“Jeopardy!” legend Ken Jennings is asking the important questions. Questions we didn’t even know needed to be asked, but important ones all the same. For example, does the “hot” in “hot takes” refer to temperature or spiciness? Survey says…
Spiciness. At least that’s what the majority of Ken Jennings’ Twitter following thinks. The “Jeopardy!” icon recently posted a Twitter poll, attempting to get to the bottom of “hot takes” once and for all.
To you, the “hot” in “hot takes” means
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) April 14, 2021
The options read: “Hot in temperature” and “Hot ‘n’ Spicy”
The poll has only been live for an hour at the time of this writing, and with 6,000 votes, the current results are roughly 70% for spicy and roughly 30% for temperature.
Followers are chiming in with comments left and right. And one of the responses actually revealed what side Ken Jennings himself comes down on.
“Hot = fresh outta the oven = new,” wrote one Twitter user. “I agree but we’re losing 29-71,” Jennings replied.
There you have it, Jennings is a temperature man.
Another use wrote, “it’s supposed to be like ‘hot off the press’ but everyone thinks it means ‘controversial'”
This reply highlights a problem with the accuracy of the poll. Not everyone is working with the same idea of what a “hot take” truly is.
‘Jeopardy!’ Star’s Poll Begs the Question: What Is a ‘Hot Take’ to Begin With?
The “Jeopardy!” legend’s poll assumes that everyone is on the same page with what a hot take is.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a hot take as “a quickly produced, strongly worded, and often deliberately provocative or sensational opinion or reaction (as in response to current news)”
So now we know what one is. But it doesn’t get us much closer to an answer for the temperature/spiciness debate.
The “quickly produced” part of the definition seems to align with the “hot off the presses” idea suggested by a few people on Twitter. That would help the case for temperature.
But “deliberately provocative” seems to suggest a certain element of spiciness. So maybe “hot” is representative of both interpretations?
Are we looking too far into this? Perhaps. But check back in 23 hours, and Ken Jennings’ Twitter poll should have a definitive answer for us.
