Part 1: Introduction
In the U.S., we have a game show called Jeopardy!, where contestants answer trivia questions in certain categories. This television program, which has aired for a few decades now, has an interesting gimmick, where "answers" are given, and contestants must provide the right question. For example, in once recent episode, in the category "The Story of English", one answer was:
In Chaucer's day, "boot" was pronounced "boat"; the change to modern speech is called the GVS, "great" this "shift"
and the correct response was:
What is vowel?
Also, categories with quotation marks embedded in their name require those letters to be included in each response. For example, in the category "RR" CROSSING, a clue was
To lose assets in large quantities, or to bleed profusely
and the correct response was
What is hemorrhage?
Every once in a while, a contestant's response is initially ruled incorrect, but a panel of judges will override that initial ruling, deeming the answer sufficiently correct. (Perhaps there's another valid word for something that the framers of the question didn't anticipate.) In these cases, scores are adjusted. Since negative scores are given for incorrect answers, these corrections can have a fairly strong impact on the competition. For example, a $1200 question reversed causes a $2400 swing for one contestant.
Part 2: The Debate
The January 10th episode had a category called:
"WARD" OF THE DAY
One clue was:
It's the opposite of leeward
and the correct response was:
What is windward?
Now, the part of the game that prompted a lengthy debate between my wife and I, and my question here. The clue was, quite simply:
Honest & direct
to which one contestant replied:
What is forward?
But the host responded, "No," and then gave the correct response:
What is straightforward?
As we watched, we were pretty sure that we'd see a scoring change after the commercial break, and we were surprised when we didn't. This prompted us to start looking up both words in the dictionary (actually, more than one dictionary; I'll give a few excerpts here):
- from Macmillan:
straightforward (adj.) clear and honest
forward (adj.) very confident and direct about saying what you think, in a way that is not socially suitable
- from ODO:
straightforward (adj.) (of a person) honest and frank: a straightforward young man
forward (adj.) (of a person) bold or overfamiliar in manner: I am not usually a forward sort of person
In the end, the debate between my wife and I ended in a split decision: one of us thought the contestant had been given a raw deal, while the other thought the judges had made the correct ruling.
Part 3: My Question
What do you think? Is forward close enough in meaning to straightforward, that the judges should have accepted that response? Or do the two words differ enough that you would stick by the judges in their refusal to deem that response correct?