# ­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:** 320
**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:** [September 17, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6383 "2026-09-17T00:58:22Z")
Nah, look at the leaves. In the second panel it was already autumn. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6384 "2026-09-17T16:45:36Z")
But Winter lasts panel 3 and 4. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6385 "2026-09-17T17:38:16Z")
If the number of panels implies temporal succession, Randall’s stick figure has been sitting on the ice a long time. (Relatively. Entire seconds, based on the pacing of the frames.) ---
**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:** [September 17, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6386 "2026-09-17T19:29:40Z")
“It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be gray, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2026, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6387 "2026-09-19T04:26:12Z")
> **[Tyrannosaurus](https://xkcd.com/3300/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tyrannosaurus.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tyrannosaurus.png) “Many of the smaller dinosaurs seem to have largely preyed on housecats.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6388 "2026-09-22T04:48:17Z")
> **[Stargazing 5](https://xkcd.com/3301/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/stargazing_5.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/stargazing_5.png) “The sun and the moon appear the same size in the sky, even though in real life the sun is more than twice as big. Some call this lucky alignment coincidence; others say it’s proof that sometimes things can be the same size.” ---
**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:** [September 22, 2026, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6389 "2026-09-22T07:37:17Z")
Who knows how many kids (Randall among them?) learned the word “harbinger” from “Calvin and Hobbes”: > **[Comet](https://calvinandhobbesagain.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/comet/)** > > 1986. mar. 15. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2026, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6390 "2026-09-22T08:26:58Z")
And who knows how many of those still mispronounce it to this day? ---
**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:** [September 22, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6391 "2026-09-22T16:34:27Z")
These days comets are only harbingers of doom if they happen to be on a collision course with the Earth. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6392 "2026-09-23T02:23:43Z")
Annnd here I thought this was an allusion to those newfangled satellite swarms. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6393 "2026-09-23T04:47:03Z")
For many years I thought the word was “harbringer”. You know, something that brings har. I just didn’t know exactly what har was. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6394 "2026-09-23T05:09:25Z")
This band is probably too local to be widely known, but this is where my kids learned heart-binger. “Uh, it’s, uh… It’s a German word.” [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zdSkDXs00xg/hqdefault.jpg "Pieces of 8ight") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdSkDXs00xg) ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6395 "2026-09-23T14:06:21Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And who knows how many of those still mispronounce it to this day? Considering the popularity of the word _binge_ these days, I don’t think many people will mispronounce _harbinger_. Despite not being cognates, they are pronounced similarly. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6396 "2026-09-23T16:35:37Z")
It hadn’t even occurred to me that someone might pronounce the second syllable as “bing”. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6397 "2026-09-23T16:41:21Z")
I’ve known the word for many years, but never tried to pronounce it, partly because I had no idea how. I didn’t want to pronounce it often enough to bother finding out. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6398 "2026-09-23T18:07:39Z")
It’s pronounced “throat warbler mangrove” ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6399 "2026-09-23T19:59:52Z")
I could see a hard G, like har-bin-Ger. Or silent G like Har-bing-er. Or the correct soft G = J sound: har-binj-er. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6400 "2026-09-23T21:07:36Z")
If it were harbinge, sure. But it’s harbinger. And the usual -inger sound in English rhymes with either singer or finger. Plus I’ve heard several people say it that way. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6401 "2026-09-23T22:06:41Z")
May i counter with ginger ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6402 "2026-09-23T22:09:28Z")
“Harbinger” sounds like it should mean a person from [Harbin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=319) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=321)