# The Big Bang Theory, Season 12, Episode 9 (November 15, 2018) -- "The Citation Negation" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558 "2018-11-15T14:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/21 "2018-11-24T12:47:52Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > One of the things I do for a living is edit scientific journals for a publishing house in Moscow. The articles are normally translated by Russians who (to varying degrees) know English and are familiar with the technical terms and concepts. Once in a while, it’s clear that a native English speaker who collaborated on a project had a hand in writing a paper, so you can be fairly certain everything is accurate where the science is concerned. > > My job is actually less impressive than it sounds. While I have a pretty broad knowledge of science (and I’ve been editing these articles since 2003), I’m a linguist, not a chemist or physicist (or mathematician, or engineer, or any other science professional). It’s my responsibility to simply correct the bad English, and to be careful when I’m doing so. Very, very rarely do I suggest an alternative for a technical term. > > I just finished watching this episode on line. My biggest problem with the setup is that the Russian paper was from forty years ago. A lot has changed in science since then, and there’s no guarantee that the author was 100% correct in his reasoning back then. What they should have done was do a follow up to see if the original work had been superseded. Thanks for this. It’s interesting to hear from someone with real life experience in this. Agreed that the paper could easily be wrong in its conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/22 "2018-11-24T13:01:13Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Thanks for this. It’s interesting to hear from someone with real life experience in this. Agreed that the paper could easily be wrong in its conclusions. I should point out that such articles are translated not merely by professional translators but often by actual scientists with advanced degrees and practical experience in their field of expertise. Their English can be quite good, requiring minimal correction. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/23 "2018-11-25T14:46:38Z")
Watched the Shamy’s wedding from last season on TBS last night. Leonard did a google search on Super Asymmetry and got no results. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/24 "2018-11-27T08:35:16Z")
Just watched this episode today. I enjoyed it. I could see some obscure journal being stuck in a dusty storage area (for want of a better term) of a library. The dust-ridden environment, of course, triggered Leonard’s asthma and that set up a bit of humor connected with Raj’s fears. The next thing–and I cannot overstate how happy it made me–Raj’s fiancée was completely absent from this episode; there wasn’t even a mention of her. Bernadette’s quest to beat someone in Fortnite was amusing. She never has been one for moderate responses. It was also amusing to see how quickly Penny picked up the game play and, of course, beat Bernadette. Bernadette and Denise had the same question for each other: Why? Meaning, why are you dating Stuart/married to Howard. I liked both answers. Denise seems rather aware of Stuart’s oddness, while Bernadette seems completely oblivious to the idea that Howard isn’t hot. Again, a great point was that annoying fiancée wasn’t even talked about. Hey, mabye that’s the set up for her to be jettisoned from the show and have Raj go for the second try of, what was it his father said, 5 to 7 dates with one woman without his real persona coming out. Maybe that’ll be the way his relationships are handled this season: three dates with the woman and then she’s gone. Repeat as needed. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/25 "2018-11-27T08:42:54Z")
Left off something. Amy’s and Sheldon’s reactions to the news about their paper were pretty good, too. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/26 "2018-11-27T09:33:12Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > IIRC correctly the problem was uncovered when Raj was checking the cites inside the cite that Shamy were using. Would that normally be done? Sadly a lot of people don’t do that, leading to situations such as The Most Cited Chemistry Paper having been the wrong one for decades: most people cited it only because it was required without actually checking it, and when I did check it and find the correct one I was told that I shouldn’t dare correct my betters 😛 (correct one: C. Levinthal’s “How to Fold Graciously”, on protein folding; incorrect one, by the same author but on sugar chemistry). Eventually this got corrected and people now cite the correct one, but it’s representative of a type of Collective Stupidity By Appeal To Authority which I’m reasonably sure happens in any field. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/27 "2018-11-27T09:36:50Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Leonard did a google search on Super Asymmetry and got no results. In how many languages did he search? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/28 "2018-11-27T09:40:09Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Bernadette’s quest to beat someone in Fortnite was amusing. She never has been one for moderate responses. She also never used to have trouble kicking the men’s asses in whatever wargame they were playing. Has motherhood mellowed her out some? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/29 "2018-11-27T19:47:13Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Bernadette’s quest to beat someone in Fortnite was amusing. She never has been one for moderate responses. It was also amusing to see how quickly Penny picked up the game play and, of course, beat Bernadette. I doubt the writers did this on purpose, but this is consistent with previous episodes; when Penny joined their Halo team she immediately better than Sheldon. > [@terentii](#): > > She also never used to have trouble kicking the men’s asses in whatever wargame they were playing. Has motherhood mellowed her out some? I don’t think we’ve seen Bernie play against the guys in a video game. She played the Star Wars online game with them before she married Howard, but their gripes were she nagged Howard to wear a matching armor and favored him when it came to healing. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/30 "2018-11-28T04:39:16Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > I don’t think we’ve seen Bernie play against the guys in a video game. She played the Star Wars online game with them before she married Howard, but their gripes were she nagged Howard to wear a matching armor and favored him when it came to healing. You don’t remember her blasting everyone while going **PEW! PEW! PEW!** in her Little Catholic Girl voice? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/31 "2018-11-28T23:13:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You don’t remember her blasting everyone while going **PEW! PEW! PEW!** in her Little Catholic Girl voice? As Sheldon pointed out, she _wasn’t_ blasting anyone - she wasn’t using the controller. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/32 "2018-11-29T16:27:37Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > As Sheldon pointed out, she _wasn’t_ blasting anyone - she wasn’t using the controller. I think we’re remembering different episodes. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2018, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558/33 "2018-11-30T06:54:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I think we’re remembering different episodes. I don’t see how - there’s only one episode where Bernie goes “Pew! Pew!” and that’s the ep where the guys try to have an all-guys weekend playing the Star Wars online game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-9-november-15-2018-the-citation-negation/824558.md?page=1)