Editing 2337: Asterisk Corrections
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* '''Pizza''': object | * '''Pizza''': object | ||
β | "Couch" and "pizza" are both nouns so they could theoretically be subjects, but asterisk corrections must ''replace'' an existing part of the sentence satisfactorily, so the "'m" part of the verb prevents these third-person nouns from being parsed as the subject. Theoretically one could also swap "couch" and "pizza" around, giving "eat a couch on the pizza", but this makes much less practical sense than "eat a pizza on the couch". That said, in xkcd's fictional universe there is nothing to stop the character from eating a couch on a pizza | + | "Couch" and "pizza" are both nouns so they could theoretically be subjects, but asterisk corrections must ''replace'' an existing part of the sentence satisfactorily, so the "'m" part of the verb prevents these third-person nouns from being parsed as the subject. Theoretically one could also swap "couch" and "pizza" around, giving "eat a couch on the pizza", but this makes much less practical sense than "eat a pizza on the couch". That said, in xkcd's fictional universe there is nothing to stop the character from eating a couch on a pizza. |
In the title text, Randall says that he likes to make it as difficult as possible for his text recipient to guess where his correction should be, and uses the following sentence and correction: | In the title text, Randall says that he likes to make it as difficult as possible for his text recipient to guess where his correction should be, and uses the following sentence and correction: | ||
:"I'd love to meet up, maybe in a few days? Next week is looking pretty empty." | :"I'd love to meet up, maybe in a few days? Next week is looking pretty empty." | ||
: *witchcraft | : *witchcraft | ||
β | The trick here is that the word "witchcraft" doesn't fit into the sentence in any obvious way, and attempting to fit it in results in a sentence which is either very odd or grammatically meaningless. This creates a bit of mental tension, as many people's minds will try to find | + | The trick here is that the word "witchcraft" doesn't fit into the sentence in any obvious way, and attempting to fit it in results in a sentence which is either very odd or grammatically meaningless. This creates a bit of mental tension, as many people's minds will try to find a way to make it work, even though none exist. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |