# Gnomes! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006 "2004-02-25T01:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr.Sexchange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@Dr.Sexchange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Sexchange)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/1 "2004-02-25T01:05:03Z")
So what’s so special about gnomes? Are they magic? Can they murder you in your sleep? Indeed. TEll me. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/2 "2004-02-25T01:16:23Z")
If they were real, they could but I doubt they’d have any incentive. They’re rather one-dimensional and the only tales I’ve heard of them were in regards to them guarding treasure. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/3 "2004-02-25T01:18:29Z")
_I_ heard they like to travel. While you’re not keeping an eye on them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/4 "2004-02-25T01:25:42Z")
> [@](#): > > So what’s so special about gnomes? They’re resistant to magic (and poison if I recall correctly) and get an AC bonus against giants. They make pretty good miners, having some special abilities in that line, and are surprisingly good at thieving. > [@](#): > > Are they magic? No, but they can use magic if they are illusionists. > [@](#): > > Can they murder you in your sleep? Only if they have an evil alignment. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/5 "2004-02-25T01:28:16Z")
They steal your [underpants.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underpants_Gnomes) Many consider this a genuine threat to both ordered liberty and the stability of Western economies. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/6 "2004-02-25T02:04:52Z")
\*\*The Peyote Coyote \*\* , lol!!! Another AD&D veteran here! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/7 "2004-02-25T02:11:37Z")
> [@dutchboy208](#): > > They steal your [underpants.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underpants_Gnomes) > > Many consider this a genuine threat to both ordered liberty and the stability of Western economies. But only if they can figure out what the second step is. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/8 "2004-02-25T02:12:36Z")
All gnomes I have known have stayed politely in the garden, pushing a little wheelbarrow or standing under an oversized toadstool. Sometimes I have seen them fish. On occasion an individual gnome will get a wild hair up his ass and take off on a whirlwind international tour, sending photos back to the owners of his garden. They usually return, tired and with a tan that look like shoe polish. If you wish, I can give you information about the migration and flocking behaviours of pink flamingoes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/9 "2004-02-25T02:17:11Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > On occasion an individual gnome will get a wild hair up his ass and take off on a whirlwind international tour, sending photos back to the owners of his garden. Now I know that this happens in the film _Amelie_, but I also once had a workmate who had a similar trick played on him many years before the film was released - is there a recorded first instance of travelling-photo-sending-gnomes? ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/10 "2004-02-25T02:42:36Z")
Actually, gnomes are no longer resistant to magic, but they do get the AC bonus against giants. The can also speak with burrowing animals and really really like to be bards. I’m afraid of them. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/11 "2004-02-25T02:54:42Z")
I thought they liked to hitch rides on the wings of passenger jets, then rip apart the engines and scare the crap out of sweaty guys. Oh, wait, that’s _gremlins._ Don’t know about gnomes. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/12 "2004-02-25T03:05:02Z")
"Ha ha ha, hee hee hee “I’m a laughing Gnome and you can’t catch me” ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/13 "2004-02-25T03:24:10Z")
What is it about a cabal of powerful Swiss bankers that you would like to know? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/14 "2004-02-25T03:45:51Z")
[Encyclopedia Mythica on Gnomes](http://www.pantheon.org/articles/g/gnome.html) [American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Gnome](http://www.bartleby.com/61/66/G0166600.html) [Wikipedia: Gnome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnome) [ABC Classic FM Breakfast, Word of the day, Thursday 12 February 2004: Gnome](http://www.abc.net.au/classic/breakfast/stories/s1039052.htm) Encyclopædia Britannica: Gnome > [@](#): > > in European folklore, dwarfish, subterranean goblin or earth spirit who guards mines of precious treasures hidden in the earth. He is represented in medieval mythologies as a small, physically deformed (usually hunchbacked) creature resembling a dry, gnarled old man. Gob, the king of the gnome race, ruled with a magic sword and is said to have influenced the melancholic temperament of man. > > The term was popularized through works of the 16th-century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus in which gnomes were described as capable of moving through solid earth as fish move through water. Or, for a whimsical look at a completely different concept of gnomes (that was wildly popular around 25 years ago and has greatly influenced the “garden” gnomes), try reading [Wil Huygen’s _ **Gnomes** _](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810909650/qid=1077680181/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-3672754-5112017?v=glance&s=books) ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/15 "2004-02-25T04:12:54Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Encyclopædia Britannica: Gnome > …dwarfish, subterranean goblin … So they are Shetland Orcs? ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/16 "2004-02-25T04:16:15Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > I’m afraid of them. Don’t worry. The best defense is a [good offense.](http://www.bifrost.com.au/hosting/gnomes/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/17 "2004-02-25T04:16:57Z")
A gnome is caused by a deletion in a genome… ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/18 "2004-02-25T04:26:55Z")
There’s no place like Gnome ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/19 "2004-02-25T04:56:32Z")
GNOME is a popular Linux desktop enviroment. ---
**Author:** ![Sisyphus\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sisyphus\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sisyphus_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006/20 "2004-02-25T05:06:51Z")
Gnomes are the gnats on gnarled gnus with a gnostic bent for gneissic stone. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gnomes/231006.md?page=2)