Talk:1374: Urn

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 13:49, 28 May 2014 by RenniePet (talk | contribs)
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The urn could contain both the ashes and the balls, as the teacher does not use any modifiers like "only". IE: Meg could have imagined these balls being added to an urn are already has knowledge of. It would be nice if the explanation clarified this possibility. 199.27.128.68 10:10, 28 May 2014 (UTC) Adam

I interpreted the "with replacement" part of the title text as Megan wanting to have her grandfather back.--Buggz (talk) 08:31, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

I now realize she just wants to put the ashes back, it's so obvious it hurts. #overthinkingit --Buggz (talk) 09:44, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

The calculation for "with replacement" is substantially shorter (and thus easier and less tedious) than without. 108.162.237.218 09:14, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Depends on whether you disregard the order in which the balls are drawn or not. -- Xorg (talk) 10:09, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

A bot wrote all of these?!--108.162.215.46 09:50, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

I guess I'll have to remove "understanding xkcd" from my list of working Turing tests then... -- Xorg (talk) 10:09, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Maybe I'm off base, but it seems to be a commentary on Trigger Warnings

Could be. I can see that, with the standard science/math/Randall twist. Only in this case, the content is totally unexpected based on the perceived topic that is to be covered. Unlike possibly expecting racism from a civil war era novel, brutality from an ancient Greek historical account; or peanuts in a can of, peanuts... Jarod997 (talk) 13:23, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

I'd suggest that Megan could identify her grandfathers ashes by the urn (shape, colour, identification), but there's no clear indication of that in the panel. She clearly recognizes the ashes as her grandfathers after she sticks her hand in. Jarod997 (talk) 13:25, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

I think the key here is that for some people the word "urn" is a neutral word, while for other people "urn" is only associated with funerals and cremation and the ashes of a loved one. The fact that the title for the drawing is "Urn" could also imply that it is all about the word "urn" and how some people react emotionally to it. --RenniePet (talk) 13:49, 28 May 2014 (UTC)