# ­xkcd thread

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3157

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3157 "2024-06-16T20:45:54Z")

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> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> This is what undid the elite class in ancient Sparta\*. There was no path for upward mobility, only down. There wasn’t even any way for disgraced Spartiates to redeem themselves; so the elite class shrunk and shrunk until there weren’t enough to maintain the system anymore.

_Shrank_.

I might not have bothered if you hadn’t written “shrunk” twice.

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