# A clarification for: If all Chinese jumped at once, would cataclysm result?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-clarification-for-if-all-chinese-jumped-at-once-would-cataclysm-result/258897>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [August 8, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-clarification-for-if-all-chinese-jumped-at-once-would-cataclysm-result/258897 "2004-08-08T16:58:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FineButNotDandy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@FineButNotDandy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FineButNotDandy)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-clarification-for-if-all-chinese-jumped-at-once-would-cataclysm-result/258897/1 "2004-08-08T16:58:16Z")

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Regarding this classic topic:  
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_155](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_155)  
Cecil, your comment about the person who asked the question:

> [@](#):
>
> “But despite this wealth of scientific knowledge, the Teeming Millions routinely write in with questions that not one sane person has ever asked in 6,000 years of recorded history.”

That’s because no person _did_ ask the question; it’s obvious it was generated by the typewriter of one of an infinite number of monkeys.

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**Author:** ![Rajen\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@Rajen\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rajen_Bull)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-clarification-for-if-all-chinese-jumped-at-once-would-cataclysm-result/258897/2 "2005-01-14T04:56:39Z")

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Read “One of our dinosaurs is missing” by David Forrest-the book is out of print, but I have a copy. Thankfully the nefarious plot was foiled.

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**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-clarification-for-if-all-chinese-jumped-at-once-would-cataclysm-result/258897/3 "2005-01-16T11:05:57Z")

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Cecil’s answer to that one really sent me rolling on the floor laughing. It’s the one that got me hooked on Straight Dope. I printed it. I read it once in a while. I suggest you do too. A remark: The Chinese people being poor and therefore skinny, the question should have been: If all the obese people of the western world jumped…

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**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-clarification-for-if-all-chinese-jumped-at-once-would-cataclysm-result/258897/4 "2005-01-24T08:38:29Z")

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> [@Gymnopithys](#):
>
> Cecil’s answer to that one really sent me rolling on the floor laughing. It’s the one that got me hooked on Straight Dope. I printed it. I read it once in a while. I suggest you do too. A remark: The Chinese people being poor and therefore skinny, the question should have been: If all the obese people of the western world jumped…

We wouldn’t get up high enough to cause an effect