Talk:2480: No, The Other One

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 10:29, 25 June 2021 by 172.70.126.58 (talk)
Jump to: navigation, search

We might want a table for this comic, with three columns: one for the name of the town, one for which state the copycat is in, and one for the original. We could also add a column for "why the original is well known," but that might be a bit much. 108.162.245.124 20:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

I agree, this feels like a very table-able comic. Especially to get all the cities and not make readers try to see "hey, did I miss one?" 172.70.117.158 20:49, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
I think the term copy-cat should not be used here, since Lincoln, IL, for instance is older and carries the name longer than Lincoln, NE.--162.158.88.74 21:05, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
Although the people in Lincoln, UK (also Boston, Washington, Richmond, Plymouth, Newhaven...) might have prior claims - Richmond is an even more interesting case, in fact. And of course I also recognise Lisbon and others. 141.101.98.244 21:26, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
May I suggest merging the first two columns and just listing [City, State] under "Place name in comic"? MajorBurns (talk) 21:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

In the map there are (at least) three Lincoln, two Jamestown, five Houston... Vdm (talk) 20:52, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

There is a Jamestown in NY and PA also. I would expect to find a Jamestown in at least half of the states. Rtanenbaum (talk) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

There seems to be an extra dot in the northeast corner of Colorado - It looks like it might correspond with the Atlanta label, but there is no Atlanta in Colorado. Based on the position of the dot I'm guessing it may correspond to Akron or Yuma.--MajorBurns (talk) 21:56, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

Google Maps says there's an Atlanta, Colorado, but it is in the south-east corner of the state, not where the dot is. It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere outside of Springfield. Blaisepascal (talk) 00:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Jersey Shore PA - I just drove from New Jersey across the state of Pennsylvania, and saw the sign for Jersey Shore in the mountains in the middle of PA. What the? Turns out there was a town founded by two brothers from New Jersey called Waynesburg. When a neighboring town wanted to insult them by calling them "Jersey Shore" they went ahead and officially made Jersey Shore the name of the town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania. I wonder how many people turn off the highway in the middle of PA wanting to go to the Jersey Shore hundreds of miles away. Rtanenbaum (talk) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

Why no Hollywood, Florida? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida

Same reason there's no Richmond, Dublin, or Pittsburg (admittedly, a different spelling), California, just to name some of the closest ones to me. The map would be solid black if it labeled every "other one." Borglord (talk) 01:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

..No Springfields? Really? There's gotta be 30+ of them! Danish (talk) 02:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

The comic doesn't seem to include the duplicates that are fairly well known, like Hollywood, FL. And the prevalence of Springfield is well known due to "The Simpsons". I think Groening chose that name because it wouldn't be associated with any particular state. Barmar (talk) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

`The most frequently occurring community name varies through the years. In a past year, it was "Midway" with 212 occurrences and "Fairview" in second with 202. More recently, "Fairview" counted 288 and "Midway" 256. The name "Springfield" is often thought to be the only community name appearing in each of the 50 States, but at last count it was in only 34 states.` https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-most-common-citytown-name-united-states Steve (talk) 02:48, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

The comic has been updated to remove Charlestown and move Salem, CT. The extra dot in Colorado remains, however. The image attachment has been updated, but I think I'm still seeing the cached version. Orion205 (talk) 03:47, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Since so many of the names are duplicated multiple times, shouldn't the title be "No, An Other One"? Barmar (talk) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm surprised he missed Minneapolis, Kansas (about 75 miles west of Manhattan). Though maybe it would've made Kansas too crowded. --Aaron of Mpls (talk)

I'm surprised he missed Duluth, GA too, but we can't have everything we want. ( --Don from Rochester . . . but not from New York ;^) Oh yeah; there's also a Buffalo in MN too. 172.70.34.190 11:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)
In Indiana, there's also another Nashville, another Columbus, a Kokomo... even a Mexico. If every fairly well-known place name were included, wherever it was duplicated, it would need one of those scrollable mega-maps, just to fit it all. -- Just visiting from Indiana, 12:53 UTC 24 June 2021

I'd like to see a map of all these. Lines linking each of the dots to the location of the more famous town. Possibly with lines in different colours connecting to the oldest and largest other ones, where they're not the same as the most famous one. (I suspect a significant number of the "oldest" lines would point off the right edge of the image) Angel (talk) 08:37, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

There's also a Bowling Green, Missouri. WhiteDragon (talk) 13:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I wish Lansing Illinois (just south of Chicago off I-80) had made the list. When I was traveling there for work, our hotel reservations were frequently messed up, because the central booking office had us in Michigan. 172.70.130.144 13:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Reminds me of the time a "Microsoft tech support" scammer called and claimed to be calling from Lansing despite obviously being in a call center in India. When we asked what state Lansing was in, he claimed to be calling from "Lansing, Miami." 172.69.63.121 13:41, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I feel like there is an opportunity for adding "Other examples not in comic" such as Brooklyn, Iowa or the absurd number of Mount Pleasants OddOod (talk)

At first, I thought about suggesting this, as well. But, it would be an enormous list (orders of magnitude longer than the ones that _are_ in the comic), and therefore not really tenable. For example, I sometimes describe the place I live as being on the line from Jamaica to Florida, adjacent to Jacksonville and just off Halifax. That's Florida, MA and the rest in southern Vermont. That's four just within 20 miles of where I sit. Also, I grew up in Bristol (RI, not England), but there are about 40 places in the US with that name. And, on a different tack the nearby "city" actually promotes itself in being the _only_ place named Brattleboro. MAP (talk) 22:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I can't believe they missed Dublin and/or Albany in the SF bay area in California!

I actually have a place in Bangor,NY it confuses people all the time Mr.Do

Is the State of Washington not considered more significant than a mere district? 172.69.35.149 18:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I mean, Washington DC is the capital of the entire country, so both are very significant. 172.69.33.97 20:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Ontario, CA - I have gotten packages that originated in Ontario, CA and wondered why they were shipping from Canada, until I realized that they were coming from Ontario, California. Rtanenbaum (talk) 20:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

How did Lebanon come to be such a popular name (sixth most common according to the Wikipedia list)? 162.158.92.182 09:04, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

How about entries for what the lesser-known city is known for? I can start: Austin MN is home of Hormel, maker of Spam, and features the Spam Museum. Who is next? 172.70.126.58 10:29, 25 June 2021 (UTC)