Talk:1750: Life Goals

The last line is actually a real punch-line... 162.158.201.78 14:51, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

With "Unfortunately (the two protobirds) lived in different time periods, so we can only speculate which one would win a fight.", as per current explanation text, I first of all thought 'the latter, as it was alive and the other had already died' (so maybe not a fair fight, but definitely indicates a survivor), but I'm not entirelysure whether I'd even overcome an Australopithocus (despite the height advantage), if I ever suddenly encountered a suitably enraged (and live) one whilst not equipped with my own contemporary tools, so maybe I ought to be less certain about the other fight if it happened in sight of an artist... 141.101.98.48 14:54, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

I'll call John Hammond. Jacky720 (talk) 00:28, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

We can easily speculate, and just as well as if they lived during the same time. We would have as little chance of guessing who would have won just because they might actually have had such a fight in reality. I think the flying petrosaurs with a wings span four times the length of the feathered (and only proto bird) would have won. The petrosaurs where not the kind that went on to becoming birds as far as I know. --Kynde (talk) 21:01, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

A lot of these are proper nouns and so shall not be used in scrabble. 108.162.215.224 16:21, 24 October 2016 (UTC)BLuDgeons

A first-fight is how all Scrabble games end in languages that have composite words like Danish or German. That or knockout. Footnotefontsizeselection, quizmasterfluffer, telemarketercounterharassment... 173.245.48.104 17:02, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Whoever added "you could put an E tile down upside down" should win a prize. Maplestrip (talk) 17:57, 24 October 2016 (UTC) O I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't actually about the last three letters of the alphabet, but about the five "power letters" in Scrabble (hence the last line): J, K, Q, X, Z. Schiffy (Speak to me|What I've done) 18:09, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

I would agree that there is a couple of other letters but there is hardly enough Q, K and J to make it worth mentioning... --Kynde (talk) 21:01, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

But it's about Scrabble point count, not just letters toward the end of the alphabet. The fact that many rare (and thus high-ranking) tiles happen to be toward the end is irrelevant. The focus is on high-ranking Scrabble tiles, no matter where in the alphabet they are. I thought I might as well verify this, though, so I put the words (without "Mister") onto a letter frequency counter, then looked up the letter frequencies in English on Wikipedia to compare to the average frequencies. The letters that appeared at least 1% LESS often than expected were C, D, E, F, H, I, N, O, R, S, T, and W, and all of these letters are worth fewer than 5 points in Scrabble. (E, N, and S appeared more than 4% less often, and these are very common letters worth very few points.) The letters that appeared at least 1% MORE often than expected were J, K, P, Q, X, Y, and Z. All of those are worth multiple points. Only two of those (P and Y) are worth fewer than 5 points, and Y is worth 4 points, very close... and its unique position as the only vowel worth more than 1 point elevates its status somewhat. P was only slightly over 1% increased. (All tiles except X, Y, and Z have less than a 2% increase. Y has a 7.66% increase, while X and Z each have an increase of about 14%.) It's true that X, Y, and Z show the most dramatic increase (though E shows nearly as dramatic a decrease), but the analysis certainly shows that Randall might have had some bias toward using J (1.33% increased), K (1.45% increased), and Q (1.39% increased) as well as the obvious X, Y, and Z. 172.68.79.81 04:26, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

My impression of the comic was not that it was just about Scrabble (too many words are impossible under typical Scrabble tile distributions) or specifically the last three letters of the alphabet (there's a decent amount of Qs in the comic), but the difficulty in reading/pronouncing the words. I was following along fine at first, but by the end of the comic had no phonetics in my head to describe what I was reading. I think the title-text supports that interpretation. From xkcd's About page: "It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation". 108.162.210.196 05:01, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

There are only two Q's in the comic. I have now removed the Q from the table. It is only XYZ heavy words that are used excessively. I do not think this comic is about scrabble point. It is just a way to list all these weird words Randall has found. And the to make a joke he put in the scrabble goal. (Also just fixed a problem with the post two above here, which was divided in two, and then the next post was posted in the middle of that post...) --Kynde (talk) 19:33, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

I didn't feel that the release schedule (or the lack of such) of the What if? mentioned is in any means important for the explanation. So I removed it... Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:37, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

Well he post a rare what if release and within a week has referenced it from the next three comics. He usually do not refer to any what if post directly although he has done so recently (but rare due to the longer and longer span of time between posts). But this is the first time he does so several comics in a row! So in that sense it was relevant that it was the first in 12 weeks. And that it is rare that he has so long spans between two releases. This was the longest this year (and the year ends within 12 weeks so it will stay the longest), and the third longest so far. But now the fact can remain here in the comment. --Kynde (talk) 19:38, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

I already noticed that you are somewhat obsessed from the release schedule. No offense, that's absolutely fine. I on the other hand tend to think that there is no release schedule anymore. So yes, I agree in saying that the references are remarkable, but no, I don't see any connection to the time of release. As the explanation here suggests I think the research for the What If? inspired this (and maybe the other) comic - not vice versa. Plus, imho the connection to the What If? described in the explanation of 1749 is a bit far fetched. "Strange records and trivia" is like saying "there are words" - especially on xkcd. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 07:11, 26 October 2016 (UTC)

Wow. These pages get a ton of edits in a relatively short timespan, when you see them go live, one at a time. It's awe-inspiring. Jacky720 (talk) 00:28, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

The problem with making long edits is that you end up in edit conflicts, so short ones are better. Then it is also easier for others to look in the history and add their own conflicted changes to the new edits. That is why I often make a ton of edits in a short time. Have been locked in a jam of conflicts enough time with new comics editing --Kynde (talk) 19:38, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

I hate to be pedantic, but the game "Zzyzzyxx" (with a clone known as "Blox") was not about navigating a labyrinth. You'd think with a name like that, it'd be something high-tech and sci-fi-ish. No. It's a little green man running back and forth through scrolling walls of bricks to pick up gifts for his girlfriend. It's really one of the dumbest games ever made, and it's hard to find (partly because it was really unpopular). KieferSkunk (talk) 16:38, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

Too bad he missed one goal: Compose a zydeco for xylephone and zzxjoanw. 162.158.69.184 04:33, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Zzxjoanw isn't a real instrument, it's a hoax word. 172.68.78.135 03:50, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Maybe I'm missing something but why does the "In SOWPODS?" column for muzquizopteryx say "No" when it says "Yes" for archaeopteryx? Neither are proper nouns and I can't think of any other reason that muzquizopteryx should be excluded. 172.68.34.88 21:47, 23 September 2017 (UTC)

Is it possible to add 7 tiles to an existing word or words to make some of the long ones? For instance, is there a possible intermediate game state allowing addition of up to 7 tiles to complete the word "Muzquizopteryx"?

The letters X, Y, and Z are very common in Chinese Pinyin. --ConlangGuide (talk) 08:28, 25 November 2024 (UTC)