir. But last season, a player was ruled correct for a common mispronunciation of “larynx” (“lar-nyx?”). Last May, all three contestants were ruled incorrect for not pronouncing Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s name correctly.
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