https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Nopenopeexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-18T07:45:09ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2518:_Lumpers_and_Splitters&diff=2182672518: Lumpers and Splitters2021-09-21T07:19:31Z<p>Nopenope: Removed inaccurate, irrelevant opinion sentence. Added last period.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2518<br />
| date = September 20, 2021<br />
| title = Lumpers and Splitters<br />
| image = lumpers_and_splitters.png<br />
| titletext = Anna Karenina is a happy family lumper and unhappy family splitter.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FAT CATEGORIZATION META-PEDANT NAMED ANNA- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
It is common to categorize groups of people into certain categories. "Lumpers" group what might at first seem to be many distinct things into a small number of categories, while "Splitters" do the opposite: split what seems to be a cohesive group of things into many smaller categories.<br />
<br />
The comic points out the meta-ness of categorizing people based on how they categorize. It labels [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] as those two types of categorizers. [[Megan]], the lumper, describes herself and [[Cueball]] as as both being "categorization pedants", lumping the two distinct categories "lumpers" and "splitters" into one. [[Cueball]], the splitter, subcategorizes [[Megan]] into a more specific type of lumper: a "meta-lumper", since the things Megan was lumping includes lumpers themselves. If [[Cueball]] further categorized himself he would be a meta-splitter.<br />
<br />
The title text references the opening line of the novel ''Anna Karenina'' by Leo Tolstoy which reads (as translated into English), “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Randall is drawing a parallel between this line and the lumper/splitter distinction because the line lumps one group of things together (happy families) while splitting another group (unhappy families). <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are standing looking at each other. There are boxes beneath each of them with a label.]<br />
:Megan: Really, we're both just categorization pedants.<br />
:Label: Lumper<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Ahh, so you're a '''''meta'''''-lumper.<br />
:Label: Splitter<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Title text ref of book--></div>Nopenopehttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2518:_Lumpers_and_Splitters&diff=2182662518: Lumpers and Splitters2021-09-21T07:18:04Z<p>Nopenope: Removed inaccurate, irrelevant opinion sentence.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2518<br />
| date = September 20, 2021<br />
| title = Lumpers and Splitters<br />
| image = lumpers_and_splitters.png<br />
| titletext = Anna Karenina is a happy family lumper and unhappy family splitter.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FAT CATEGORIZATION META-PEDANT NAMED ANNA- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
It is common to categorize groups of people into certain categories. "Lumpers" group what might at first seem to be many distinct things into a small number of categories, while "Splitters" do the opposite: split what seems to be a cohesive group of things into many smaller categories.<br />
<br />
The comic points out the meta-ness of categorizing people based on how they categorize. It labels [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] as those two types of categorizers. [[Megan]], the lumper, describes herself and [[Cueball]] as as both being "categorization pedants", lumping the two distinct categories "lumpers" and "splitters" into one. [[Cueball]], the splitter, subcategorizes [[Megan]] into a more specific type of lumper: a "meta-lumper", since the things Megan was lumping includes lumpers themselves. If [[Cueball]] further categorized himself he would be a meta-splitter.<br />
<br />
The title text references the opening line of the novel ''Anna Karenina'' by Leo Tolstoy which reads (as translated into English), “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Randall is drawing a parallel between this line and the lumper/splitter distinction because the line lumps one group of things together (happy families) while splitting another group (unhappy families)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are standing looking at each other. There are boxes beneath each of them with a label.]<br />
:Megan: Really, we're both just categorization pedants.<br />
:Label: Lumper<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Ahh, so you're a '''''meta'''''-lumper.<br />
:Label: Splitter<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Title text ref of book--></div>Nopenope