Talk:3260: Messi

2026-06-19T07:53:26Z

87.75.45.83: refer to wiktionary for usage of brace

Does Randall support Messi? [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 16:26, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
:Who doesn't support Messi? :D [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.46|130.76.187.46]] 18:00, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
::He's [https://mrmen.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._Messy one of my favourites]. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:29, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
::Ronaldo. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:22, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
:::And that's why I asked. [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 12:27, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
:What's a Messi? I thought he was talking about Messier objects or something. I wish I didn't know that there was a sport thing happening now, but I work with economists, not just mathematicians. <Shudder> [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 03:17, 19 June 2026 (UTC)

New football/soccer terms for me! 2 goals scored in one game = Brace, 3 goals = Hat-trick, 4 goals = Haul, 5 goals = Glut [[User:BorQhue del Sol|BorQhue del Sol]] ([[User talk:BorQhue del Sol|talk]]) 16:58, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
:"Brace" is a general form for a 'two-fer' of something ("I shot a brace of pheasant, the other day!").
:"Hat-Trick" originally came from cricket; as a feat that earnt you a prized 'bragging rights' cap, from your team-mates, but possibly reinterpreted as you performing a magical feat (like pulling a rabbit from a hat).
:"Haul" isn't, as far as I know, specific to four things, though you may praise a "four-goal haul" (better than the already named hat-trick, but getting a "five-goal haul" would be better yet). If it's been appropriated for four-specifically, it might just be like the extension of birdie to eagle to albatross to condor in golf (seeking a new word for such a feat).
:"Glut" is a slightly derogatory everyday term, really. A "more than sufficiency". So, in a football context, either a direct complaint that someone scored far more goals against your side than was ''strictly'' necessary (in a case of being outclassed), or a tongue-in-cheek complaint that ''your'' player was now just showing off (supremacy in sport is one thing, but its rarely as much fun as barely scraping a 1-1 draw when anything but an actual loss (or goalless stalemate) isn't a threat to you comfortably staying at (or going up from) your current tier of competition, based upon prior performance and expectations. (A five-nil result, or more, doesn't usually do more to help your cause than a one-nil one, and the risks of trying too hard to get beyond three or four goals for an outclassing team (or just for a given player) are that you'll over-exert yourself, and/or use up 'all your luck'... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:29, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
::Soccer fans are just too used to it being a low-scoring game. You could also win a basketball game 2-1, but I'm pretty sure viewership would drop precipitously if this became normal. Maybe all these sports should switch to a virctory point system rather than just win/loss, so players don't get complacent. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:42, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
::There is no official term for 7 (SEVEN) goals or more - you just spell it out in parentheses after the numeral(s). [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:12, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
::See definitions 10 (pairs, mostly of animals - but not people - and especially of game birds; my intuition is that usage for non-avian game lies between animals generally and game birds particularly), 16 (football) and 17 (cricket) at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brace. [[Special:Contributions/87.75.45.83|87.75.45.83]] 07:53, 19 June 2026 (UTC)

I think the explanation on the hover text is missing the point that, at 38 years old, this is likely to be Messi's last world cup, which is another way in which the statement "last world cup in which he faces serious opposition" is technically true. {{unsigned ip|218.102.149.116|17:08, 17 June 2026 (UTC)}}

I think the curve might be exponential, referencing the "predictions" of AI future capabilities [[Special:Contributions/93.36.179.126|93.36.179.126]] 17:15, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

We should explain how there can data points in the graph with y-values between zero and one. I assume it's because a team might well play multiple games during a single tournament. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 18:10, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
:That's obviously true. In the current format, each team plays between 3 and 8 games. During the initial group stage there are groups of 4 where each team plays the other 3. Then there are 5 single-elimination knockout rounds plus a playoff for third place between the semi-final losers. So if Messi makes it to the finals and scores 1 goal in every other game, the y-value will be 0.5. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:03, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

'''Messi'''est graph ever. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 18:34, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

I was going to update the transcript with estimated Y values of each data point. But maybe someone with a little more time and tooling could actually measure them and produce reasonably precise values. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:57, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
:Couldn't you just use a pixel ruler? [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 00:24, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

Updated the transcript with the goals per game values for each world cup. {{unsigned|Jhamination|19:13, 17 June 2026 (UTC)}}

Do we need a new category for improbable extrapolations? I remember one about a woman having multiple husbands because she just got married and that would mean she gets a new husband every day, and I swear there were more. [[Special:Contributions/8.53.15.117|8.53.15.117]] 20:55, 17 June 2026 (UTC)
:[[:Category:Extrapolation]] is already (as I write this, haven't checked chronology against your suggestion) given to this comic. While it ''needn't'' also be used to improbable degrees, I think that this is always an implicit possibility for those comics it is used for. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:46, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

Yes! I was hoping we'd get a comic about the world cup, with some sorta XKCD twist [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 00:18, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

Error? FIFA article today says 4 goals for Messi in the 2014 World Cup!
[https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/articles/fifa-world-cup-all-time-leading-scorers FIFA World Cup all-time leading scorers]
Lionel Messi - Argentina
Goals: 16
World Cups: Six - 2006 (one goal), 2010 (no goals), 2014 (four goals), 2018 (one goal), 2022 (seven goals), 2026 (three goals to date)
Matches played: 27 [[Special:Contributions/81.106.93.247|81.106.93.247]] 06:31, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
:4 goals; 7 appearances = 0.57 goals per game - looks about right to me [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:28, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
argentina mentioned in xkcd [[Special:Contributions/186.157.103.100|186.157.103.100]] 12:12, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
:Was not on my bingo card. [[Special:Contributions/24.123.140.66|24.123.140.66]] 15:29, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

From what I calculated, the best fit exponential graph (which looks close to what was drawn on) is Goals per Game = .00397 * exp(.2546*(Years since 2000)) [[Special:Contributions/8.17.60.118|8.17.60.118]] 15:07, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
:I think there's a better fit by treating 2006+8N years as a very good (slightly rising) linear track, and 2010+8N years as the independent exponential curve. (Which means that 2030 is still a relatively 'flat' year that won't be particularly extraordinary. (But 2034 will still be ''amazing''!) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:25, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

If Randall made this before Messi played his first game in this WC, his Goal-to-Game rate would be 0/0, and depending on how 0/0 is interpreted, the growth could be LARGE. I'm an Mbappe fan by the way. GO FRANCE! [[User:YZ100|YZ100]] 22:29, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3260: Messi