# What's a 'penguinist?' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 7, 1999, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292 "1999-11-07T05:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/1 "1999-11-07T05:06:00Z")
Cecil uses this word in one of his columns [about states of matter] but my dictionary only lists the bird. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/2 "1999-11-07T10:10:00Z")
Karen Lingel, who is a both penguinist plus a regular poster on the alt.fan.cecil-adams USENET group, notes that _A penguinist is a particle physicist who studies one-loop decays of B mesons, whimsically called “penguin” decays_ on her web page at: [http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/~kll/](http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/~kll/) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/3 "1999-11-07T12:58:00Z")
Karen is also an official staff member on the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board… check out her latest: [What is antimatter?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantimatter.html) … where she also (way down in the text) mentions the job of penguinist. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/4 "1999-11-07T15:18:00Z")
wow - mind-expanding!! (I know, I know - if you start small it doesn’t take much…) thank you Straight Dope - this is the type of thing I show my beloved when she asks why I spend so much time at this site. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/5 "1999-11-07T17:12:00Z")
Yes, wow. I can amaze my friends. 'Hey stop being such a penguinist!" ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/6 "1999-11-08T21:44:00Z")
A penguinist is someone who’s an expert with the Linux operating system. 🙂 * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/7 "1999-11-10T03:46:00Z")
Sorry. I’ve been calling myself a penguinist for so long, it’s become part of my identity. It’s sort of an inside particle physics joke – like calling yourself a Star Warsist or something. -k- ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/8 "1999-11-10T09:24:00Z")
First of all, I’m frothing with curiosity to read Cecil’s column mentioning such a delightful word…could we please get a link? And secondly, this just absolutely begs the question: Why _are_ “one-loop decays of B mesons” called “penguin” decays, whimsically or not? Was it the namer’s favorite bird or something? When they make that one loop, do they outline the shape of a penguin? * * * Kara’s Bizarre Movie Quote for the Day: “Such as who we are, what we’re doing…” “…and why I have a picture of a burger on the wall.” ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/9 "1999-11-11T00:10:00Z")
Ah, right, sorry, where is that link? [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantimatter.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantimatter.html) ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-penguinist/292/10 "1999-11-11T03:49:00Z")
Physicists; pub; dart game; loser has to get the word “penguin” into Physical Review D. The loser, theorist John Ellis, was working on one-loop decays at the time. Now: Physical Review has an explicit rule about introducing new jargon as a joke. Sometimes people try to draw one-loop decays that look like penguins. They don’t look all that compelling – either as penguins or as one-loop decays