Talk:2779: Exoplanet High-5

… too slow ;)

"I don't get it. What's updog?"172.71.151.35 03:50, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Not much, you? --Lupo (talk) 11:50, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

isn't it usually spelled "high-five" --172.70.114.2 03:53, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Yeah - I don't understand what any of this has to do with sports nutrition.172.70.86.32 08:37, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

No, it's spoken, because children don't initiate physical gestures by passing written notes or texting? And any spelling is derivative of a spoken-word form, so you do you Elizium23 (talk) 04:46, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

Izun tittus ually spelt hi-5 ? 172.71.118.98 06:24, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Considering how fond Randall is of portmanteaus, I'm surprised he didn't use the term WiFive. Villemoes (talk) 06:58, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

No reference to Up-Goer 5? Sad :( Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:31, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Clearly the aliens were upset that Randall did it wrong by missing out the line 'On the side' between 'Down low' and 'Too slow!'172.70.91.79 08:41, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

The explanation states that “It is not known at which speed the Centaurians' invasion fleet travels and, therefore, when it will reach Earth.” It should be clarified that their speed is not known to earthlings (yet). The Centaurians most probably do know their own speed. Jacobus-nl (talk) 10:51, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Your own speed is always zero, of course. ;) Everything else outside your own current frame of reference will have a speed. Or, better, velocity! 172.71.242.109 11:32, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

So sad that Tau Delta has ligma. What's Tau Delta? Ligma balls. Fephisto (talk) 13:33, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Can someone clarify the title text? What’s updog? /j 172.69.59.178 14:38, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

It's explained in the last paragraph of the explanation. It sounds like "What's up, dawg?" Barmar (talk) 16:46, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Not much, dawg, what up witchu? Elizium23 (talk) 05:23, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

no fucking way 172.70.127.140 13:28, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

It will no doubt be the bloodiest battle since the Great Henway War. 172.71.30.122 14:58, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

This comic should have come out last month, around National High Five Day. Although this year it was on 4/20, and many people who might participate would have been too stoned. Barmar (talk) 16:54, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

So I came here because I was baffled that the rhyme didn't start as I learned it, with "Gimme five!" and then proceeds with "Up high!" but then, I was on the receiving end of this prank, so I eventually launched my own attack force on the playground. But the first Henway I heard, around the same time (mid-1980s) from my sister: "I know a man with snew in his blood." "What's snew?"... etc. Except when I tried that on people, they would just go "Dracula, right?" Elizium23 (talk) 05:23, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

When does a war start?

Doesn't the war start when the invasion fleet arrives on Earth, and not when it leaves Proxima Centauri B? Fatold (talk) 13:50, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

I was thinking the same thing, but I think there is an argument that the war starts when it is declared, while the fighting or battle may start later. -FH 162.158.159.158 16:20, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

It can be argued whether it's when news arrives of the declaration. Though that should be ahead of the fleet (or simultaneous with it, de facto if not de jure).

It's perhaps more message than action for WW2 in 1939, or action than message for the US.

(For those who consider that the conflicts starting in 1931/1935/1937/whatever, and seemlessly became WW2 at some point up to or including 1941, you can hold to your own ordering of the requisite events.)

Though if the act of starting the war involves the assasination of some visiting figure who forms part of a line of succession (hereditary royalty or constitutional figurehead of any other kind) then the simultaneity of the role passing on to their successor is a question that might need addressing... 172.70.91.80 17:46, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

So, a possible timeline in days: Day 0. Up High message sent. Day 1551. Up High message received, and 5 days of discussion follows. Day 3107. Reply received. Down Low message sent next day. Day 4659. Down Low message received, and 5 days of discussion follows. Day 6184. Too Slow message sent a month in advance. Day 6215. Reply received- too late. Day 7735. Too Slow message received. Proxima prepares for war. Day 7760. Invasion plan finalized. Fleet launched. Addon: Day 9317. Earth starts preparing for war. Day 9360. Earth launches fleet. Day 129044. Fleets meet. All crew members deceased. Day 129668. Truce called by Proxima. Day 129971. Truce called by Earth. Day 131219. Truce accepted by Earth. Day 131522. Truce accepted by Proxima. Day 132662. Randall Munroe IX sends Up High message. Day 134213. Up High message received... 172.71.255.6 23:59, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Timing

Did you notice that even if the reply for "Down low" had been sent immediately, it would have never got to Earth before the "too slow" message was sent? Trolling at the finest level. 172.69.35.134 (talk) 13:07, 2 July 2023 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

...yes, we did? "...Randall successfully pranks the aliens by sending the "too slow" message before their "Low-5" message can even arrive on Earth...". 172.70.91.142 17:01, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

Art Imitates Life

I can vouch that this sort of prank happened to me all the time in the 1980s in Catholic school. There were one or two kids who would run through the "gimme five" litany, and when we reached "too slow", and he withdrew his hand, he'd smooth his hair down with that same hand and smirk smugly. Because I would fall for it, the same way, every single time! <Invasion Fleet Launched>, indeed. They called me "spaz" because I'd start fistfights. The guy who did the High-5 trick the most? I bit him on that same arm, because of my sister. The Sisters suspended me from school for the biting. Elizium23 (talk) 04:38, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

Oh yeah, and before the "updog" came into the vernacular, the predecessor joke which I learned was: "I once knew a man with 'snew' in his blood." "What's snew?" "Not much, what's new with you?" And so I learned this and I fully expected the conversation to go as planned. When I "deployed in the wild" at school, the other classmate would go like, "DRACULA?" instead of the "straight man" reply I'm expecting, and I'm all flustered because like no, I was trolling you and you derailed me, you wicked classmate: <Invasion Fleet II Launched> Elizium23 (talk) 04:43, 15 April 2025 (UTC)