# ­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:** 197
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3923 "2025-01-22T02:44:18Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > > [@ftg](#): > > > > What compound gives the pronunciation “choochoo”? > > Acetic\_acid (sorry, preview not working well) How about “coo coo co choo”? ---
**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 22, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3924 "2025-01-22T14:39:31Z")
That’s a tungsten-aluminum-rubidium alloy, with a bit of sulfur. (:3= ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3925 "2025-01-22T15:58:16Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > “coo coo co choo”? Gesundheit. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3926 "2025-01-22T16:49:43Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > How about “coo coo co choo”? Semolina pilchard. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3927 "2025-01-22T23:06:39Z")
Well, you can use Potassium for a hard c. So Potassium superoxide, Potassium superoxide, Monopotassium monooxide and Formate? Sounds tasty. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3928 "2025-01-23T10:30:14Z")
> **[Unit Circle](https://xkcd.com/3041/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/unit_circle.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/unit_circle.png) “They’re continuing to search for a square with the same area as the circle, as efforts to construct one have run into difficulties.” ---
**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:** [January 23, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3929 "2025-01-23T17:11:01Z")
When the archaeologists unearth the other wheel off that axle is when the trouble will _really_ begin. Suddenly the old joke about 1.99 equaling 2 will come true, depending on which wheel is taken as fundamental. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3930 "2025-01-24T21:24:31Z")
> **[T. Rex Evolution](https://xkcd.com/3042/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/t_rex_evolution.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/t_rex_evolution.png) “Unfortunately, body size and bite force continue to increase.” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3931 "2025-01-24T23:12:19Z")
Ah, yes, the timeline where the [most recent common ancestor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_recent_common_ancestor) of the [purple worm](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Purple_worm) and the [sand worm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandworm_(Dune)) is [_T. rex_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3932 "2025-01-25T00:24:01Z")
The wyvern fits along that line post-Cretaceous. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3933 "2025-01-25T00:28:49Z")
Where does he think [dragon boats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_boat) come from? ---
**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 25, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3934 "2025-01-25T15:24:01Z")
I’m curious what they’ll be like 70 million years from now. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3935 "2025-01-25T18:24:43Z")
Maybe like General Franco, still dead? 😉 But yeah, that is kinda a threadshit for this one comic’s chapter in our omnibus. So in the spirit of penance I’ll propose instead that 70MY in the future T-rex’s now vestigial limbs will have re-sprouted as fins and Earth’s oceans will be patrolled by 300 foot long insatiable killing machines that make the ancient plesiosaurs seem like harmless goldfish by comparison. If humans are still around the smallest ships that can safely ply the seas are made of armor steel and are the size of modern containerships or aircraft carriers. Anything lesser is promptly rammed or bitten apart until it sinks. A modern diesel-electric attack sub would simply be swallowed whole. They’d be smart enough to know the nuclear ones produce fatal indigestion when eaten. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3936 "2025-01-25T21:13:30Z")
Eh… we’d still find a way to hunt them to extinction. It’s what we do. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3937 "2025-01-28T02:02:36Z")
> **[Muons](https://xkcd.com/3043/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/muons.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/muons.png) Update: I’ve been banned from the physics department for the way I pronounce "Doppler effect." ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3938 "2025-01-28T02:06:19Z")
It should really be MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS, as the average Lorentz factor of atmospheric muons is about 8.4. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3939 "2025-01-28T03:31:14Z")
The hover-over in lots of his comics are not in the form of a question, but still provide a very thought-provoking question for you to noodle on. Today’s implied question being: > How _does_ he pronounce “Doppler effect” in a way that’s scientifically plausible _and_ pisses off his fellow physicists? I’ve been noodling on this one for awhile. A rising then abruptly falling pitch is obvious enough. Can we say anything deeper than that? Should he be in accelerating straight-line motion the entire time? Or constant straight-line? Or? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3940 "2025-01-28T03:37:16Z")
It only be done properly in Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3941 "2025-01-30T11:53:17Z")
> **[Humidifier Review](https://xkcd.com/3044/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/humidifier_review.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/humidifier_review.png) “They should add a little sticker that certifies that the humidifier supports water conservation, but in the sense of energy conservation or momentum conservation.” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3942 "2025-01-30T18:34:53Z")
My wife insisted that large blocks of ice were better for picnic coolers because they lasted longer. My protests that this just meant they didn’t keep the interior as cool were ignored. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=196) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=198)