Talk:1410: California

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 16:13, 20 August 2014 by Jim E (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

and remark that "They've gone plaid!" I heard them say: "They've gone Plait!" I think it was "They've gone to plaid!" Chrullrich (talk) 08:16, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Correct, the script contains: They've gone to plaid. Condor70 (talk) 08:36, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Spaceballs was parodying the use of surreal colours and patterns and the like when travelling at high speeds (ludicrous speed in the movie, hence its use in the legend of the graph) in older science fiction movies like 2001 a space odyssey. Plaid refers to the common textile pattern see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaid_(pattern). Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygE01sOhzz0. 141.101.99.186 09:30, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Spaceballs is really full of movie references! I originally saw the movie on BBC1, so I was surprised to see the Alien reference in the restaurant when I bought the DVD, because the BBC decided to cut the sequence for being distasteful! Condor70 (talk) 11:36, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

And here we have evidence of global warming. 173.245.54.190 12:54, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Looking at the color key reminds me of an aviator's scale of turbulence: nil, mild, moderate, severe, extreme. Extreme is when the rotating air overwhelms any possible control input (elevator, rudder, and aileron) so the plane's attitude is at the mercy of the wind, without recourse. AFAIK, plaid turbulence has not been reported by any surviving pilot. 173.245.54.153 13:20, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@108.162.238.144: While I agree that "ludicrous" is a normal English word, it isn't used very often. A Google search for "ludicrous" only turns up 2 dictionary references before linking to the wiki page for Spaceballs. So I think it's plausible that Randall thought of Spaceballs when using ludicrous instead of exceptional. Condor70 (talk) 14:14, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Plausible? Pretty much certain, given that he backs it up with the plaid reference. Jim E (talk) 16:12, 20 August 2014 (UTC)