explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3137: Cursed Number

2025-09-05T15:45:07Z

82.132.237.27:

Warning! Do not read! 421827639108237885847650045004 --[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:00, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:Oh no, too late! bdbdbalasdfsdfoiubtasdf [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:35, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
::Well, at least you knew that reading the string "bdbdbalasdfsdfoiubtasdf" was the only antidote! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:35, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Maybe it's safe if you read it scientifically? ~4.218276391088547650045x1029?--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 23:43, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Edit: NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 23:44, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Not pictured - an MTF team breaking into the compound and abducting the original authors while clean-up arrives with amnestics. {{unsigned|Xurkitree10|10:25, 4 September 2025}}

Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? [[Special:Contributions/76.209.228.203|76.209.228.203]] 23:50, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
: I'm a German. You <snicker> did this on purpose <guffaw> right? AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:6CFB:CAF1:B89F:C57E|2A02:2455:1960:4000:6CFB:CAF1:B89F:C57E]] 09:00, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:: What? That's {{W|The Funniest Joke in the World}}. [[Special:Contributions/76.209.228.203|76.209.228.203]] 14:27, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, I—BAHAHAHAHA《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:11, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

This comic is the best comic in a while [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug Pentium FDIV Bug] is a math error when handling specific rarely-encountered numbers. {footnote: over 30 years ago!!} No FDIV deaths are reported, but we might not know. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 00:20, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:ahaha 0.1+0.2 goes brrt (e.g. = 0,30000000000000004) [[Special:Contributions/81.89.66.133|81.89.66.133]] 08:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:: FWIW the double-precision value closest to 0.1 is exactly 0.1000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625 (that's 7205759403792794/256) [[Special:Contributions/76.209.228.203|76.209.228.203]] 14:57, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

I have a different interpretation of this comic than the one in the explanation. See, I think it makes more sense that due to the infinite nature of numbers, it can be said that there may exist one that happens to be a severe cognitohazard, rather than there certainly being one such number in the comic's universe. [[User:HoneyBadger|HoneyBadger]] ([[User talk:HoneyBadger|talk]]) 01:55, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

I found this number years ago, while reading a hexadecimal dump of an image file, and yes, it is just as potent, possibly more so, in hexadecimal. Want to know what it is? It starts (in hex of course) DEADFACEABEDEFACEDAFADEDBADBEADEDBEDAD before going off into more ‘normal’ digits. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B1D:C283:21DE:C9A5:72EB:C044|2607:FB90:8B1D:C283:21DE:C9A5:72EB:C044]] 03:42, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:Oh, magic numbers. What about a ''0x31124837h'' pointer?  [[Special:Contributions/81.89.66.133|81.89.66.133]] 08:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

SCP nerd here, I think the article should link to a different SCP. SCP-033 isn't really a good example of a cognitohazard, since it affects written/digital storage, not the mind/brain. [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-012 SCP-012] for example would be a closer fit. (CW: somewhat graphic self harm) --[[User:Muno|Muno]] ([[User talk:Muno|talk]]) 04:45, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

If one supposes that reading the cursed number inside another number is also bad, then for you to have at most a 1/2 chance of reading it in a string of numbers with the bounds given in the comic, you would have to read 1.8*10^21 digits strung together [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 05:15, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:Taking an average reading speed of 40 digits per second, that would take the reader a trillion years. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 07:25, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
::Good. Trillion years divided by 9 billion people still gives 111.(1) years of non-stop reading. [[Special:Contributions/81.89.66.133|81.89.66.133]] 08:55, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

This also exists for computer science in the form of weird code《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:11, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash features a visual "virus" that causes neurological damage to hacker's minds when they see a carefully crafted image. This XKCD might be a slight reference to this, too. {{unsigned ip|91.233.139.14|10:31, 4 September 2025}}
:Another literary example would Max Barry's ''{{w|Lexicon (novel)|Lexicon}}''. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 11:28, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Wait, it's a real, nonnegative number? Dammit, I was WAY off! [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:13, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:I take psychic damage when I see -1 after spending way too much time writing a function that only expects positive integers with no error handling (I'm not very good) [[Special:Contributions/174.77.66.51|174.77.66.51]] 16:58, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
::Speaking of bad error handling, one of the first programs I made was a country-building simulator. I had a friend play it. A prompt asked how much of the national budget to put into the navy. My friend misunderstood the prompt COMPLETELY and typed in "boats" and the program proceeded to spam output with "boatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboats" millions of time, took up all the processing time and made the PC unusable until the entire OS crashed. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:36, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

;Should we include Roko's Basilisk in the list of information hazards?
Just feels like it's relevant. {{unsigned ip|216.93.213.106|16:59, 4 September 2025}}

Or manual breathing. [[Special:Contributions/172.58.113.84|172.58.113.84]] 17:19, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

According to jewish mysticism, there is a name of god of length 216 letters/numbers that let you conjure. Also referred to in the movie Pi {{unsigned|DaveK|18:30, 4 September 2025}}

;New around here but...

I just added a paragrap explaining that 128-bit numbers (or up to 39 decimal digits) are more common than Randall suggests. I'd be surprised if he was surprised by this. Start of a new series...? Or maybe I'm overthinking it. [[User:Tsgsh|Tsgsh]] ([[User talk:Tsgsh|talk]]) 20:46, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Is this comic possibly in reference to the recent developments in the Busy Beaver problem? (Taken ad absurdum, of course.) --[[Special:Contributions/2600:8800:FF0E:400:1455:42BD:D223:A669|2600:8800:FF0E:400:1455:42BD:D223:A669]] 00:20, 5 September 2025 (UTC)

;I feel like there's a separate joke here

Mathmeticians are going insane, so they form a (questionable) theory that a cursed number is the cause -- when in fact it likely has something to do with the field of mathematics itself. I remember my math professor from college saying something along the lines of "Math isn't a mentally safe profession, quite a number of us loose our minds."

So the cursed number is a red-herring. The title text alludes to this fact: that mathematicians will intentionally go down paths that lead to insanity because they feel drawn towards it. {{unsigned ip|67.190.17.105|14:16, 5 September 2025}}

Talk:1135: Arachnoneurology

2025-09-05T15:42:52Z

82.132.237.27: Whoops

Somehow, I don't believe that ANY object would make the spiders to weave something so thick as a usable shirt. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:26, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:Maybe he arranged the fork thing so that broken and falling spiderwebs would fall in just the right way to form a shirt. It's possible. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:38, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:It's beret guy. The same guy with endless wings. What do you expect? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 13:46, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

However, something similar is used by Canadian artist Aganetha Dyck to persuade bees to create art on forms. An example here: http://inspiration-of-the-nation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Aganetha-Dyck-bee-art.jpg Noni Mausa {{unsigned|64.254.188.208}}

It looks more like a sweater to me. [[User:J-beda|J-beda]] ([[User talk:J-beda|talk]]) 14:16, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

I came across the {{w|effect_of_psychoactive_drugs_on_animals|Effect of psychoactive drugs on animals}} once while researching caffeine and now is the PERFECT time to share. Spiders are right up front. [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 16:49, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:That's super interesting! Thanks for sharing! It's interesting that the article suggests that in contrast to the other drugs, LSD actually caused the spiders to build even more ordered webs than before. [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 16:39, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

I would think that arachnoarachnology would be the study of how spiders study spiders. Or the study of spiders by spiders. [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 04:50, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Bugefun: That puzzled me too--does "arachno" have some alternate meaning there, or is he just implying that the study of spiders by spiders involves far too many spiders? [[Special:Contributions/128.252.102.199|128.252.102.199]] 12:33, 18 November 2012 (UTC)
arachnoarachnology = aarrrrch nooo arachnology[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 17:41, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

A few years ago I saw a tapestry made from spider silk and there is an article about it on Wired: [http://www.wired.com/2009/09/spider-silk/[http://www.wired.com/2009/09/spider-silk/]]
Read the article and you will see that what Beret Guy attempts is possible, though not as simply or quickly as the comic implies.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.182|108.162.238.182]] 03:48, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

Could an infinite number of spiders create silk shirts with a work of William Shakespeare woven onto the front? {{unsigned|SAFB|13:29, 5 September 2025}}

Talk:1135: Arachnoneurology

2025-09-05T15:40:40Z

82.132.237.27:

Talk:1272: Shadowfacts

2025-09-05T15:34:48Z

82.132.237.27:

Reminds me of the Cat Facts meme. --[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 05:11, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Wow, a talking horse! That puts poor old Bill The Pony in the shade... [[Special:Contributions/178.98.253.80|178.98.253.80]] 08:32, 2 October 2013 (UTC)
: Ok, I'm done with the internet for today. I don't think anything else is going to match this pun. [[Special:Contributions/74.200.7.145|74.200.7.145]] 14:38, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Is this the same horse from Correct Horse Battery Staple? [[Special:Contributions/128.49.161.70|128.49.161.70]]
: That battery staple casts a shadow. --[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 16:41, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Hang on, hobbits? I know they look short, but when is this supposed to happen? Wouldn't Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas be more likely choices, given the chronology? {{unsigned ip|98.216.97.56}}
:Yeah but they're clearly not as differentiated as Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas would be, and if they were human/elf height then Gandalf and Shadowfacts would be enormous. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 01:10, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

Is that a LEGO Gandalf? [[User:Porkypine|Porkypine]] ([[User talk:Porkypine|talk]]) 17:49, 3 October 2013 (UTC)
: Shoulda had a LEGO Legolas in there too[[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 14:22, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

Nitpicking: changed "trilogy" to "novel". Trilogy is a set of three novels with a common theme or characters and each novel from the set can be read separately without knowing the other ones. ''The Lord of the Rings'' is a single novel (divided into six books, by the way) that just happened to be published in three volumes originally. The tradition is often maintained, but often not. You can hardly understand what's going on in ''The Two Towers'' (the second volume) without reading ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' first.{{unsigned ip|89.174.214.74}}
: If we're being picky, Tolkien said LOTR was "not a novel, but an heroic romance, a much older and quite different variety of literature". [[http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_329 Letter 329]] [[Special:Contributions/96.231.58.51|96.231.58.51]] 18:01, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
::Didn't he also claim that he didn't write, but merely translate it? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:38, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

I removed this line about BBC Ceefax: "It is possibly related to the BBC's {{w|Ceefax}} system, but this is not as likely". I can't see any link between the comic and Ceefax. If anyone disagrees, reinstate it, but please explain how it is relevant. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:13, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

I suppose it could be relevant to mention the etymology of the original name. ''Shadowfax'' is a phonetic adaptation of Old English ''Sceadufæx'' "shadow-(colored) mane/coat" (though in the movies his hair is very much white). ''LOTR'' typically uses Old English to represent the language of the Rohirrim. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.7|188.114.110.7]] 18:05, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

Can we specify that the title text quote is only said in the movie? - Human Physics Padawan {{w|2a00:8a60:c000:1:888a:1d9:785a:2842|08:05, 5 September 2025}}
:You may, if you think it worth it. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.27|82.132.237.27]] 15:34, 5 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:919: Tween Bromance

2025-09-05T15:31:20Z

82.132.237.27:

Language elitist. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:26, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

I think this needs an incomplete flag: the explanation needs more contextual detail, about colloquial portmanteaus like 'frenemy' and the common disapproval of 'words' like 'irregardless'. --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 08:59, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

GAH! He's not DICTATING, the title is another joke! Tween? Bromance? Come on fellas and ladies. They are the first two portmanteaus! Cueball is essentially spitting out a sentence with an endless stream of irritating, inane, infintilisms, in an incredibly insensitive, lol, effort to drive Megan to the brink of insanity! Couldn't resist that last one. Yiffed made me giggle, the rest, connected to it, made my abs hurt from laughing, especially after Megan's reaction. He deserves a medal. Oh goodness. No profile so please don't use my IP address to violate me via the Internetz, if that is possible to do with an IP address. I would not know. Grazie. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.84|173.245.55.84]] 09:32, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

I'm not anybody here, I was just passing by and enjoying the annotations on these xkcd comics, but it seems to me like no explanation of this comic would be complete without talking about word aversion, sometimes called "the moist panties phenomenon", if someone wants to be funny. Basically, he is listing words that make people (or Randall himself?) uncomfortable. This page --- http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004835.html -- talks about word aversion in relation to the more common "word rage" that some neologisms and words that began as errors provoke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.192|108.162.237.192]] 08:52, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

The back of the chair is missing in the first frame. Probably just a mistake but didn't see it mentioned. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.33}}

Just a question: tween really is PRE-adolescent?? I always thought it was the equivalent of ten -> teen for twenty, so someone out of their teens, but in their (presumably early) twenties. I definitely have seen it used as such on different occasions, but it might have been by non-native speakers, as I am not living in an english-speaking country. Also, in my opinion, the rest of the comic has more of a twenty-somethings-who-never-came-out-of-puberty ring to it than a child's. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.69|162.158.85.69]] 19:41, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
:2 minutes ago I thought the same. I definitely saw that usage as an anglicism in German somewhere. However a quick google search proved, that the definition given here (children aged ~9-12) seems to be the actual one. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:56, 8 January 2020 (UTC)
::I think there are two parallel usages in play. I'm not a native speaker, but "tweens" is used by Tolkien in the Lord of the rings for the twenties in hobbits, who are only considered adult in their early thirties. Any usage derived from this probably refers to the early twenties. The books (and later the films) are a staple of popular culture around the world, so that slipping into a current vocabulary would not surprise me. Wether it was redefined to mean another age group by someone not familiar with the story or reinvented via a different etymology is a mystery to me. Definitely confused me the first time I read it somewhere with the other meaning. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.139|162.158.154.139]] 10:45, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

By my understanding, a "tween" is someone aged (roughly) 10-12, i.e. somewhere "between" early childhood and teenager-hood. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.118}}

Oh, so one should stop searching for "tween porn"? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.119|198.41.242.119]] 13:42, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

It seems the link to the "portmanteau" changed. Perhaps an archive copy can be found? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.147.131|172.70.147.131]] 18:18, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Why is this in furries category!? [[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 23:11, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Nevermind [[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 23:11, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

updated for the new generation: "By my sigma grindset, my oomfie rizzed so hard her moist gyatt made her skibidi in Ohio!" [[User:Arthur101|Arthur101]] ([[User talk:Arthur101|talk]]) 15:48, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
:''STOP IT STOP IT!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.82|172.70.90.82]] 13:25, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Isn't "tween" originally from LotR/the Hobbit referring to an adult hobbit who is not yet 33? - Human Physics Padawan {{unsigned ip|2a00:8a60:c000:1:888a:1d9:785a:2842|07:22, 5 September 2025}}
:In the context of JRR's world, and longer-lived hobbits*, "in (roughly) the twenties (of age)" is still adolescent and called a "tween", from the "twe(e)nties". ( * - assuming similar length days and years! But humans of Middle Earth aren't obviously also age-extended by simple calendar refactoring tricks!)
:But it has probably at least once more been reinvented independently, since then, this time to insteadvprimarily cover the pre-teen/post-single-digits rough range that is perbaps more relevent to the comic scenario. And related terminology.
:When Tolkien coined his own version, ('50s, or earlier), even ''teen''agers were not yet as fully distinct as they are these days, as a widely accepted period of adolescence between childhood and (de facto, if not de jure) adulthood. For those that moved straight from school to work (several years younger than we might expect these days, as well) they were mostly expected and expecting to be treated as switched straight to adults in that era, only starting to get significant amounts of transitional adolescents who were "out of short trousers" (for the boys, at least) but not yet settled as nominal adults. Not all across the class and (in western terms, at least) national divides.
:Though you'll find more historic examples in various subsets of the sociological strata, I am sure ''this'' "tween" is of the current usage and not the LOTR 'parallel' neologism. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.27|82.132.237.27]] 15:31, 5 September 2025 (UTC)