'Jeopardy' host Ken Jennings shuts down fan who questioned a clue — says 'buy a dictionary'

One of America's favorite game shows, "Jeopardy!" probably has one of the brainiest fan bases as well. Its sharp-eyed fans are always on the lookout for mistakes made by the contestants or the host, and aren't hesitant to call them out online. However, when a fan gets it wrong, the host claps back, too. This happened when a viewer, who goes by @kyasariin on X, got into a spat with Ken Jennings over the pronunciation of the word "sake", a Japanese alcoholic beverage. As the fan argued it didn't rhyme with 'jockey', Jennings fired back by telling them to buy a dictionary!

The debacle started during an episode from two years ago, in which returning champion Ben Chan was competing against Kari Elsila, a grant strategy consultant from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Greg Czaja, a San Diego-based cardiologist for the U.S. Navy, per The New York Post.

During the game, Jennings introduced a clue under the category, Potent Potable Rhyme Time. The clue for $200 read, “Rice wine for the guy who rides a racehorse,” and the players essentially had to guess the name of the rice wine that rhymed with the word for a racehorse rider.  Elsila hit the buzzer first and correctly answered with the two words, “What is: ‘Sake’ and ‘Jockey.'” Jennings deemed the answer correct and awarded the points to the player. 

However, some viewers took issue with the ruling, arguing that the answer wasn't correct. “Dear @Jeopardy writers, ‘Sake’ and ‘Jockey’ are not rhyming words,” wrote @kyasariin on X before tagging the host himself. While usually Jennings would let such a petty complaint go, this time he decided to pull out a dictionary.

“I am once again asking Americans to buy a dictionary," Jennings wrote in his reply, posting the screenshots from the dictionary too, where it was shown that “sake” could also be pronounced as “saki” while referring to the Japanese Rice Wine. While the host thought the issue was resolved, the couch warrior had more to say.  

Jennings did not let the second counter slide either and shared another snarky comment to hit back.  “Yeah, I’m always mad when people say the ‘s’ in Paris. Shameful," reminding the viewer how complicated the language could get once geography is involved. 

While the battle raged on X, viewers on YouTube extended the debate as well. "Everybody who doesn't have an American accent will be immediately irritated by the first clue so transparently not rhyming in any accent without the caught-cot merger," suggested one viewer, @KC_Streams. 

"Gah! 'Sake' does NOT rhyme with 'jockey.' It is pronounced just as it's spelled: sa-ke. Sah-keh, phonetically. The 'e' in Japanese is like the 'e' in the English word 'let.' If it rhymed with 'jockey', it would be 'saki' (sic)," explained another user @seikibrian8641, who may also need a dictionary, as Jennings would say. 

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