# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 141
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2803 "2024-03-13T02:08:54Z")
Multiplication, not addition. Though I think addition makes more sense in the context of a combined supergroup. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2804 "2024-03-13T21:42:03Z")
The units are different, so you can’t add them. And you combine groups by the [direct product](https://math.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Abstract_and_Geometric_Algebra/Introduction_to_Algebraic_Structures_(Denton)/04%3A_Groups_III/4.02%3A_Product_Groups), not by addition. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2805 "2024-03-13T22:17:04Z")
The units for all are Band Units, so they can be added. It’s like adding 5 apples + 4 oranges to get 9 fruits. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2806 "2024-03-13T22:22:24Z")
9 Fruits released a couple of albums in the late ‘70s, but were never a critical or commercial success. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2807 "2024-03-13T23:36:57Z")
OTOH, the Five Fruits had a runaway smash hit with _YMCA_. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2808 "2024-03-14T04:54:32Z")
> **[Earth](https://xkcd.com/2906/)** > > Just think of all the countless petty squabbles and misunderstandings, of all the fervent hatreds, over so insignificant a thing as the direction and duration of a rocket engine firing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2809 "2024-03-14T13:50:27Z")
I don’t think his spaceship was built for reentry anyway. [![](https://media.moddb.com/images/downloads/1/88/87738/SSOTI.jpg) ](https://media.moddb.com/images/downloads/1/88/87738/SSOTI.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2810 "2024-03-14T14:27:55Z")
This is a rare xkcd with color. One pixel of color, but still. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2811 "2024-03-16T06:11:09Z")
> **[Schwa](https://xkcd.com/2907/)** > > Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2812 "2024-03-16T13:00:37Z")
Is it just me, or are none of those vowel sounds actually schwas? I always figured that the way to recognize a schwa was that, if you replaced it by a different vowel, it’d be hard to notice the difference. Like, for instance, the second vowel in “pencil”: It’d still be recognizably the same word if it were “pensal” or “pensul” or “pensel”. But “Doug” is clearly very different from “Dag” or “Dig”. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2813 "2024-03-16T13:33:54Z")
Can someone explain the missed rocket burn thingie? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2814 "2024-03-16T14:13:26Z")
It wasn’t that funny IMHO: > **[2906: Earth - explain xkcd](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2906:_Earth)** > > Explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2815 "2024-03-16T14:30:17Z")
Thank you. That is an awful lot of explanation needed. (Would have been better visually if the window were round or oval, not square like a picture hung in a lecture hall.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2816 "2024-03-16T14:39:48Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > It wasn’t that funny IMHO: This strip typically has the driest humor of any comic strip that I’ve ever run across. Makes Arrakis look like the Amazon Basin. It can by turns be clever, insightful, satirical, cute, or silly, or, OTOH, banal, boring, incomprehensible, condescending, or self-defeating. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2817 "2024-03-16T14:50:51Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Would have been better visually if the window were round or oval And if the text said “how badly he’d messed up OUR re-entry burn” ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2818 "2024-03-16T14:51:44Z")
@Zakalwe, thanks for explanation. I took a fast look at that XKCD and somehow leaped to the conclusion that Sagan had done something about the burn which had caused it to seriously damage the planet. This is probably more my problem than XKCD’s. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2819 "2024-03-16T15:16:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is it just me, or are none of those vowel sounds actually schwas? and does anybody pronounce onion with two of the same vowel sound? Seems like at least one of them can’t be a schwa. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2820 "2024-03-16T15:25:31Z")
For me onion definitely has two schwas. The second vowel is a blend of y and schwa. So, ən.jən. Flat Midwest US accent. ETA: first vowel may be more of a caret. But those sound very similar to me, with the only difference being the stress. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2821 "2024-03-16T15:28:19Z")
Huh. I grew up in Texas and have lived half my life in Chicago and pronounce it more like un-yin ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2822 "2024-03-16T15:35:07Z")
I’m sure sometimes I pronounce the second syllable with a short i vowel. But when going “full speed” I think it drops into a schwa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=140) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=142)