Talk:2944: Magnet Fishing

Title text

I believe the first "ten-way tie" refers to calling the competition a "tie" between ten competitors. It's more common in British English, but can be used as a synonym for game/match/etc. So it's saying "the ten-person match was judged a ten-way draw". -- MightyP (talk) 16:36, 10 June 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It's a pun on tie meaning to knot/tangle the lines, and tie in the sense of competitors finishing equally. 172.70.134.117 18:29, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

As a British Englisher(!) myself, I think "cup tie" (e.g. the final culmination of a knockout competition) tends to be what "breaks the tie" between the two teams that have each reached this stage equally successful against all other opponents. (Also "3rd/4th-place tie", etc.) You don't tend to get N-way competitions called a 'tie' (though, theoretically, a trifurcated bracketing system could bring 27 teams in nine games teams could become nine teams in three games, then three three teams producing the winner, etc).

Tie/tangle and tie/equally-scored is going to be good enough. If Randall had thought of the "cup tie"-type usage, he could have easily made a tripled-pun version with that and the two more obvious versions. 172.70.160.248 21:30, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

Is it more common in British English? I'm American and I usually say "tie" to refer to a draw. I also see it be used frequently in American media. GreyFox (talk) 21:53, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

The prize is also a bit of wordplay. It refers to a magnetic monopole as already noted, but is also a joke, as a regular fishing pole is technically a "monopole". I've never personally seen a fishing dipole, but I suppose they could exist! -- MightyP (talk) 16:49, 10 June 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Triple pun for some speakers

I found it funny that in Austrian, monopole is "Monopol", and we use the same word for monopole and monopoly! The prize also feels special if you have a monopoly on magnet fishing - without all the others interfering with your magnet like in the comic.

First time ever posting here. Keep up the good spirit! 172.68.50.13 20:45, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

Quadruple pun: I (german) thought for the same reason, that the prize is the exclusive right for (magnetic) fishing at a certain (rare implies very good) spot. Indeed, that might be a very valuable entitlement and plausible prize in a fishing championship.

Monopoles

If you did have a magnetic monopole... Would the field lines look a lot like the strings in this comic?

It could in the Arctic ocean with a south monopole! Near the monopole the field lines point inward but far away they point in the direction of Earth's field. There are parts of the Arctic ocean with a 90 degree inclination and the lines are vertical instead of north-to-south. Monopoles also have two advantages: The field drops off inverse-square instead of of inverse-cube, giving the "hook" a longer range. Also, if all contestants have the same kind of monopole they will repel instead of sticking to each-other.

172.70.80.121 00:17, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

If the contestans' monopoles repelled each other, things could get pretty chaotic with so many of them in close proximity. None of the monopoles would be in a stable position, so the fishing lines would tangle up even worse than if they were all dipoles attracted to each other.

141.101.98.56 05:36, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

The picture obviously shows a Tenpole Tudor. <runs for his life> 172.71.160.114 06:19, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

The magnetic field lines coming out of a magnetic monopole look very much like the fishing lines coming away from the magnets all stuck together in the comic. The first thing I thought when I saw the title and the picture was that Randell was drawing a magnetic monopole. Warm regards, Rick. 162.158.146.33 (talk) 06:50, 11 June 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

If the lures are magnetic because the fish (as in commercial magnetic fishing games) contain magnets, a monopole lure only solves half the problem: The fish either need their fields to be kept separated or they need (the opposite) monopoles, too? ProphetZarquon (talk) 15:39, 11 June 2024 (UTC)