# ­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:** 258
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5143 "2025-11-06T01:46:21Z")
Or when the UK decimalized the pound. For folks used to thinking in shillings and pence, the newpence was a pretty jarring idea. Which doubtless felt to them like prices were rendered as “X[familiar units].Y[unfamiliar units]”. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5144 "2025-11-06T01:50:42Z")
From the “yard of ale” scene on _Peep Show_: > Jeremy Usborne: What can I get you two? How about a foot of wine? > Lucy: Can I get a metre of vodka… > [to Mark, with a flirty look] > Lucy: with an inch of tonic? > Mark Corrigan: [voiceover] Come on, Mark! Turn it on, play the game! > [to Lucy] > Mark Corrigan: Oh, uh, naughty, you’ve combined metric and imperial, you might get an interdenominational… you know, from mixing the two measurement systems, a hangover of that kind. > [voiceover] > Mark Corrigan: Just stay mute, Mark. You’re a social freak. Remain in your compound. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5145 "2025-11-08T18:51:47Z")
> **[Earthquake Prediction Flowchart](https://xkcd.com/3165/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/earthquake_prediction_flowchart.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/earthquake_prediction_flowchart.png) “At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question ‘Why didn’t you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?’” ---
**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:** [November 8, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5146 "2025-11-08T22:00:26Z")
Are earthquake predictions usually that vaguely generic? I would think it mandatory to specify the region at least. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5147 "2025-11-09T02:15:45Z")
I predict a large earthquake next month in the region of the lithosphere. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5148 "2025-11-11T02:12:25Z")
> **[Big and Little Spoons](https://xkcd.com/3166/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/big_and_little_spoons.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/big_and_little_spoons.png) “Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?” ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5149 "2025-11-11T02:45:08Z")
Huh?  ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5150 "2025-11-11T02:53:34Z")
When two people cuddle together, with the back of one against the front of the other, that’s referred to as “spooning”. This is an asymmetric position, with the two people in different roles. These roles are commonly referred to as the “big spoon” and the “little spoon”. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5151 "2025-11-11T02:53:36Z")
Spooning with a partner while you sleep. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5152 "2025-11-11T03:03:07Z")
The last-panel reveal feels vaguely “Calvin and Hobbes”-ish, à la this classic: > **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/yn278s/the_truth_about_this_place/)** ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5153 "2025-11-11T03:04:28Z")
Oh, I’m quite familiar with “spooning” in the context of cuddle-sleeping. I do that as often as the opportunity presents itself. But he’s right. There aren’t big and little. Someone is wrong on the internet and he/I shall not sleep (spooning or otherwise) until they are properly reeducated. And recant the errors of their wrongful ways. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5154 "2025-11-11T03:38:06Z")
And my daughter used to say that her cat liked to be the big spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5155 "2025-11-11T08:26:58Z")
We should ask our expert in @Spoons If he can’t enlighten us, who will? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5156 "2025-11-11T12:26:35Z")
I understand big spoon and little spoon to be positional. Big spoon makes contact with their front and little spoon makes contact with their back. It is a little weird when the big spoon is signifiantly bigger than the little spoon, but not impossible. I’ve taken both positions. The big spoon is when I’m being dominant or comforting and the little spoon is when I’m being comforted. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5157 "2025-11-11T15:00:52Z")
We all know how the idiomatic terms are used. The last panel makes it clear he’s haranguing somebody online over the technical inaptness of the terms big and little, versus some other far more logical terms e.g. front and back. Haranguing somebody over a technicality is one of the ongoing themes of xkcd. And SDMB. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5158 "2025-11-11T20:17:52Z")
What-if? on concentrating sunlight: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qu8nx1qUwEU/maxresdefault.jpg "What if ALL the sun’s power was focused in one place?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu8nx1qUwEU) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5159 "2025-11-11T20:29:04Z")
Biology, Physics - it’s all a continuum isn’t it? ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5160 "2025-11-11T22:04:09Z")
This is one of those physics questions where one has to figure out which effect would beat all the others by how-many microseconds. The sort of thing associated with supernova explosions and neutron stars. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5161 "2025-11-12T00:44:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The last panel makes it clear he’s haranguing somebody online Not online, I believe—someone is wrong in this house! Hence sleeping on the couch. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5162 "2025-11-12T00:55:50Z")
Oops. Upon further review … He & I are on the couch. She and you are not. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=257) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=259)