explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1347: t Distribution

2025-03-26T21:35:43Z

172.68.174.194: /* Explanation */ Added missing apostrophe to "Student's", start of 5th paragraph.

{{comic
| number = 1347
| date = March 26, 2014
| title = t Distribution
| image = t_distribution.png
| titletext = If data fails the Teacher's t test, you can just force it to take the test again until it passes.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Student's t-distribution}} is a class of {{w|probability distribution}} used in statistics to model small sample sizes. "Student" was the pseudonym of {{w|William Sealy Gosset}}, an employee of Guinness Brewery who discovered it.

A Student's t distribution is similar to a normal symmetric bell curve distribution, but has "fatter tails"; thus, the one shown in the comic is roughly the right shape. A "Teacher's" t-distribution is a joke (pun) made up by Randall.

The comic is a play on the name "Student", the pseudonym of the creator, versus the "Teacher". The idea is that a "teacher's" distribution would be more complex, and that it would be used for fitting data when the student's distribution wasn't sophisticated enough. Of course, in actuality, such a complex distribution as the one shown in the comic would have many parameters, and in practice would probably lead to overfitting and/or bias. Thus, the comic (and the title text) can be seen as making fun of the idea that more complex is always better, or perhaps of the idea that a statistician's job is to use more and more sophisticated tools to force the data to yield a "publishable" result, rather than to use the simplest appropriate tool and let the chips fall where they may.

[[Cueball]] tries to "fit" a distribution to the data on the paper. This is the usual jargon for when a statistician is trying to model their data as coming from some underlying probability distribution, and the comic makes a pun with the physical meaning of "fit". In the second panel, Cueball decides that the Student's T distribution does not fit his data well (the data failed the Student t-test), and decides to pull out the more complex Teachers t-distribution instead (the teachers t-test - which the data is not allowed to continue to fail). Note that "test" is what statisticians do to data to see if it fits some distribution, but it is also another word for "examination."

The Student's t distribution relates the average of a small sample to the "true" population average, under the assumptions, unobjectionable in many contexts, that there is such a "true" value, and that the samples are independent and normally distributed with equal variance. As such, unless the data on Cueball's paper contain many small groups which radically violate these assumptions somehow, there is no way Cueball's data could falsify the t distribution. In particular, a single number (for the average of one group) or a small set of numbers (for the averages of several numbers) will never make a nice smooth curve, but an average statistician would see that as normal statistical noise that would even out over time, not as a reason to prefer a complex, spiky curve such as the supposed "teacher's" distribution. But of course, Cueball's access to a secret, cooler-looking distribution makes them more badass than a mere average statistician... or does it?

Ironically, the Teacher's T Distribution shows equal variance, itself proving the appropriateness of the Student's T Distribution.

The title text plays on the word "test". The first part of the sentence refers to a potential "Teacher t-test" which would be used in a statistical context to test for the significance of some observation, as opposed to the real "Student's t-test" which is used to determine if two sets of data differ by a statistically significant amount. On the other hand, the second part of the sentence refers to the possibility for students to take tests (or exams) until they pass - or to teachers who forces students to take the test again and again until they pass. The resulting sentence may refer to statistical fallacy, or the (conscious or unconscious) action of manipulating observations or misconducting experiments to give statistical significance to a false fact.

==Transcript==
:[A physical bell-curve-shaped object labeled "Student's t distribution" is resting on a table. Cueball is working with it and a piece of paper.]
:Cueball: Hmm
:[Cueball looks at the piece of paper.]
:Cueball: ...nope.
:[Cueball picks up the object and begins to walk off the panel with it.]
:[Cueball comes back onto the panel, now carrying an object shaped like a much more complex curve, with many symmetric spikes and dips, labeled "Teacher's t distribution".]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Puns]]

2108: Carbonated Beverage Language Map

2025-03-20T09:24:07Z

172.68.174.194: In the original version of the trivia, "elixer" was misspelled as "elixir". I later corrected this mistake.

{{comic
| number = 2108
| date = February 6, 2019
| title = Carbonated Beverage Language Map
| image = carbonated_beverage_language_map.png
| titletext = There's one person in Missouri who says "carbo bev" who the entire rest of the country HATES.
}}

==Explanation==
In the US, people in various parts of the country refer to carbonated beverages by {{w|Names for soft drinks in the United States|different names}} such as "soda", "pop", "coke", and others. Generally, the West Coast and Northeast say "soda", the South says "coke" and the rest of the country says "pop".

There are various maps of where these different names are used, including [http://popvssoda.com/ popvssoda.com] and [https://laughingsquid.com/soda-pop-or-coke-maps-of-regional-dialect-variation-in-the-united-states/ this map on Laughing Squid]. Such maps were trending and popular in 2013.

xkcd's map is a satire of those maps – these regional terms are fake. Not only are there far more terms than are actually used by Americans, many are terms for other beverages (mead), unrelated liquids (quicksilver), or trademarked beverage names less popular than {{w|Coca Cola|Coke}}/{{w|Coca Cola}} ({{w|Mountain Dew|Code Red}}) – and in one case, something that's not even tangible ({{w|cryptocurrency|"Crypto"}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|+Map terms (from left to right, approximately)
|-
|{{w|Fanta}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage line, manufactured by Coca-Cola.
|-
|Söde
|Presumably pronounced "soda" but spelled oddly (might be reference to ''{{w|Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}'' subtitles - "Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?"). Or it could be a {{tvtropes|HeavyMetalUmlaut|Heavy Metal Umlaut}}.
|-
|True Water
|Possibly a reference to Tru Blood, a fictional artificial blood substitute for vampires in ''{{w|The Southern Vampire Mysteries}}'' book series by Charlaine Harris, and the television series ''{{w|True Blood}}''. Also could be a reference to "purified" mineral waters such as {{w|Glaceau Smartwater|Smartwater}}.
|-
|Crypto
|Popularized as a slang term in the late '80s and early '90s to refer to anything involving the act of encryption/decryption through the application of ciphers, a practice which has become practically ubiquitous in the digital age. Given the highlighted region is the Silicon Valley, this is almost certainly a reference to {{w|cryptography}} and/or {{w|cryptocurrency}}. None of these concepts are liquid and therefore not drinkable. Possibly a joke that the residents of Silicon Valley are actually computers that "drink" crypto (i.e. data). Might also reference the fact that it creates bubbles.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|Yum
|Refers to {{w|Yum! Brands}}, parent company of several fast food restaurants, which was spun off from PepsiCo, maker of a carbonated beverage, in 1997, and has a lifetime contract to serve their beverages.
|-
|Sparkle Fluid
|Roughly analogously to how "sparkling wine" and "sparkling cider" are carbonated varieties of wine and cider, "sparkling fluid" or "sparkle fluid" would presumably be any carbonated fluid
|-
|King Cola
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|{{w|Pepsi}}
|Brand-wide name of a carbonated beverage that (as with the handily single-syllable "Coke" in real-life contexts) clearly extends across all other brands throughout most (see below) the Hawaiian islands.
|-
|{{w|Crystal Pepsi}}
|Sub-brand name of a particular carbonated beverage. Being local to one of the Hawaiian islands (see above) as an even more highly-specific 'generic' name being used for no apparent reason. Its syllable count makes it no more convenient to say than most other brand names and even many sub-varieties, directly.
|-
|Ichor
|Several definitions: blood of a god, or demon, or, in some dialects, any insect; or watery discharge from a wound. None of them carbonated. None of them recommended as a drinkable beverage. (Well, not by someone with your best interests at heart.){{Citation needed}}
|-
|You-Know-What
|A phrase typically employed when a more specific term is considered {{tvtropes|TheScottishTrope|unspeakable or taboo}}. Possibly a reference to {{w|Harry Potter}} and You-Know-Who (Voldemort).
|-
|{{w|Tab (drink)|Tab}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage, manufactured by Coca-Cola.
|-
|Spicewater
|Thought to be a reference to the spice in "Dune." This area covers much of the state of Idaho, which may be a reference to the character {{w|Duncan Idaho}} in Dune.
|-
|Softie
|Short for soft drink. On the map, it looks like the region for Softie is being punched by the region labeled Punch.
|-
|Ohio Tea
|The area in question covers much of Arizona, the namesake of {{w|Arizona Beverage Company|Arizona Iced Tea}}, itself a non-carbonated beverage. This implies that residents of Arizona view carbonated beverages as something that comes from Ohio, and thus they place Ohio's name before the word "Tea" to indicate its carbonated state.

Could also refer to [https://youtu.be/0_XAPku7SgE?t=30 "...bubbling crude. Oil that is, black gold, '''Texas tea'''.]
|-
|Boat Drink
|A reference to the song "{{w|Boat Drinks|Boat Drinks}}" by {{w|Jimmy Buffett}}.
|-
|Melt
|Usually used to describe a kind of sandwich where cheese is melted in the center, usually on a griddle. Possibly a play on {{w|malt drink}}. Or maybe just a way to say "no, the *melted* ice".
|-
|Fizz Ooze
|Fizz is the sound made when opening a sealed carbonated beverage. Ooze means a slow trickle out of a liquid.
|-
|{{w|Punch (drink)|Punch}}
|A beverage typically found in the juice aisle. Only sometimes carbonated. It's also a pun on the word punch, meaning to hit something, and on the map it looks like the region for Punch is literally punching the region for Softie.
|-
|Fun Wine
|Implies that normal wine is not "fun". Might be an allusion to {{w|Cheerwine}}, a carbonated beverage from the Southeast.
|-
|Diet
|Sometimes refers to a carbonated beverage. A common request in restaurants, as they often only have a single "{{w|Diet drink|diet soda}}" option for customers to pick.
|-
|{{w|Refill}}
|A subsequent glass of whatever you drank previously. Works for any drinkable liquid. Some restaurants do not require extra payment for one.
|-
|Tickle Juice
|Name of a Boston-based jazz band. Perhaps a slang term for alcohol, as it "tickles" the tastebuds.
|-
|Bubble Honey
| A honey-based drink with bubbles?
|-
|Sugar Oil
|Some sodas do contain oils such as palm oil. The areas of Oklahoma and north Texas that are shaded produce a significant amount of {{w|petroleum|crude oil}}.
|-
|The Wet Drink
|Technically true of all beverages, unless one is attempting to drink sand (or anhydrous fluids - of which the least harmful may be clarified butter). It may also refer to the fact that many advertisements for carbonated beverages attempt to make the product look more appetizing by photographing or filming a beverage container covered with water droplets.
|-
|{{w|Mountain Dew|Code Red}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage. The cherry flavored version of Mountain Dew.
|-
|{{w|Mead}}
|An alcoholic beverage. Traditionally not carbonated. Often associated with Vikings, and these areas did have many Scandinavian immigrants.
|-
|Canadian Ale
|Probably a reference to the {{w|Canada Dry}} brand of {{w|Ginger Ale}}, a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage.
|-
|Aether
|In antiquity, "Aether" was {{w|Aether_(classical_element)|a hypothetical liquid}} believed to carry light waves, before electromagnetism was better understood, and also used as a term to refer to {{w|Aether_(mythology)|the sky or heavens}}; "Aether" could refer to {{w|diethyl ether}}, a highly flammable industrial solvent, also used as an anesthetic. Neither is carbonated in its liquid form, and neither would be safe to drink as a beverage.
|-
|Carbonated Beverage
|Technically correct, but a bit of an awkward term due to its unnecessary length. Carbonated water with no sweeteners or other additives is labeled as {{w|seltzer}}.
|-
|Mouthwater
|A play on the term "mouth watering" to describe delicious foods and beverages. Alternatively may refer to spit, water from the mouth, or that it is a liquid one puts in their mouth.
|-
|{{w|Capri Sun|Capri}}
|Capri Sun is a brand of beverages flavored with fruit juice, typically sold uncarbonated in pouches.
|-
|Skim Shake
|A shortened name of the beverage "Skim Milkshake".
|-
|Kid's Coffee
|Somewhat accurate. Coffee is typically drunk by adults for its caffeine. Carbonated beverages often have caffeine and are often consumed by children. Possibly a reference to the song "Kids" from the 1960 musical ''{{w|Bye Bye Birdie}}''.
|-
|Regular
|Refers to regular soda containing sugars (as opposed to diet), implying that your only choice of beverages is between regular or diet soda. In the past, "Regular" sometimes referred to gasoline containing lead, as opposed to "Unleaded" gasoline. It was not carbonated, nor safe as a beverage, and is now outlawed. Could also refer to regular coffee (in some places referring to caffeinated coffee having one milk and one sugar added, or as opposed to decaffeinated coffee), which is a beverage that is not carbonated.
|-
|{{w|Tang (drink)|Tang}}
|An orange-flavored beverage containing less than 2% juice extract. Normally sold in powdered form, and not carbonated.
|-
|{{w|Infant formula|Formula}}
|Typically refers to an artificial replacement for mother's milk. Not carbonated.
|-
|Medicine
|The syrups used to flavor colas were originally produced and sold for their (allegedly) medicinal properties - indeed, the very word "Pepsi" was derived from it being touted as an effective remedy against {{w|dyspepsia}} (now more commonly called indigestion). Likewise, {{w|tonic water}}, a carbonated quinine solution, was originally used to treat malaria. (This may have led to "tonic" becoming the traditional Bostonian word for soft drinks - although [https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/03/24/boston-word-tonic-gives-way-soda/QpbSyMXlJvvESSVERxb6iP/story.html this is changing.)] It could also refer to modern uses of Ginger Ale as a folk remedy for an upset stomach, or to the practice of chugging a carbonated beverage to [https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/how-to-make-yourself-burp relieve bloating by inducing burping.]
|-
|{{w|Broth}}
|Liquid in which bones, meat, fish, or vegetables have simmered. Often used as a soup base. Not carbonated.
|-
|Fool's Champagne
|Carbonated beverage is to champagne what fool's gold (pyrite) is to gold.
|-
|Sugar Milk
|Possibly a reference to sap extracted from the stems & trunks of plants, which is sometimes called "milk", such as "[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber#Dandelion dandelion milk]"; Under this convention, a beverage made from the extract of sugar cane stems could be termed "sugar milk". Also, food-grade liquids that superficially resemble mammalian milk are often labeled as "[X] milk" after their source, such as "soy milk" and "almond milk"; Sugar being a major component of milk & milk substitutes, it may make sense to call soda "sugar milk." Possibly related: In this region of the US, people drink a popular carbonated beverage called {{w|Moxie}} that may be less familiar to people elsewhere.
|-
|No word for them
|This region of the US does not have a word for carbonated beverages (according to Randall). It's not uncommon for speakers of a dialect to be familiar with something but have no specific term for it; for example a rainstorm while the sun is still shining is called a "{{w|sunshower}}" in some dialects, but in other dialects it is just a rainstorm. Randall could also be suggesting the citizens of Vermont do not even have carbonated drinks at all, thus their dialect would never develop a word for them.
|-
|Hydro
|A word for water. Carbonated water does exist, but this word means all forms of water. Possibly a reference to the film {{w|Waterworld}}, in which "hydro" is the common term for (scarce and valuable) drinkable water.
|-
|Harvard Tea
|The region shaded this way includes {{w|Cambridge, Massachusetts}}, which is home to {{w|Harvard University}}.
|-
|{{w|Drinking fountain|Bubbler}}
|A nod to another popular map of the same type, exploring the regional dialects used to describe drinking fountains. Rhode Island and the eastern portion of Wisconsin are the only two locations where 'Bubbler' is commonly used to refer to drinking fountains, but the word is commonly used in surrounding areas to depict the strong variety of {{w|Rhoticity_in_English|rhoticity}} present, some saying 'bubblah' in for example Boston, and others saying 'water fountain'.
|-
|Mouthbuzz
|Perhaps referring to the feeling of drinking a carbonated beverage, where the releasing carbonation almost 'buzzes' in the mouth.
|-
|Brad's Elixir
|Possibly a reference to "Brad's Drink", the original name for {{w|Pepsi}} when it was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1893. The word "elixir" is defined as "a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring". "Elixir" was misspelled in the original version of this comic as "elixer".
|-
|Hot Water
|Not carbonated. Not even in Jacuzzi and hot tubs. May reference how boiled water forms bubbles before it actually comes to a boil.
|-
|Fluid
|A word that means nearly any liquid or gas in existence. Not specific to carbonated beverages.
|-
|{{w|Coke Zero}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|Carbo
|Sodas sweetened with corn syrup or cane sugar are high in carbohydrates. Could also refer to carbonation.
|-
|Quicksilver
|An old term for the element {{w|Mercury (element)|mercury}}, a metallic liquid in its pure form at room temperature. It should also be noted that mercury is a toxin and in most cases it is medically contraindicated against drinking mercury as a beverage.
|-
|Glug
|Onomatopoeia, referring to the sound of swallowing a large amount of liquid. Or possibly referring to {{w|Glögi|glögg}} (pronounced "glug"), a Swedish beverage similar to mulled wine.
|-
|Water Plus
|Technically the name of {{w|Water Plus|a British water retail services provider}}, this likely refers to the prevalence of "plus" as a preposition in branding nomenclature (e.g.: {{w|Google+}}, {{w|iPhone 8 Plus}}, {{w|7 Up Plus}}, etc.). Also reminiscent of "Milk Plus," the drugged milk from the movie A Clockwork Orange.
|-
|Carbo bev (title text)
|Not actually popular, but used by one person trying to sound hip and trendy, to the ire of his peers. Randall states this guy lives in Missouri — in real life "Coke" is used for most of the midwest, except an area centered around St. Louis, MO where "Soda" is more popular (see the maps linked above for more details).
|}

==Transcript==
:[A map of the United States divided into purple, red, green, blue, and yellow colored regions.]

:[A purple area in North West Washington.]
:Fanta

:[A blue area spanning the Western border of Washington and Oregon.]
:Söde

:[A yellow area spanning the remainder of Washington, North Western Oregon, Northern Idaho and the North Western corner of Montana.]
:Ichor

:[A green area spanning the North Eastern corner of Oregon, central Idaho and the majority of Montana.]
:Spicewater

:[A blue area spanning Eastern Montana, the North Eastern corner of Wyoming and the majority of North and South Dakota.]
:Refill

:[A red area spanning Eastern North and South Dakota, the majority of Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Michigan North of the lakes.]
:Mead

:[A green area spanning the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.]
:Canadian Ale

:[A yellow area spanning the South Eastern corner of Minnesota, the North Eastern corner of Iowa and the majority of Wisconsin.]
:Aether

:[A green area in North East Wisconsin.]
:Mouthwater

:[A purple area covering most of Michigan south of the lakes.]
:Kid's coffee

:[A red area covering Northeast & central New York.]
:Hydro

:[A green area covering Vermont and spanning the border with New York.]
:[No word for them]

:[A yellow area covering Maine and the majority of New Hampshire.]
:Sugar milk

:[A red area spanning Eastern Massachusetts and the border with New Hampshire.]
:Harvard tea

:[A blue area covering Rhode Island and spanning Eastern Connecticut, central Massachusetts and the South West corner of New Hampshire.]
:Bubbler

:[A yellow area spanning the South Eastern corner of New York, the South Western corner of Massachusetts, Western Connecticut and Northern New Jersey.]
:Mouth Buzz

:[A red area spanning North Eastern California, Southern Oregon, the South Western corner of Idaho and the majority of Nevada.]
:You-know-what

:[A blue area spanning South Western Idaho, Eastern Nevada, the majority of Utah and the border of Utah and Arizona.]
:Softie

:[A green area spanning Northern Utah and the majority of Colorado.]
:Punch

:[A yellow area covering the majority of Wyoming.]
:Fizz ooze

:[A purple area spanning the South Eastern corner of Wyoming, the North Eastern corner of Colorado, the North Western corner of Kansas, Southern South Dakota, the majority of Nebraska and Iowa, and Northern Missouri.]
:Tickle juice

:[A blue area spanning Eastern Iowa, Southern Wisconsin, the majority of Illinois and Indiana, the Southern border of Michigan, the Western border of Ohio and North Western Kentucky.]
:Capri

:[A green area spanning South Eastern Michigan, the majority of Ohio and Pennsylvania, South Western New York, Northern West Virginia and Western Maryland.]
:Medicine

:[A purple area spanning Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.]
:Brad's Elixir

:[A red area spanning the South Eastern corner of Pennsylvania, Eastern Maryland, Delaware and Northern Virginia.]
:Hot Water

:[A yellow area spanning Eastern Kentucky, the Southern border of Ohio, Southern West Virginia, the majority of Virginia and Northern North Carolina.]
:Broth

:[A blue area in Western California, North of San Francisco.]
:True water

:[A yellow area in Western California, South of San Francisco.]
:Crypto

:[A green area in South Western California, North of Los Angeles.]
:Yum

:[A blue area in South Western California, close to Los Angeles.]
:Sparkle fluid

:[A purple area in South Western California, close to San Diego.]
:King cola

:[A yellow area spanning South Eastern California, Southern Nevada and the North Western corner of Arizona.]
:Tab

:[A green area spanning the South Eastern corner of California and the majority of Arizona.]
:Ohio tea

:[A red area spanning Eastern Arizona, the majority of New Mexico, Southern Colorado and the border between New Mexico and Texas.]
:Fun wine

:[A blue area spanning Northern Texas, South Western Kansas and the majority of Oklahoma.]
:Sugar oil

:[A red area spanning Central and Eastern Kansas, Southern Nebraska, Central Missouri and South Western Illinois.]
:Bubble Honey

:[A yellow area spanning Southern New Mexico and Western Texas.]
:Diet

:[A blue area in Southern Texas.]
:Code red

:[A green area spanning the majority of Texas and the Southern border of Oklahoma.]
:The wet drink

:[A purple area spanning Eastern Texas, the South Eastern corner of Oklahoma, the majority of Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Western Louisiana.]
:Carbonated beverage

:[A yellow area spanning Eastern Louisiana, Eastern Arkansas, Southern Missouri, the South Western corner of Tennessee, the majority of Mississippi and the South Western corner of Alabama.]
:Skim shake

:[A green area spanning the majority of Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Northern Alabama, Northern Georgia and Western North Carolina.]
:Regular

:[A purple area covering the majority of North Carolina.]
:Fluid

:[A red area spanning Eastern Mississippi, Central Alabama, Northern Georgia and the South Western border of South Carolina.]
:Tang

:[A yellow area covering the majority of South Carolina.]
:Coke zero

:[A blue area in Central Georgia.]
:Fool's Champagne

:[A purple ares spanning Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia and Northern Florida.]
:Formula

:[A yellow area in Eastern Florida, near Orlando.]
:Carbo

:[A blue area in Western Florida, near Tampa.]
:Quicksilver

:[A red area in Southern Florida, South of Tampa and Orlando.]
:Glug

:[A green area in Southern Florida, near Miami.]
:Water plus

:[A yellow area corresponding to Hawaii except for the island of O'ahu.]
:Pepsi

:[A red area corresponding to the Hawaiian island of O'ahu.]
:Crystal Pepsi

:[A blue area covering the majority of Alaska.]
:Boat drink

:[A red area in Southern Alaska, near Anchorage.]
:Melt

==Trivia==
In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/3/3f/20190209140621%21carbonated_beverage_language_map.png original version of the comic], "elixir" was misspelled as "elixer". Randall later corrected his mistake.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

2693: Wirecutter Recommendation

2025-02-15T17:01:03Z

172.68.174.194: added alternate explanation

{{comic
| number = 2693
| date = November 2, 2022
| title = Wirecutter Recommendation
| image = wirecutter_recommendation_2x.png
| imagesize = 430x333px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Their 'best philosophy of epistemology' picks are great, but you can tell they're struggling a little in the 'why you should trust us' section.
}}

==Explanation==
''[https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter Wirecutter]'' is a product review website, owned by ''The New York Times''. As such, ''Wirecutter'' is best used for comparing brands and models of consumer products. The comic, however, lists things that ''Wirecutter'' should ''not'' recommend, or that one should not choose based on ''Wirecutter'' reviews.

The first panel shows [[Cueball]] telling [[Ponytail]] that he decided to go with ''Wirecutter'''s recommendation when buying something unspecified. The second panel shows a list of different contexts for this conversation, ranking them from "Fine" to "Very Bad".

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Thing Being Chosen!!Judgment!!Explanation
|-
|Vacuum cleaner||Fine||Vacuum cleaners are an everyday household item. Many brands and models are available offering a range of functionality at different prices. This is exactly the kind of thing where ''Wirecutter'''s reviews are helpful when deciding which kind to buy.
|-
|Headphones||Fine|||Headphones are also fairly ubiquitous, and ''Wirecutter'' would likewise be useful in such a scenario.
|-
|Electric scooter||Fine||While less common than the two above, electric scooters are still a popular electrical product, so ''Wirecutter'' is a decent choice for advice.
|-
|Favorite movie||Weird||Most people would say that your choice of favorite movie should be based on your own experiences, rather than someone else's opinions. Reviewing movies is a very different endeavor to reviewing products, and one would not expect ''Wirecutter'' to be particularly proficient with it. While a movie review website may be a reasonable source of recommendations on whether to see a particular movie at all, it would seem strange to choose one's own favorite movie based on a website's recommendation. In fact, though, precisely this kind of thing does happen, through mechanisms such as social proof and norm internalization.
|-
|Personal style||Weird||Not only does the term "personal style" encompass a vast range of topics, it is also (predictably) a deeply personal thing. These two factors mean that not only will ''Wirecutter'''s recommended likely not fully discuss every factor of your personal style, it also isn't the kind of service you'd use to choose something as nebulous and personal as your "personal style."
|-
|Neighborhood||Weird||It can be assumed this means "the neighborhood one lives in." In this case, it is odd to rely on ''Wirecutter'' for recommendations on where to live, as it is a product review website and since a respectable portion of that decision is up to personal circumstances, preferences, and local conditions that a national newspaper (even one with the resources of the ''New York Times'') will not be able to see. In a best case scenario, ''Wirecutter'' is recommending neighborhoods based on empirical data, such as local economic growth. There are [https://www.businessinsider.com/us-news-best-places-to-live-in-america-2016-3 publications] [https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2022/07/28/the-best-and-most-affordable-places-to-live-in-america-in-2022/?sh=566a26ca6bbf that] [https://money.com/best-places-to-live/ rank] the "best cities to live in", which could relate to this topic.
|-
|Pet||Weird||While the ''type'' of pet may be more easy to rank on a website (especially with a pro/con system), picking an ''individual pet'' is an extremely personal decision that probably can't be considered covered by a product review website like ''Wirecutter''.
|-
|College major||Bad||The major someone chooses in college typically has a significant impact on the rest of their career, and choosing one is no trivial task that should depend on personal experience and preference. Like with some of the other topics, this is far too personal and important to be chosen by a product review site. As with "Neighborhood", any recommendations can only be based on empirical data like employment availability, tuition cost vs. expected salary, etc. [https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/top-ten-college-majors Rankings] [https://www.mydegreeguide.com/best-college-majors/ like] [https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/save-money/best-college-majors/ this] do exist, however, and are often used by prospective students to weigh the pros and cons of prospective majors.
|-
|Career||Bad||One's optimal career choice is subject to a wide range of highly personal factors, including your talents, ambitions, and capabilities. It is highly unlikely that a hardware review site like ''Wirecutter'' would be capable of accounting for every one of these factors for every conceivable viewer. Could be related to [https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs rankings] [https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-best-jobs-in-america-in-2022-ranked/ like] [https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/12/these-are-10-best-us-jobs-of-2022-according-to-new-research.html this].
|-
|Religion||Bad||Do ''not'' base your religious worldview on the electronic device equivalent to Yelp. The idea of ''Wirecutter'' reviewing religion has appeared in a previous comic, [[2536: Wirecutter]].
|-
|Spouse||Very Bad|| In general, people pair off when choosing spouses. This would mean that ''Wirecutter'' would be required to either find one potential spouse for every reader (cumbersome, to say the least) or would recommend ''one'' spouse for multiple (possibly millions of) partners. Even assuming an accelerated divorce rate, it would be impossible for the choice spouse to actually accomplish the role.
Perhaps [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/wirecutter-recommends-the-best-partner this parody] by ''The New Yorker'' inspired this comic.
|-
|Dreams||Very Bad|| There are two possible definitions of "dream" that may be referred to here.
* When it comes to "the series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep," most people cannot consciously control what they dream about, so recommending this sort of dream is somewhat pointless. Further, as this information is largely inaccessible outside of the mind of the dreamer, ''Wirecutter'' has limited ability to make meaningful suggestions.
* On the other hand, if Cueball is relying upon ''Wirecutter'' to recommend "a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal," he is allowing one of the most personal and individual aspects of his life — something which may give life itself a sense of meaning — to be dictated by a consumer product review site. As with many entries here, this is something that most people have to come up with or discover for themselves; relying on a third party to recommend one FOR him is deeply unlikely to bring about long-term satisfaction.
|-
|Favorite child||Very Bad|| Assuming this is a reference to the reader's own children, it can be difficult and furthermore bad practice for a parent to choose their "favorite" child, and using ''Wirecutter'' to do this analysis is near impossible. And a website that purports to know more about how to judge the relative merits of your own family than you would be... interesting.
The alternative interpretation of assuming that this is from "all children, everywhere" is more difficult. There are approximately 1.3 billion persons under the age of 18, most of whom have at least one good quality,{{citation needed}} and defining a useful ranking in such a situation is functionally impossible.
|-
|Site for product recommendations||Very Bad|| This is a topic of which the authors, editors, and publishers of ''Wirecutter'' have a vested interest and clear bias. This implies that the people at ''Wirecutter'' would be self-serving when it comes to recommending recommendations, specifically.

Alternatively, they could be recommending ''another'' review site, which could call into question their judgment and make you wonder why you should trust them at all.
|-
|}

The title text references {{w|epistemology}}, a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge and truth, for which [[Randall]] says ''Wirecutter'''s recommendations are great. Broadly speaking, epistemology attempts to answer the question "how do I know that what I know is true?", a very similar question to 'why you should trust us', which ironically the Wirecutter staff struggles to answer despite (or perhaps {{w|I know that I know nothing|because of}}) ostensibly having picked the best philosophies of epistemology.

===Alternative Explanation===
Depending on pauses and emphasis, which can change where the imaginary parenthesis are, there are multiple ways to interpet [[Cueball]]s statement "I just went with the one wirecutter recommended". For example, it could mean "I just went with the recommended (single wirecutter)", meaning [[Ponytail]] may have just asked something like "The procedure has multiple methods that can be used to accomplish it. Which method did you use?", and [[Cueball]] is saying that he went with the one wirecutter method instead of the two wirecutter method.

The humor comes from wondering what the procedure must be. This is fairly mundane for vacuum cleaner, headphones and electric scooter, but becomes quite interesting to ponder what the procedure is when it gets to pet {neutering pet with a wirecutter?}, religion, spouse, favorite child {neutering favorite child with a wirecutter???}, dreams {self-neurosurgery with a wirecutter????? (safety tip: self-neurosurgery with a wirecutter is '''not''' a recommended procedure.)}.

This is the kind of interpretation that people who do not know that there is a product review site called Wirecutter get to ponder. However, given that the last item is "Site for product recomendations", the explanation in the first section is almost definitely the correct one and this humor was probably unintentional.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other. Cueball has his palm raised.]
:Cueball: I just went with the one Wirecutter recommended.

:[A panel of four categories with topics next to them]

:[Fine category]
:Vacuum cleaner
:Headphones
:Electric scooter

:[Weird category]
:Favorite movie
:Personal style
:Neighborhood
:Pet

:[Bad category]
:College major
:Career
:Religion

:[Very bad category]
:Spouse
:Dreams
:Favorite child
:Site for product recommendations

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]