# The Clouds of Magellan are just passing by. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231 "2007-10-02T05:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/1 "2007-10-02T05:01:57Z")
[Both of them!](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070926123359.htm) I’m not sure how everyone else feels about this, but I am pissed. First it’s Astroweenies changing the pronunciation Uranus, out of fear of eight year old boys, then Pluto gets demoted. So now where is the neighborhood going? It’s going away, that’s what’s happening! Immutable Heavens my ass! Tris ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/2 "2007-10-02T05:19:48Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/3 "2007-10-02T05:22:11Z")
Now that this in the Pit, I can say… Fuck you immutable heavens. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/4 "2007-10-02T05:56:18Z")
I saw this thread and started singing the Rolf Harris song, - The Court Of King Caractacus. Damn you, **Triskadecamus** , that’s going to be with me all night. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/5 "2007-10-02T08:12:23Z")
Unrelated to the OP but fitting to this thread, let me just say FUCK YOU to 253 Mathilde. I hate that fucking asteroid. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/6 "2007-10-02T08:16:52Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] … First it’s Astroweenies changing the pronunciation Uranus, out of fear of eight year old boys,… [/QUOTE] Okay, I’ll bite. How ELSE do you pronounce Uranus? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/7 "2007-10-02T08:24:13Z")
The Clouds of Magellan are passing by, better than Magellan passing gas clouds. ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/8 "2007-10-02T08:37:47Z")
**CanvasShoes** , what was “your-ANus” has become “YUHR-enus.” I say; can we call hims Ouranos (“Oor-uhnohs” AFAIK)? It’s the original Greek version, but if we’re going to change the pronunciation everyone’s using to avoid lame jokes, then why not go for the cool one. Besides, Uranus didn’t really have much of a footprint in mythology as far as the Romans were concerned, IIRC. He was more relevant to the Greeks’ version of things. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2007, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/9 "2007-10-02T09:07:47Z")
[QUOTE=CanvasShoes] Okay, I’ll bite. How ELSE do you pronounce Uranus? [/QUOTE] Urine-us ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/10 "2007-10-02T09:35:07Z")
Bah. By the time they leave, we’ll all be dead anyway. Quit yer bitchin’! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/11 "2007-10-02T09:35:36Z")
[QUOTE=CanvasShoes] Okay, I’ll bite. How ELSE do you pronounce Uranus? [/QUOTE] It´s been changed to be less offensive, now it´s Urectum\*… \*Shamelessly stolen from Futurama. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/12 "2007-10-02T10:35:37Z")
Maybe I’m showing my ignorance here, but … haven’t there always been two Magellanic clouds? (except that I thought they were the “Greater” and “Lesser” Magellanic clouds. “Large” and “small” do sound a bit - um - proletarian?) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/13 "2007-10-02T11:26:50Z")
Because some assholes started making fun of the Anglicization of Uranus as a homonym of “your anus,” the uberpedants got pissy and demanded it be pronounced “urinous.” ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/14 "2007-10-02T12:01:18Z")
The past few years, I’ve also heard people pronouncing the word “pianist” as pi-AN-ist, to avoid the chance resemblance to the word “penis”. ETA: And fuck Phobos, **and** Demos, fuck 'em right in their largest impact craters. Grotesquely misshapen little so-called “moons”. Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/15 "2007-10-02T12:16:18Z")
C’mon, people, where’s the hate for Kohoutek? I loathe that fuckin’ comet, man. The pathetic panda bear face, the desexualized coma, the palpable loserdom. I’m glad we won’t have to put up with that thing again in my lifetime. SEE YOU IN HELL, KOHOUTEK! ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/16 "2007-10-02T12:31:38Z")
[QUOTE=Aspidistra] Maybe I’m showing my ignorance here, but … haven’t there always been two Magellanic clouds? [/QUOTE] Yes there have. But until very recently (in human terms) it was thought that the Small and Large Magellenic Clouds (SMC and LMC) were gravitationally bound to the Milky Way, and that they would eventually fall into our Galaxy and merge. Now, through careful measurement it turns out that they’re not bound to our Galaxy (yet, but they may in the future, by which I mean astronomical scale future). Not that it makes much difference to us on human timescales though, its just interesting to know. Oh and Pluto was **MIS** classified in the first place, in my professional opinion. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/17 "2007-10-02T13:34:30Z")
I’ve looked at Clouds of Magellan from both sides now. from up and down and still somehow From 9th grade science I recall I still say Ur-Anus after all ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/18 "2007-10-02T13:39:17Z")
_This_ is a pit thread? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/19 "2007-10-02T13:42:25Z")
I can’t believe we’re still allowed to call them the Magellanic Clouds. They aren’t clouds, you know, and if we can’t call a tidal wave a tidal wave we can’t call a galaxy a cloud. And Magellan was a pretty un-PC dude, being a Eurocentric invader of the Philippines and all that. By the way, they say that the view of the Milky Way from the non-Magellanic non-clouds totally kicks ass. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231/20 "2007-10-02T13:48:16Z")
[QUOTE=Borborygmi] the desexualized coma [/QUOTE] They’ve desexualized comas?!?! Well forget the World According to Garp and Kill Bill then. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clouds-of-magellan-are-just-passing-by/421231.md?page=2)