Nearly every night as we eat dinner, Alan and I watch Jeopardy!.  We like the intellectual aspect and also, we have very different areas of knowledge.  I have a classical education so anything Latin, Greek, literary or religious is fair game, but I didn't even know there WAS an Azerbaijan until Alan answered it in a geography category, much less what it bordered and whether or not there were ports.  Yes, as it turns out; it's bordered on one side by the Caspian Sea.  Who knew?  Well, Alan, not my fat Irish ass.  He's also better at world leaders, cabinet members and military things, like names of aircraft and ships and destroyers and stuff.  We are hit and miss on pop culture, because some things we're really into and others, we've barely heard of, much less seen/heard.

So tonight, although not technically this evening's Jeopardy! - we DVR it and watch from one to several days behind - the final was (I think) a real toughie.  It was a triple stumper for the contestants.  I am certain that I would not have thought of it if I were on the show; my first few ideas yielded nothing and I'm sure if I were standing there, I'd have thought that too much "think music" had gone by and there was no chance of me getting the correct answer or having time to write it down, so I'd have given up but at home I kept thinking and I got it!  I totally got it! 

The question was: Nickname shared by George Armstrong Custer, Native American Chief Crazy Horse and a member of a 1930s comedy team.

The first thing I thought of was the Marx Brothers, but I couldn't figure out why an American general of the late 1800s, much less a Native American chief, would be nicknamed Groucho, Harpo, Gummo, or...Hippo, or whatever the other ones were (Chico and Zeppo, it seems - no Hippo after all, what a pity).  Then I thought of George Burns and Gracie Allen, but Burns and Allen were their names, not nicknames, and really?  Who would call Crazy Horse "Gracie?"  That's just...uh, crazy.

I dismissed the Keystone Cops - did any of them have names, or nicknames, anyway?  I just remember random bunches of Keystone Cops.

I didn't even think of Laurel and Hardy, which I should have because, although the wrong answer to the Final Jeopardy, Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem, Georgia, not far from us.  We pass the Laurel and Hardy Museum when we go to visit Alan's parents.

Then I thought of the Three Stooges, whom I enjoyed each afternoon after elementary school thanks to TBS.  Larry, Moe and CURLY!  CURLY!  I remembered something about Custer's lovely blond hair, and though I couldn't imagine an American Indian chief with curly locks, it was the only thing I could imagine that would fit.

"CURLY!" I exclaimed suddenly to Alan.  "It has to be Curly!"  Because nobody would call Crazy Horse 'Gummo' to his face and live to tell about it.

Now, I totally allow it makes no sense because when have you ever seen a Native American with curly hair? - but it has to be!  CURLY!

And it was.  It totally was.  I was right.

I shall be milking this Final Jeopardy victory for the next several months.

I keep popping into the study and telling Alan, "Curly!" - because I got Curly.  Out of nowhere.  From nothin'.

He sighs patiently.