explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3123: Canon

2025-08-01T18:40:48Z

Turquoise Hat:

👋[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:14, 1 August 2025 (UTC)
I saw a post on reddit a week or two ago that described the how we use the term "kryptonite" to describe someone's weakness, then unironically asked what people thought Superman's Kryptonite would be.... [[Special:Contributions/136.226.60.109|136.226.60.109]]

:Wow, I never would've guessed what Superman's Kryptonite was! Seriously though, kryptonite has landed back on its original meaning too. [[User:Strontium|Strontium]] ([[User talk:Strontium|talk]]) 18:28, 1 August 2025 (UTC)

I wonder if there are any examples of that in the wild or if Randall just made it up.
[[User:Turquoise Hat|Turquoise Hat]] ([[User talk:Turquoise Hat|talk]]) 18:40, 1 August 2025 (UTC)

User talk:Lettherebedarklight

2024-11-09T17:45:39Z

Turquoise Hat: /* roll */ new section

{{DISPLAYTITLE:
User talk:Lettherebedarklight}}

where content [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.65|172.70.90.65]] 09:46, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

== roll ==

I would have gotten rickrolled by your signature under [[Talk:3009:_Number_Shortage]] if it weren't for the fact that the [[https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped Piped]] instance that https://farside.link/ redirected me to couldn't show me the video due to an error.
[[User:Turquoise Hat|Turquoise Hat]] ([[User talk:Turquoise Hat|talk]]) 17:45, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-09T17:36:11Z

Turquoise Hat: Added comment

I bet there's plenty of 9s left. They obviously didn't get a proper range of digits at Benford's Discount Number Store. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 05:53, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Is this not an error? "15 2s and 12 3s" uses up one 3. So shouldn't it next be 11 3s left, not 10? -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.144.152|172.69.144.152]] 10:41, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

the consequences of our actions /ref [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:45, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

The above mentioned “error” is not an error. When she says there are 13 2s left, that uses up one 3. [[User:PedanticMan|PedanticMan]] ([[User talk:PedanticMan|talk]]) 11:13, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

: There's no pause, no "No wait" after "13 2s". Is she reevaluating numbers instantly realtime midsentence? Did she start the sentence planning to say one thing and instantly altered it partway through? I guess that's what Randall is going for. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.144.162|172.69.144.162]] 12:00, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
::That's what I assumed, and I already included it in the explanation. But I'm not sure if the title text is consistent with that interpretation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:35, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

If anyone wants to see self-referentiality of numbers taken even further, here is a series of posts that I wrote on "self-describing numbers": https://atmos.warplight.dev/profile/1p8WCZnqqG6N3ZOsJxBgUTo/p1cNCw1OTsioTQBRk [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 12:09, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

the first stage of grief is denial [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 12:19, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure "15" uses up one 3 (3*5) and "12" uses up two 2's and one 3 (2*2*3) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.213|172.71.222.213]] 15:09, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

"Well? How many numbers do we have left?"
"Oh great! There's one more!"
(Yes, I know this goes against the logic of the original comic)
[[User:Turquoise Hat|Turquoise Hat]] ([[User talk:Turquoise Hat|talk]]) 17:36, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2946: 1.2 Kilofives

2024-06-15T15:43:30Z

Turquoise Hat: New to editing this site so I don't know what the agreed upon style is if any but I made the spacing more readable and consistent

Challenge: Come up with a way like this to say the comic number #2946. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:00, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
:How about 4.91 hectosixes? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.190|172.69.33.190]] 04:19, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
:A kibitwo, four decascore, four score and eighteen. Two octooctotwentythrees and two. A gross-score, three score and 6. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 05:00, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
:A semidozen tetrahectaenneacontahena. [[User:Xkcd machine guy|Xkcd machine guy]] ([[User talk:Xkcd machine guy|talk]]) 08:25, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
:A decapentagross minus a semiennea. [[User:Xkcd machine guy|Xkcd machine guy]] ([[User talk:Xkcd machine guy|talk]]) 10:10, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
Interestingly, four score and seven is exactly how you say 87 in French (quatre-vingt sept) and Basque (laurogeita zazpi). Both count on base 20. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.138|172.70.90.138]] 05:16, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Fun fact: libqalculate and the "Qalculate"/"qalc" programs can just deal with the title text:
qalc "50milli score"
50 × (10^−3) × score = 1
But it fails on the main part, the best that works is:
qalc "1.2kilo 5"
1.2 × 10³ × 5 = 6000
"five" gets interpreted as Euler's number × imaginary unit × unknown "f" × unknown "v". On my old laptop, I must have some other configuration or maybe an old version, because there it gets interpreted as 0×i×e=0, so you can enter "five plus five" and get 0. Maybe another challenge would be to get arbitrary misleading results out from equations like this. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 05:59, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps East Hills NY, but their "Welcome" boards don't mention population, https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@40.7805262,-73.632634,3a,15y,25.75h,92.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sf5guvv2tETuyn0f_lSFh7A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&coh=205409&entry=ttu so this might just be a random name that R. came up with[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 07:40, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

In the comic *fives* does not stand for the number five alone, but for five people. So using it with a prefix is more valid. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.4|172.68.110.4]] 10:15, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
: Five kilopeople would be valid.
: [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.63|172.70.91.63]] 10:34, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

I think it would have made more sense to say "half a kilodozen". --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.45|141.101.69.45]] 11:54, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

I wonder why Randall chose to make Cueball the character saying that and not Black Hat/classhole. [[User:Turquoise Hat|Turquoise Hat]] ([[User talk:Turquoise Hat|talk]]) 15:35, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2946: 1.2 Kilofives

2024-06-15T15:35:01Z

Turquoise Hat: Add comment