2817: Electron Holes

2023-08-18T22:48:28Z

198.41.238.54: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2817
| date = August 18, 2023
| title = Electron Holes
| image = electron_holes_2x.png
| imagesize = 295x331px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They tried to report me to the authorities, but because I had the device they couldn't charge me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LACK OF HUMAN EFFORT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a desk, a beam of electron holes is being fired at a printer on the desk.]
:Ponytail: This doesn't even make sense! They're quasiparticles, not real-
:(Off-panel): Pew pew pew
:Ponytail: Stop it!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physicists got ''really'' mad about my device that fires a beam of electron holes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2814: Perseids Pronunciation

2023-08-13T01:50:23Z

198.41.238.54:

I'm afraid to google the Kentucky Meat Shower. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.139|162.158.158.139]] 14:43, 11 August 2023 (UTC)
:I can give you a very quick summary: when startled, vultures will sometimes regurgitate their last meal, both to lighten themselves for a quick escape, and make a potential predator lose its appetite. Apparently, something startled a bunch of vultures at the same time, and nobody knows exactly what. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.42|172.69.247.42]] 14:55, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_shower [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:59, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

"can" is repeated in the title text. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.54|141.101.68.54]] 14:53, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

On August 11, 2023, XKCD was not the only web comic to reference the "Kentucky Meat Shower". It is the full subject of the day's Dinosaur Comics, at http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4085. And August 11 is not even an anniversary of the event (March 3, 1876). Coincidence? Time travel? You be the judge. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 15:32, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

This tells me neither how acceptable things like my default lazy pronunciation, nor the original ancient greek pronunciation of its namesake, are considered. How am I supposed to guess where combinations of variations like PEER-, -seh-, and -ides would affect placement in the list? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.35|172.71.142.35]] 19:12, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

It's not ''wrong'', per-se. (ed.)
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:40, 11 August 2023 (UTC)
:That's exactly how I pronounce it. (per se) + ids. per-say-ids. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.4.168|172.68.4.168]] 10:04, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

*PER-see-ids: standard(ish, YMMV) 3-syllable verson of the word.
*PURSE-yids: standardish 2-(/2.5-)syllable version.
*Per-SEE-ids: yeah, I'd accept that emphisis, in a pinch.
*Per-SAY-ids: ok, so you like ''that'' version of the 'ei' digraph; might even be 'classical'.
*Per-SIDES: Germanic digraph and irregular (in this case) phomeme boundries, but each to their own.
*Per-ZAY-uds: I can see most of this, accent permitting; the '<schwa>ds' is a surprising twist.
*PER-suds: you dont care about the digraph at all, do you?
*Perky-ids: Back-formed through "C/S equivalence", I'm guessing, but from the wrong s(e)ide?
*Pewpewpews: Onomatopœia!!!
*Per-say-say: Bowdlerised, as if the original is a 'naughty' word.
*Percies: Shortened through familiarity.
*Purps: Shortened/perhaps linked to "perp(etrator)s".
*Pepsids: Sponsorship! (Did we also get the "Dracokids", 6-10 Oct?)
*Peeps: Anthopomorphised, the lot of 'em!
...my first thoughts, but I'm sure there are competing claims so I'll leave this down here for the time being. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.47|162.158.74.47]] 23:28, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

The list in the Explanation's table was missing most of them, and the Transcript separated the two-word entries into separate entries! Fixed all that. Filled in my analyses of the missing pronunciations, I'm sure others can flesh them out better, add relevant links as I couldn't be bothered to both think of th8ngs to link and figure out the best way to link them (and make the multi-entry rows look proper). Also, someone severely misunderstood what "Peeps" would mean, it seems clearly to be the slang for "people". The goofy entries seemed to require separate descriptions, so I left them as separate rows as the cleanest/clearest layout I can think of for that, with the rudimentary understanding of Wiki tables I could glean from what was already there. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:46, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
:I'm convinced it's "Percies" and "Purps" and "Pepsids" and "Peeps", at the end, not "Percies Purps" and "Pepsids Peeps". Just arrayed in two columns as they're shortened enough to make it an unasethetic layout to extend by two rows and add so much gap at the end of four lines. "Pewpewpews" aside, none of the others more than double the "p"s from the original single one. It can be forgiven to bookend a short phoneme (Purps, Peeps), but sounds off to revisit the pattern (twice!) in this manner, with no clear connection between paired elements. Just my own observation, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.46|162.158.74.46]] 20:22, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

I think the "Pepsids Peeps" is a reference to the Pepsi x Peeps soda that got released a few months ago—the first word could be a cross between PEPSI and perseiDS. Presumably, they are very sugary meteors. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.46|172.68.150.46]] 12:00, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Is someone familiar with the phonetic notation system used in the comic able to convert it to something more generally acceptable like IPA? [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 17:14, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

: It's "informal", and seems to be similar to the wikipedia one. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.54|198.41.238.54]] 01:50, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
No "per-seed"? I once heard a newscaster say it that way. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 18:38, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Why not "per-sayds"? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.54|198.41.238.54]] 01:50, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2817: Electron Holes

Talk:2814: Perseids Pronunciation