# Immigration from the isles of Langerhans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2019, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838 "2019-01-16T01:12:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/21 "2019-01-16T14:47:18Z")
I think we have several phenomena here that need to be distinguished. One is the hiding away of nonsensical questions in otherwise sensible questionnaires (eg Wisian-Americans), which is kinda unfair and could trip up most of us on a bad day. A second is fishing for zealots – in the OP’s example, the subject word\* immigration\* will, on its own, push the buttons of plenty of readers. Third - the polling of pure nonsense is harder to get a handle on, but it would be the most interesting to have more info on. Something that isn’t politically sensitive, isn’t concealed as part of something meaningful, and is genuinely gibberish. I’m inclined to think you’d still get uptake. Elsewhere: On the subject of zealots, in the UK we share your enthusiasm for the democratic right to start a barking mad petition on a government website. In the interests of – Jesus, I don’t know - I’ve just spent a depressing half hour sorting out for you some of the prime bottom feeders in the national debate. After that degree of distress, you’re going to see this whether you like it or not: - Introduce the British Empire as a mandatory part of the Key Stage 3 curriculum\* - Ban the sale of White poppies alongside the British Legion red poppy campaign.\* - Commission a statue of Enoch Powell to be placed outside Parliament\* - Introduce a law to fit microchips in every ammunition round produced in the UK - Lift the ban on hand guns and allow everyone to own any firearm. - Get Mrs May to resign because of her treason to our country - Make soap dispensers at cash points compulsory! - The N.H.S should fund properly regulated homeopathy clinics. There, I hope that makes you feel better. j - - more than 1000 signatories ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/22 "2019-01-16T14:50:21Z")
Oh, and I’ve also removed a bit of irrelevant context from the OP, which threatened to drag a Pit feud onto the rest of the board. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/23 "2019-01-16T15:28:08Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > - Introduce the British Empire as a mandatory part of the Key Stage 3 curriculum\* What’s crazy about this? Shouldn’t kids be informed about a major part of our recent history and the reason quite a few countries around the world are still pissed off with us? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/24 "2019-01-16T16:04:44Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > What’s crazy about this? Shouldn’t kids be informed about a major part of our recent history and the reason quite a few countries around the world are still pissed off with us? Fair point. I think by that stage I had been beaten down by all the crazies I had to wade through. Actually not just crazies - it’s the\* earnestness\* that gets to you. j ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/25 "2019-01-16T16:23:29Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Wouldn’t that be emigration _from_ the Isles of Langerhans? (Who become immigrants _into_ the US.) No. If you’re going to try to be pedantic, don’t be wrong.🙂 You can refer to someone as an emigrant from X to Y; or as an immigrant from X to Y. Which you would say would depend on what’s relevant in context. When you’re discussing who we might allow to immigrate into the U.S., it’s quite correct to refer to them as immigrants from X or immigrants from Y. It would be odd to refer to them in that context as emigrants from X or emigrants from Y, since we’re not concerned with their emigration from their home countries _per se_, maybe they might go from the Islets of Langerhans to Japan. The concern is who is allowed into the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/26 "2019-01-16T16:45:47Z")
The Lizardman’s constant is the idea that in any survey there is a minimum response to any survey of the public, no matter how nonsensical the answer is. The constant is usually around 5%. There is also the fact that a certain amount of people will be fooled by a question and answer it anyway. Thus you can get support for banning dihydrogen monoxide or woman’s suffrage. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/27 "2019-01-16T17:50:39Z")
Never, ever underestimate the ignorance of the average man. I was at a shooting range one time, and I joked to one of the range officers that they needed a “brass magnet” to clean up all of the cases littering the floor. He quite seriously replied that they couldn’t afford one… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/28 "2019-01-17T17:27:44Z")
I honestly thought this was a thread on overcoming diabetes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/29 "2019-01-17T21:29:14Z")
So, **puddleglum** , what happens when someone asks a survey question with 21 possible answer choices? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/30 "2019-01-17T21:59:38Z")
Just as an aside, what’s the objection to white poppies? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/31 "2019-01-17T23:17:11Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Just as an aside, what’s the objection to white poppies? I think the intent was always to remain respectful to the war dead, but to indicate a pacifist perspective. Some people didn’t see it that way, famously Maggie Thatcher. Unpatriotic or something I guess. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/32 "2019-01-18T08:35:53Z")
This has some relevance to the OP’s point (or in other words, organise things so that your question won’t be seen as silly once you ask it, and you won’t get a silly answer): [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/17/power-to-the-people-could-a-citizens-assembly-solve-the-brexit-crisis](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/17/power-to-the-people-could-a-citizens-assembly-solve-the-brexit-crisis) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/33 "2019-01-18T10:29:03Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Just as an aside, what’s the objection to white poppies? Riemann is bang on. Just to add that there a lot of petitions of this general tenor. We live in a country with more than a sufficiency of angry, shouty people who decorate themselves with union flags and are outraged at any divergence from their viewpoint. j ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/34 "2019-01-18T13:19:04Z")
On a serious note, but with some classic British humour, this little snippet gets to the core of a big part of the question. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/G0ZZJXw4MTA/hqdefault.jpg "Leading Questions - Yes Prime Minister") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/35 "2019-01-18T15:07:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So, **puddleglum** , what happens when someone asks a survey question with 21 possible answer choices? Most likely they have to find a different profession because that would be atrocious survey design. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/36 "2019-01-18T15:57:38Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > As any reader of Harlan Ellison knows, the Islets (not Isles) of Langerhans are located at the corner of 2nd and H Streets NE in Washington, D.C. I’m glad it was you who beat me to it, **Wendell**. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/37 "2019-01-18T15:58:52Z")
Ahem. I made an Ellison reference before either of you two. Check post #3. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838/38 "2019-01-18T22:50:52Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Never, ever underestimate the ignorance of the average man. > I was at a shooting range one time, and I joked to one of the range officers that they needed a “brass magnet” to clean up all of the cases littering the floor. > He quite seriously replied that they couldn’t afford one… Yes, magnets don’t work on brass, but that hasn’t stopped someone from creating something named that: “The BRASS MAGNET® is a 100″x 144″ nylon mesh brass collection net…” as found by Google. Something that large may be out of the budget of the range. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigration-from-the-isles-of-langerhans/827838.md?page=1)