explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2791: Bookshelf Sorting

2025-03-18T21:30:04Z

141.101.98.41: Undo revision 369417 by 141.101.98.104 (talk) Ah, sorry misremembered the nature of the Category. But there is one that it should be in (no, not Synonym Movies!), so maybe I'll add that

{{comic
| number = 2791
| date = June 19, 2023
| title = Bookshelf Sorting
| image = bookshelf_sorting_2x.png
| imagesize = 425x255px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Of course, I sort all my bookshelves the normal way, alphabetically (by first sentence).
}}

==Explanation==
Some people like to sort their bookshelves by the visible color of the book's spine, for example by hue to create a rainbow effect. This is pleasing to the eye, but may be unhelpful when [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxmPHLU9oA trying to find a specific book]. Literary enthusiasts (AKA "Book People") frequently dislike this system, because it emphasizes appearance at the expense of making books easy to find. On a philosophical level, treating books as decorations, rather than reading material, upsets many purists. "Book people" are more likely to have a practical system for arranging their books, either by category, genre, title, author name, or some combination of those. For a large library, a more rigorous organizational scheme such as the {{w|Dewey Decimal Classification}} might be used.

Unfortunately, [[Randall]] has found a ''much'' worse method of book organization - instead of sorting the books as discrete units, he has sorted their individual ''pages'' by number. This would require physically separating each book into its individual pages, and then organizing them into groups by page number. This effectively destroys every book, and requires anyone trying to read them to laboriously find each individual page (among many pages of the same number), and then replace it in the correct space after reading. Adding a new book would require individually placing potentially hundreds of pages. Where pages are not numbered, finding their place would be nearly impossible.

From the picture, Randall's system appears to work by absolute physical page count, including the front and rear covers as 'pages'. All the front covers are on the left side, then the first internal leaf of each book (counted as the second page), then the second internal leaf, etc. This produces repeating patterns of taller and shorter loose-leaf pages, echoing the proportions of each cover, having gathered together a page of the same position in each different book. The back covers are mixed in to whatever group falls after the last internal leaf from the same book, and so are intermixed with pages from longer books. The left-most front cover matches the right-most back cover, the second front cover matches the 2nd-to-last back cover, etc. with the last of the front covers matching the first of the back covers. At the end, there are only the last pages of the longest book left, now all uniform in size, and its rear cover.

The caption claims that "book people" get way angrier at this system, likely because it involves physically destroying books, rendering them almost unreadable. People with a strong affinity for books are often upset at volumes being treated with such disrespect.

In the title text Randall claims he sorts his bookshelf alphabetically, but by the first '''sentence'''. He describes this as "the normal way", even though the typical practice is to sort books either by title or author. Some books do have very well-known first lines, so sorting by first line could be used to demonstrate a level of literary sophistication on the part of the bookshelf owner, but could hardly be considered "normal".

==Transcript==
:[A bookshelf hanging on a wall is shown. It is covered almost from left to right but not with ordinary books. To the left there are 11 covers next to each other without any paper between them. They have different heights and shades of gray. After the last of these there follows many leaves of paper of differing heights similarly to that of the covers. The top of the papers thus form a wave shape with more than twenty peaks before they reach another cover. After that there follows similar patterns with paper in different height and then a cover in between more papers. But there is a much shorter distance between the first and second cover than before the first cover, after the initial 11 covers. The next two covers are close to the first, then there is a longer stretch of paper to the fourth, much less to the fifth, and then the next three covers comes very close. There is again quite long distance to the ninth and tenth cover, and here the number of different heights for the paper are clearly less than the previous paper stretches. Finally before the last and 11th cover all the paper, not much of it though, are of the same height, and just a bit lower than the final cover. The 11 covers at the start matches the 11 covers later and they comes in reverse order throughout the paper stretches as they are sorted to begin with, so the first and last cover matches, as does number 2 and the second last etc. There is a caption beneath the panel:]
:Book people hate seeing books sorted by colors, but it turns out they get ''way'' more angry if you sort the pages by number.

==Trivia==
Sorting by first line was, in fact, a common sorting method before books had titles, known as {{w|Incipit}}. In modern times, however, that method is wildly obsolete, as books are almost always identified by titles, few people memorize the opening lines of their books, and a film titled ''{{w|The Hobbit|In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit}}'' would not receive any funding.{{Citation needed}} However, {{w|papal encyclicals}} are still named after their first words, and thus would be sorted after their first sentence. For example, the encyclical titled ''{{w|Quanta Cura}}'' begins with "''Quanta cura'' ac pastorali vigilantia Romani Pontifices Prædecessores Nostri, exsequentes [...]".

In somewhat similar fashion, the 114 chapters of the {{w|Quran}} are roughly sorted by their length. American church hymnals list hymns by relatively meaningless numbers, but then index them by tune name, text title, first line and meter.

Other pop culture references to sorting by first sentence occur in the Good Omens TV show season 2 episode 2, where the archangel Gabriel, while suffering from amnesia, reorganizes the books in the bookshop alphabetically by first sentence to pass the time.

{{comic discussion}}

1729: Migrating Geese

2016-09-06T07:32:34Z

141.101.98.41: Kevin-Eddie_Izzard

{{comic
| number = 1729
| date = September 5, 2016
| title = Migrating Geese
| image = migrating_geese.png
| titletext = "Hey guys! I have a great idea for a migration!" "Dammit, Kevin."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Only a rough draft.}}
{{w|Bird migration|Migrating}} refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with {{w|geese}} traveling long distances to avoid cold seasons. When geese fly to their new habitat they tend to fly in a very clear shape or formation which resembles a flipped V. This formation is shown and explained here like a military formation with different geese labeled with different roles and different areas of the formation also labeled. See the [[#Table of labels|table below]].

The only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45 degree angle. In that direction there is no help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration.

===Table of labels===
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Explanation
|-
|Head Goose
(4th in line to the British throne)
|This goose may become the newest monarch of the UK, assuming the three who are further in line die. The current fourth in line to the British throne is {{w|HRH}} {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge}}. In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of {{w|Canada goose|Canada geese}} to the US east coast; the movie {{w|Fly Away Home}} is a semi-fictional story about this. Canada used to be part of the {{w|British Empire}} and remains a member of the {{w|Commonwealth of Nations}}, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession.
|-
|Quarterback
|A {{w|quarterback}} is a position in {{w|American Football}}. In modern American football, the {{w|Quarterback}} is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.
|-
|Comptroller
|A {{w|comptroller}} is a position in a company. A comptroller oversees and manages all financial operations.
|-
|Migration abort goose
|This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure
|-
|Twin-Engine Model
|This goose has two tails, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft which has two motors on either wing instead of one in the nose.
|-
|Kevin
|Unclear. May refer to:

* Kevin Mcallister, from the {{w|Home Alone}} movies, who gets separated from his parents a lot.
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp Kevin of reddit fame].
* One of the {{w|Minions (Despicable Me)|Minions}} from the "{{w|Despicable Me}}" franchise ([http://despicableme.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin]), who leaves the main Minion group in search of a new master.
* [https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg Kevin] from {{w|South Park}}.
* An Eddie Izzard skit about migrating birds. A group of birds are following Kevin, assuming that he knows where he is going. But he is lost and they end up in the wrong place.
|-
|CIA Informant
|A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the {{w|Central Intelligence Agency}}. If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities.
|-
|Backups
|These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.
|-
|Missing Valence Geese
|In Chemistry, {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka. covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests, a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon.
In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes".
|-
|Shock Front
| A shock front is the front boundary of a {{w|shock wave}} created by either a {{w|sonic boom}} or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself.
|-
|Stealth cargo being escorted
|The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "{{w|Stealth technology|stealth}}".
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Understanding Migration of Geese

:[20 geese are shown flying in a typical migratory V-formation. As they are shown in silhouette it is not possible to determine if they are seen from above or from below. They are flying toward the top of the image with the first goose close to the top in the middle of the image. There is one head goose, and then there are 7 geese in the left arms and 9 geese in the right arm. Behind the left arm there are two stragglers that are not in line with the others, but closer to the middle than those above and not as close to each other as the rest but still flying in the same direction. Finally there is one goose at the bottom right corner flying at a 45 degree angle away from the other to the right. The first goose is flapping its wing, which is also the case with six other geese, no. 4 and 6 in the left and 3, 5 and 6 in the right arm as well as the middle of the two in the rear towards the middle. The rest are soaring with straight wings and all of these look the same except no. 7 in the right arm which has two tails, which both goes ahead of the wings, making it look like a plane with two engines. The head goose and 5 of the 9 geese in the right arm as well as the one bottom right are labelled with and arrow pointing to them from the label. The front goose has the label in front to the left, the other have it in front to the right, except the second last in the arm which has the label inside the V and one flying away which has the label right above it. The two behind and right of the left arm have one label behind them with two arrows from the label pointing at both geese. There is a thick curvy line in front of geese no. 3 to 5 in the left arm. In front of that line is a thinner broken line. In front of this is a label written with the same curvature. There are two areas surrounded by dotted lines. The first one is behind the last of the left arms geese, extending in the same direction for a distance of about two geese. It has a label above and left with and arrow pointing to it. The other area is in the middle of the V forming a loose triangular structure with a label inside.]
:Head goose: Head goose <small>(4<sup>th</sup> in line to the British throne)</small>
:Right no. 1: Quarterback
:Right no. 3: Comptroller
:Right no. 5: Migration abort goose
:Right no. 7: Twin-engine model
:Right no. 8: CIA informant
:Bottom right corner: Kevin
:Behind center: Backups
:In front of left no. 3-5: Shock front
:Empty area behind left arm: Missing valence geese
:Empty area in center: Stealth cargo being escorted

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:American football]]

Talk:1729: Migrating Geese

2016-09-06T07:23:59Z

141.101.98.41:

Kevin sounds familiar, has he been in a previous xkcd? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 13:51, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

:I think Kevin is a reference to Home Alone. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.143|162.158.203.143]] 14:19, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: [[1719: Superzoom]] also includes Kevin. [[User:Iggyvolz|Iggyvolz]] ([[User talk:Iggyvolz|talk]]) 14:22, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: Is it a reference to the famous Reddit Kevin? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp {{unsigned|Mcroft}}

: I thought it might be Kevin the Minion. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 14:36, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: Perhaps it's just a generic name for the butt of a joke, like poor Steve. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 15:02, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: At least in Germany there is something called kevinism which assumes that kevin is a name which is only given to children of poorer social groups(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin#.E2.80.9EKevinismus.E2.80.9C). This is similar to what was mentioned as the reddit kevin. We'll probably have to wait for someone understanding the title text to be sure. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 15:04, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: A quick Google search found this [https://www.facebook.com/hartkevin/posts/10150488674027045|a Facebook post] from {{w|Kevin Hart}}; no idea if this is the reference, or the comic and Kevin Hart are both referencing an older joke. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 15:17, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: Probably a long shot, but "Dammit, Kevin" line sounds like a reference to Poorly Drawn Lines character Kevin (he's a bird, but I'm not sure that he's a goose). Check out this comic, for example: http://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/south/ --[[User:DefaultLocale|DefaultLocale]] ([[User talk:DefaultLocale|talk]]) 16:41, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: I immediately thought of Kevin as the bird from Up. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 16:55, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

:I assumed that 'Kevin' was a reference to the novel 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'

:I think a bunch of people have hit the nail on the head - the "reddit kevin", the "butt of a joke", the "kevinism" thing.. aside from the link to the original "reddit Kevin", there's also a subreddit based on other "Kevin"s. https://www.reddit.com/r/storiesaboutkevin [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.193|141.101.70.193]] 22:34, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

:I think it's more likely that 'Kevin' is a South Park reference. https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg [[User:Calion|Calion]] ([[User talk:Calion|talk]]) 01:14, 6 September 2016 (UTC)

:I'm 90% sure that Kevin is a reference to an Eddie Izzard skit about migrating birds. He's talking about how migrating birds find their way, but Kevin gets lost and all the other birds just follow him, assuming that he knows where he is going. But it's years since I last watched it and I can't even remember which show it's in. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.41|141.101.98.41]] 07:23, 6 September 2016 (UTC)

I think "Missing valence geese" refers to electron configuration, where they would give/take electrons to become "stable". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.66|162.158.49.66]] 14:34, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: I thought so too and added it in the table during my edit. It's not a very good explanation though as I'm not a native English speaker. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 15:04, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

This is my first contribution here so I hope I didn't do too many things wrong, I thought if there's nothing there yet I can't break too much. Thanks for fixing the table, it looks much better now :) I don't know why you removed the part about programming though, because while it's maybe normal that geese migrate it is definitely not normal to have a guide ("Migrating") on doing so. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 14:57, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
Edit: Goose also is a network protocol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_Substation_Events#Generic_Object_Oriented_Substation_Events_.28GOOSE.29) which would further support that it plays on the technical kind of migration. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 15:17, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
:Maybe it is ALSO about programming, but I do not think it is first and foremost about programming. I'm not sure what you mean about the having a guide? There is no goose designated guide? If there is some goose whose label refers directly to programming then maybe that could be explained in the table. Or later down the line after explaining goose migration. Apart from Kevin this looks very much like real geese migrating, with one arm often longer than the other and often a few birds flying inside the V. And no problem to fix the table, just found another table and copy pasted from that ;-) And hope you will add more to this wiki. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:00, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
:I understand what you mean now, it's obviously showing the animals described as "migrating geese". I for some reason thought it's meant like "Installing Internet Explorer on Linux", not as a description but as a guide title/process (stress on migrating, not on geese). Like that you're obviously right, I just had the wrong approach and couldn't think around it. Good that there's explainXKCD. It's cause I'm dumb. :) [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 17:20, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

The quarterback is usually in the second row of an American football formation like the associated goose.

You would think Randal would have made a reference to Ramanujan, since this is the 1729th comic, yet he doesn't. --[[User:Jessep13|Jessep13]] ([[User talk:Jessep13|talk]]) 22:52, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1729: Migrating Geese

2016-09-06T07:23:20Z

141.101.98.41:

Kevin sounds familiar, has he been in a previous xkcd? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 13:51, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

:I think Kevin is a reference to Home Alone. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.143|162.158.203.143]] 14:19, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: [[1719: Superzoom]] also includes Kevin. [[User:Iggyvolz|Iggyvolz]] ([[User talk:Iggyvolz|talk]]) 14:22, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: Is it a reference to the famous Reddit Kevin? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp {{unsigned|Mcroft}}

: I thought it might be Kevin the Minion. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 14:36, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: Perhaps it's just a generic name for the butt of a joke, like poor Steve. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 15:02, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: At least in Germany there is something called kevinism which assumes that kevin is a name which is only given to children of poorer social groups(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin#.E2.80.9EKevinismus.E2.80.9C). This is similar to what was mentioned as the reddit kevin. We'll probably have to wait for someone understanding the title text to be sure. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 15:04, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: A quick Google search found this [https://www.facebook.com/hartkevin/posts/10150488674027045|a Facebook post] from {{w|Kevin Hart}}; no idea if this is the reference, or the comic and Kevin Hart are both referencing an older joke. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 15:17, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: Probably a long shot, but "Dammit, Kevin" line sounds like a reference to Poorly Drawn Lines character Kevin (he's a bird, but I'm not sure that he's a goose). Check out this comic, for example: http://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/south/ --[[User:DefaultLocale|DefaultLocale]] ([[User talk:DefaultLocale|talk]]) 16:41, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: I immediately thought of Kevin as the bird from Up. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 16:55, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

:I assumed that 'Kevin' was a reference to the novel 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'

:I think a bunch of people have hit the nail on the head - the "reddit kevin", the "butt of a joke", the "kevinism" thing.. aside from the link to the original "reddit Kevin", there's also a subreddit based on other "Kevin"s. https://www.reddit.com/r/storiesaboutkevin [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.193|141.101.70.193]] 22:34, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

:I think it's more likely that 'Kevin' is a South Park reference. https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg [[User:Calion|Calion]] ([[User talk:Calion|talk]]) 01:14, 6 September 2016 (UTC)

:I'm 90% sure that Kevin is a reference to an Eddie Izzard skit about migrating birds. He's talking about how migrating birds find their way, but Kevin gets lost and all the other birds just follow him, assuming that he knows where he is going. But it's years since I last watched it and I can't even remember which show it's in.

I think "Missing valence geese" refers to electron configuration, where they would give/take electrons to become "stable". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.66|162.158.49.66]] 14:34, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

: I thought so too and added it in the table during my edit. It's not a very good explanation though as I'm not a native English speaker. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 15:04, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

This is my first contribution here so I hope I didn't do too many things wrong, I thought if there's nothing there yet I can't break too much. Thanks for fixing the table, it looks much better now :) I don't know why you removed the part about programming though, because while it's maybe normal that geese migrate it is definitely not normal to have a guide ("Migrating") on doing so. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 14:57, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
Edit: Goose also is a network protocol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_Substation_Events#Generic_Object_Oriented_Substation_Events_.28GOOSE.29) which would further support that it plays on the technical kind of migration. [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 15:17, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
:Maybe it is ALSO about programming, but I do not think it is first and foremost about programming. I'm not sure what you mean about the having a guide? There is no goose designated guide? If there is some goose whose label refers directly to programming then maybe that could be explained in the table. Or later down the line after explaining goose migration. Apart from Kevin this looks very much like real geese migrating, with one arm often longer than the other and often a few birds flying inside the V. And no problem to fix the table, just found another table and copy pasted from that ;-) And hope you will add more to this wiki. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:00, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
:I understand what you mean now, it's obviously showing the animals described as "migrating geese". I for some reason thought it's meant like "Installing Internet Explorer on Linux", not as a description but as a guide title/process (stress on migrating, not on geese). Like that you're obviously right, I just had the wrong approach and couldn't think around it. Good that there's explainXKCD. It's cause I'm dumb. :) [[User:Treed|Treed]] ([[User talk:Treed|talk]]) 17:20, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

The quarterback is usually in the second row of an American football formation like the associated goose.

You would think Randal would have made a reference to Ramanujan, since this is the 1729th comic, yet he doesn't. --[[User:Jessep13|Jessep13]] ([[User talk:Jessep13|talk]]) 22:52, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1697: Intervocalic Fortition

2016-06-22T19:36:03Z

141.101.98.41: Apostrophe errors

The idea, stated in the alt-text, that "meh" was created by writers of "The Simpsons", is incorrect. "The Simpsons", however, was responsible for widely popularizing it. See [http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/06/meh_etymology_tracing_the_yiddish_word_from_leo_rosten_to_auden_to_the_simpsons.html] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meh] [[User:Dubaaron|Dubaaron]] ([[User talk:Dubaaron|talk]]) 04:31, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:Is it really saying that ''The Simpsons'' created the word? All it says is that it introduced the word, which does not seem to imply that it didn't exist before. If I introduce a friend of mine to another person, I most likely did not just create that other person, and there is no reason to believe that it should be any different for words.[[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 13:24, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
::I don't think that "writers on The Simpsons decided to mess with future linguists" means "writers of The Simpsons introduced the word". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 14:25, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

"The" ends in a lax vowel, and it's the most ubiquitous word in the language, so that rule is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.10|108.162.221.10]] 04:45, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

: I've always seen "lax vowel" referring to full (unreduced) vowels. When unstressed, the vowel in "the" is reduced (/ðə/), and when stressed it's tense (/ði:/). [[Special:Contributions/188.114.109.66|188.114.109.66]] 05:08, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

:: Furthermore, the lax vowel is only used if 'the' is followed by another syllable, and so the utterance will not be lax-vowel-final. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.219}}

::: How does that matter? The rule as stated was about the ending of words, not of utterances. [[User:Huttarl|Huttarl]] ([[User talk:Huttarl|talk]]) 19:21, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

:::What the? That can't be right... {{unsigned ip|162.158.83.102}}

Questions. Is this happening in (American) English? is "adverb" becoming /adferb/. Any other examples?[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 05:55, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
: I scanned some 'v' words and didn't see much. A plural of [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html dwarf] discussion; similarly wharf splits into both wharfs and wharves. 'Halving' might benefit in the sense that the 'l' is silent so it sounds like 'having' and might be more clear as 'halfing'. I've also noticed a smattering of YouTubers writing "could of/should of" instead of contracting 'have', i.e, "could've/should've". [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 06:50, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
::The pronunciation of both ''of'' and ''’ve'' is /əv/. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 13:35, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:No, I don't think this is really happening. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.77|141.101.98.77]] 11:22, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:"Adverb" doesn't have an intervocalic "v". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 14:21, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
::No, but the prank as stated in the comic "V's in the middle of words" applies to "adverb". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.178|108.162.237.178]] 15:34, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

It's quite surprising to see Randall misusing apostrophes to form plurals (i.e. V's and F's instead of the correct Vs and Fs).  – [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.41|141.101.98.41]] 19:36, 22 June 2016 (UTC)