A Jeopardy contestant named Nick learned an important lesson about pronunciation Monday night when he was docked $3,200 for ever-so-slightly misstating the name of Coolio’s famous 1995 song “Gangsta’s Paradise.”
The answer, presented by host Alex Trebek, was “A song by Coolio from ‘Dangerous Minds’ goes back in time to become a 1667 John Milton classic.” Nick, with a wide smile, replied “What is Gangster’s Paradise Lost?” and was awarded $1,600. A bit later, however, Trebek announced that the judges had overruled him on the grounds that Nick had said “Gangster’s” when he should have said “Gangsta’s.”
That decision cost Nick $3,200 and the lead.
Let Nick’s mistake be a lesson to us all. In 2018, you gotta keep it gangsta at all times. Never Gangster #Jeopardy pic.twitter.com/NMO7QsAfyI
— Roy Wood Jr- Ex Jedi (@roywoodjr) January 2, 2018
That may seem harsh but hey, the song is the song.
In the end, Nick won the day’s round anyway, so his Gangsta’s/Gangster’s mishap did not cost him too badly. And even if the Jeopardy judges’ correction comes off as a bit pedantic, it does teach us all about the importance of precision.
