[Jarate Lover]

A contestant on Wheel of Fortune has left the US show's host speechless after he guessed almost every possible answer apart from the real one.

Appearing on the long-running game show this week, Reed College student Zach initially played well, beating two other contestants to make it to the final round.

For his last word puzzle, Zach had seemingly set himself up for an easy win — choosing letters that revealed all but two letters on the board.

The puzzle appeared on the board as: "M-A-G-_ -C" "_-A-N-D", and with ten seconds on the clock, Zach correctly guessed the first word as "magic".

But the college student struggled with the second word which was "wand", sounding out a stream of incorrect guesses - "hand, band, yand, sand, band, cand, fand".

Host Pat Sajak appeared lost for words after the buzzer sounded.

"Uh. Wow," was all Sajak could say.

"It's a weird game and you just never know," he added.

"That 'and' was so 'and'-y," Zach said sheepishly.

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertain...ost-speechless

How this became headlines in Australian news leaves me speechless.

[NateDude]

Aww, poor guy.

But to be fair I couldn't think of WAND for a few seconds myself

[Chaohord]

magic land, of course

[Hidole555]

I can imagine this guy being a replacement for Stan's dad in that South Park episode.

[Valdor]

i would like to know what a yand, cand, or fand is

[Omali]

Magic Rand, the answer was Rand Paul.

[ExplodingGuy]

Shouldn't wand have been his first logical thought?

[toastedspyro]

My first thoughts were magic hand and magic land too.

I guess it's because it's not often that when you see a "-and" you think it to be pronounced "-ond" as in "pond", so then you start guessing words that end in "-and" as in "land"

[Ekalektik_1]

My first thought was Randy Marsh. In this guy's defense, being on the spot like that does look pretty nerve-wracking.

[ButtsexV3]

ExplodingGuy posted:

Shouldn't wand have been his first logical thought?

AAND BAND CAND DAND EAND FAND GAND HAND IAND JAND KAND LAND MAND NAND OAND PAND QAND RAND SAND TAND UAND VAND XAND YAND ZAND
nope don't see it

[Fourm Shark]

ButtsexV3 posted:

AAND BAND CAND DAND EAND FAND GAND HAND IAND JAND KAND LAND MAND NAND OAND PAND QAND RAND SAND TAND UAND VAND XAND YAND ZAND
nope don't see it

I first thought "Magic Wand" When I saw it.

[asteroidrules]

I can understand the first two, but "yand"? Seriously?

[Hidole555]

asteroidrules posted:

I can understand the first two, but "yand"? Seriously?

What? You've never had a delicious yand sandwich?

[Badballer]

I can understand how he wouldn't have thought of WAND because it doesn't have that AND pronunciation which you can clearly see he was going for. WAND is more like WOND.

But still, it did have the word MAGIC infront of it so...

[SGTNAPALM]

I would like to point out that the average person would be under a tremendous amount of stress. I could see myself making the same mistake.

Edited:

Also, once you have something like "hand [hand]," in your head, it could be difficult to think about the other pronunciation, "wand [wond]." The contestant probably couldn't make that mental leap, especially while under stress.

[Akuma_lektro]

i dunno, i thought wand the exact moment i saw it.
maybe it's because i'm not a native speaker

[Matrix374]

I kept thinking of hand and couldn't think up the word wand.
I feel stupid :(

[tinhead50]

I think the problem is when you see 'and' you look for word that has the 'and' sound in it, not thinking of wand because it sounds like 'wond' in terms of letters.

[SGTNAPALM]

Akuma_lektro posted:

i dunno, i thought wand the exact moment i saw it.
maybe it's because i'm not a native speaker

I actually thought "Magic Hand" because of the song by Heart.

[sami-pso]

Maybe it was so obvious he didn't think about it.
10 seconds is not that long if you're under pressure.

[Negrul1]

It could have been because when you think of words ending in '-and' phonetically, 'wand' doesn't fit since it's more of an 'ond' sound.

[Gordon Frohm]

sami-pso posted:

Maybe it was so obvious he didn't think about it.

I get that all the time.

[TheTalon]

ExplodingGuy posted:

Shouldn't wand have been his first logical thought?

He saw 'and', and that stuck in his mind. Wand doesn't have that 'and' sound in it. Classic brain tunnelvision!

[LegndNikko]

My first thought was Magic Hand, honestly.
I guess it's pronunciation.
Lots of -and words literally sound like "and," while "wand" is pronounced almost like "wawnd."

[Bat-shit]

First I thought Magic Land.

But Magic Wand it is.

[djjkxbox360]

The wonderful English language

[The Janitor]

Reading the letters A-N-D I'm pretty sure you subconsciously decide that it has to end in the same sound. Kind of understandable but still.

[Bat-shit]

Imo 'And' sounds pretty much the same as 'wAnd.'

[Mr. Agree]

SGTNAPALM posted:

I would like to point out that the average person would be under a tremendous amount of stress. I could see myself making the same mistake.

Edited:

Also, once you have something like "hand [hand]," in your head, it could be difficult to think about the other pronunciation, "wand [wond]." The contestant probably couldn't make that mental leap, especially while under stress.

As soon as I saw it, in a split second I read Magic Wand.