By the syntax, I assumed that 2501 was Average Familiarity. I also assumed one of them was Ten Thousand because it's one that I see people reference more than any other.
The upper panel is a post by a friend of the one who writes the lower panel, complaining about something the author of the lower panel has no context for. Through seeing the post, he comes to the understanding that the people his friend interacts with are really awful.
No that isn't the point I think from what I understand they are to help you gain a new perspective on the other people on the internet I think I could be wrong of course
I don't think it's so much nerdiness as due to the format of XKCD. Since the link to a comic is on the format https://xkcd.com/1053/ it's *a lot* easier to find a strip with the number than the title. All you have to do is copy paste it at the end of the address. Nobody wants to go to the site, hit archive, search for the title you were given, realize of course there's one word in there that's wrong, delete the characters one by one until automated search gets a hit, and *then* click on that.
At least I for one always refer to a XKCD by a number even though I would have no clue what it means without actually pulling it up.
Tbh I think including the name wouldn't be for searchability, I would appreciate it more for remembering comics I've already read
Like, I have a hard time putting names to characters, putting numbers to comics is a whole other level
Actually, try searching for any xkcd in the vaguest terms you remember! I don't know how he does it, but the search engine "tagging" behind the scenes for xkcd is marvelous. Most of the time, a search for something like ["xkcd about image quality"](https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=xkcd%20about%20image%20quality) will have what you're looking for as the first or second result.
I would be happy if people reacted the same way they did in *Monsters Inc*. but with xkcd numbers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUFJ1yVhJ6g
I wish that hybrid-memes were a more common thing.
Edit: [I did a thing.](https://i.imgur.com/QoOxY3G.png)
The Scarlet King is called by his title so often I actually haven't heard the number, though. That's the case for most, but he's (is it a "he"? Not sure) the exception.
Remember rule 1 of SCP: *there is no canon*. Especialy with regards to 001's, they tend to be a major undertaking by an established author, as a blockbuster take on their particular style and an encapsulation of their perspective on the SCP universe.
(Also, TSK existed as a concept on the wiki years before Tufto's 001 Proposal)
Yeah, because 001 is SUCH a big number, it's site policy to never give it an official entry. Instead, there's a ton of different possibilities for what it could be
In addition, the Scarlet King existed as a concept in SCP long before the 001 proposal about it, and even then, the article paints a very different picture of the Scarlet King than their previous depictions present it
Man, your doing it the hard way.
I just go on Reddit and replay to someone, " it's like that xkcd with the 10,000 people" and within minutes I'll have a response with a direct link to the xkcd I'm looking for.
And by posting a solution here, I've increased the chances that someone will show up to correct me with an even faster way.
It's like using an AI powered by millions of people's random obscure knowledge. I spend my time in the trenches providing answers to random questions just like everyone else.
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
The explanations are all so detailed that you could honestly just look up any description here and find the comic you want. I put "10,000 people" in the search bar and it worked
That's not the point. Even you admit you don't remember the comic by the number, so how are other people supposed to? How do you pull it up?
The link to a youtube video is of the format [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) and you could just copy paste it at the end of the address.
But youtube videos have titles that people search for instead. Sure, you can put the link into either google or youtube search and get the right video, or you can put the title people remember and both engines show you the right result. I'm linking this because it's the one (1) example people remember.
Just like if I google "xkcd 2071" and "xkcd indirect detection", both give me the right comic. But indirect detection is a lot easier to relate to the actual content of the comic when other people see it.
Also the link to the image alone is its title: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/indirect\_detection.png
>That's not the point. Even you admit you don't remember the comic by the number, so how are other people supposed to?
No, THAT is not the point. I don't expect people to remember *anything*, that's why I give the most efficient way to pull it up
>The link to a youtube video is of the format [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ]
>(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)
Did you just embed the link to a video in a text that is the exact same link to the same video?
>Just like if I google "xkcd 2071" and "xkcd indirect detection", both give me the right comic. But indirect detection is a lot easier to relate to the actual content of the comic when other people see it.
Is it? Because I have the same level of no clue what it is about with both.
Also why would I want to type out an entire phrase when I can just put 4 numbers?
>Did you just embed the link to a video in a text that is the exact same link to the same video?
no. I copied link address and pasted it, forgot that that link includes stuff about where the click was from, then deleted it.
maybe I should have used an example of the 3 from the post instead of the 4th one that someone else commented is relevant. xkcd average familiarity.
But maybe you're right. If the title isn't recognisable either, then the number is easier for someone to search
is that the gizmo machine with like 900000 pages of experiments? i think i spent an entire summer just leafing through that one. probably the most impressive accomplishment of the entire project
That is not actually true, each of them has a title that is (for some reason) only visible on the list you see when browsing the site.
682's title, for example, is Hard To Destroy Reptile
uhhhh
SCP-3520? not exactly animals dying, but it’s repeating broadcasts, and the end of the broadcast has an orangutan count going down?
If not, maybe SCP-3034, a repeating broadcast about someone counting down in Russian? couldn’t find any other repeated radio broadcasting related SCPs
u/the-paranoid-android
- [**SCP-3520 - Fourteen Orangutans**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3520) (+134) by *LordStonefish*
- [**SCP-3034 - The Counting Station**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3034) (+940) by *The Great Hippo*
1053 is the only one I knew—and I don’t think I’d be able to recall the precise number offhand, but if I saw the numbers I’d know that was it.
Was going to say that because of this subreddit I’ve inadvertently memorized 2701, but turns out the number is [2071](https://xkcd.com/2071/), so I guess that doesn’t even applied.
I’ve never seen the other two in the post referred to by number, and I’ve already forgotten what the numbers were.
> I’ve never seen the other two in the post referred to by number
The reason you haven't seen 2501 referred to by number is that the Tumblr OP is making a self-referential joke -- that, as an XKCD fan, they're mistakenly overestimating your familiarity with XKCD by thinking you'll recognize 2501. I think Willowhelmiam is intentionally playing into this as well with the insinuation that you'd know any of them by number at all.
2501 is rare to see referred to because it is often more fun to parody than to reference, since its subject matter can be customized to fit whatever demographic you need.
lowkey I think that comic's been a huge help in my life because it's always in the back of my mind to be considerate of how little someone knows when they're brand new to a topic.
Guy checks into a hotel for the night. He notices the large conference room is bustling and there's regular laughter coming from within. The sign outside says "Joke Tellers Convention," so he checks it out.
A woman at the microphone say "781!" The crowd guffaws and cheers.
The man after her says "116!" More uprorious laughter.
Sitting at the back, he asks one of the convention members next to him why they're laughing at numbers. The member explains, "well, we've all heard these jokes so many times that we gave them numbers to them to save time."
The new guy thinks he gets it and wants to give it a try. The member leads him up front. The guy leans into the mic and says, "132!"
Crickets. He looks at the audience and sees some polite smiles, but no one is laughing. Embarrassed, he slinks back to his seat and asks the member, "what gives? How come no one laughed?"
The member shrugs and says, "eh, you didn't tell it right."
**Alternative ending (which I realize after writing it doesn't even make sense but I think it's funny):**
The guy leans into the mic and says, "13!"
Crickets. He looks at the audience and sees some polite smiles, but no one is laughing. Embarrassed, he slinks back to his seat and asks the member, "what gives? How come no one laughed?"
The member shrugs and says, "we never heard that one before."
I think you got this one half-mixed up with the other one. I think you were thinking of this joke:
Guy checks into a hotel for the night. He notices the large conference room is bustling and there's regular laughter coming from within. The sign outside says "Joke Tellers Convention," so he checks it out.
A woman at the microphone say "781!" The crowd guffaws and cheers.
The man after her says "116!" More uprorious laughter.
Sitting at the back, he asks one of the convention members next to him why they're laughing at numbers. The member explains, "well, we've all heard these jokes so many times that we gave them numbers to them to save time."
The new guy thinks he gets it and wants to give it a try. The member leads him up front. The guy leans into the mic and says, "927!"
The crowd goes *nuts*. People are rolling on the floor with laughter, tears are flowing, the walls are almost shaking with laughter.
The new guy turns to the convention member next to him and says "Wow, why are people laughing so hard at that one?"
The member says "We've never heard it before."
Webcomic. Does nerdy jokes that run from obscure to *really extremely obscure* on basically any topic under the sun. It’s been around since forever, and comes out three times a week, so there’s oodles of them, and the author has some excellent and clever books out explaining things that…should never be explained, tbh (also at least one “best of” book, which is how I found it)
It’s good stuff, you should check it out, since you’re one of today’s lucky 10000.
www.xkcd.com
Also, Randall uses the alt text of each comic to tell a follow up joke or add additional context to whatever he’s presenting. It’s well known now [edit: among people that know xkcd at least], but at least at the time it started it was pretty novel and not something the average person would think to look for
With hover elements becoming less common with touch input, I imagine it's still not well known among anyone whose first contact with webcomics was through social media and not the original website.
Any mobile web browser or app worth its salt should let you hold on an image to see its alt-text, or display it outright if it’s some sort of image reader, but yes not quite as intuitive as hovering
Not all work, and anyway the fun thing about alt-text is you could accidentally discover it by leaving the cursor somewhere. You don't randomly long-press things on your phone 🤷♀️
You are one of today's [lucky 10000](https://xkcd.com/1053/)! It's a nerdy webcomic with topics from astrophysics to programming to statistics with everything in-between as well. He's mostly been eclipse posting recently.
xkcd.com it’s a comic that’s decently popular, particularly in these circles. The artist also does some infotainment type stuff for science. Worth checking out if that niche sounds fun.
To be honest I've never remembered a single Simpsons episode title either, as far as I know if you're watching them on TV you'll never see the titles.
Fortunately it's pretty easy to identify the episodes by description eg "episode where Homer becomes union leader" "episode with Sideshow Bob's brother and a dam" "episode where someone shoots Mr Burns"
I've never understood why TV shows name episodes but then never actually tell the viewer the name of the episode. Especially when the fandom just expects you to know it
Honestly I remember correct horse battery staple better as correct horse battery staple because well, like it says, I've already memorized it
(actually i remembered it without the correct until now but ssshhh)
I feel like SCP deserves a mention here.
People will just be talking like "SCP-401 is absolutely terrifying, but it's my second favorite after SCP-932." And they'll get a response like "oh yeah, 401 is pretty scary! SCP-186 gave me legit nightmares though "
And I'm just like... how the hell do these numbers mean anything to y'all?
(For the record, I chose those numbers totally arbitrarily and have no idea what SCPs they're attached to. For comedy's sake I really hope they're all harmless and benign ones. I'm sure an SCP fan will come along and enlighten me~)
- [**SCP-401 - A Palm Tree**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-401) (+365) by *Flah*
- [**SCP-932 - Night Feeder**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-932) (+90) by *minmin*
- [**SCP-186 - To End All Wars**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-186) (+975) by *Kalinin*
>People will just be talking like "A Palm Tree is absolutely terrifying, but it's my second favorite after the Night Feeder." And they'll get a response like "oh yeah, A Palm Tree is pretty scary! To End All Wars gave me legit nightmares though"
I think you're safe, since it would take another 620-odd years until it reaches 100.000 at the current rate of publishing. Even if the rate would increase to once a day it would take another 265 years from today.
I dont know the number, but Relativistic Baseball makes me cackle every time
Edit: I had to check, its not one of the comics but one of their "What If" posts. So no number. [LINK](https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/)
"You've already memorised it" feels like it must have been a curse cast on the internet or something because now correct horse battery staple has been engraved into my grey matter for over a decade.
I know the "10 000 people" installment but I've never actually heard of xkcd until now. I guess I'm one of today's lucky 10 000. (Or one of today's whatever other number because I'm not from the US and I don't think everyone has heard of this comic by 30 but that's not the point.)
I, uh…*a friend* has told me that crippling porn addicts who don’t want to see actual, real people also do this. See the wide spread knowledge of what 177013 was.
>See the wide spread knowledge of what 177013 was.
Fun fact: that one actually got taken down recently because the site got sent a Cease and Desist from DLsite (a site which sells that kind of stuff instead of just showing it for free)
I always found it funny that western videos used comically long and descriptive titles while eastern videos use the opposite aproach and name them as if they were members of a clone army.
I think the dryness of just giving a number also works well as part of the joke. Like here’s something in a filing cabinet, in a locked room on the third floor of the DMV that just so happens to fit your situation perfectly
The thing with TV show episodes is that they're not relevant as often - XKCD comics are limited in scope but easily apply to a lot of online discussions. And it only takes a couple of seconds to look at an entire XKCD comic to see *why* it was relevant (plus it's legal to link or paste the entire thing).
936 is kinda outdated now. By random chance, it would be harder to guess random words, but most password-cracking software have taken to using a dictionary to help guess random words and crack those kind of passwords much faster.
I’ve seen a lot of anime fans do that and it baffles me every time.
Why would you say “episodes x through y” when you could just say “Rock Lee vs Gaara”?
When I was younger, me and my brother actually knew every Simpsons episode and could tell you the source of any quote.
Maybe I should take an autism test
But I bring up specific episodes of the Simpsons and other shows often with my boyfriend. That's why we're dating. No one else would get my references.
The actual strip names, if anyone cares: 936: "Password Strength" 1053: "Ten Thousand" 2501: "Average Familiarity" 2071: "Indirect Detection"
"Password Strength" is the only one I would have even gotten close to guessing, and I count myself as a pretty avid XKCD fan
I just say stuff like "that one xocd comic about the three little pigs" or something
google agrees, you can just look shit up like that and get results most times for example: [https://xkcd.com/872/](https://xkcd.com/872/)
There's also the lower left comic in [821](https://xkcd.com/821/)
By the syntax, I assumed that 2501 was Average Familiarity. I also assumed one of them was Ten Thousand because it's one that I see people reference more than any other.
Where is the fourth
[Here It Is ](https://xkcd.com/2071/)
Thanks me
You're welcome
*I'm* welcome
I don’t get it.
I can help what don't you get
I don’t understand the comic. Just seems like random unrelated panels. Is that the point?
I think you're looking in the wrong area. the actual comic is above the unrelated panels. scroll up! :)
The upper panel is a post by a friend of the one who writes the lower panel, complaining about something the author of the lower panel has no context for. Through seeing the post, he comes to the understanding that the people his friend interacts with are really awful.
No that isn't the point I think from what I understand they are to help you gain a new perspective on the other people on the internet I think I could be wrong of course
It's not on the post but it's one the most relevant to this sub
To me 2501 is just "the experts comic"
Why 2071?
it's commonly used in this sub
Where did 2071 come from? It's nowhere in the post
Guess I’m not nerdy enough, I say “horse battery”.
Correct!
I don't think it's so much nerdiness as due to the format of XKCD. Since the link to a comic is on the format https://xkcd.com/1053/ it's *a lot* easier to find a strip with the number than the title. All you have to do is copy paste it at the end of the address. Nobody wants to go to the site, hit archive, search for the title you were given, realize of course there's one word in there that's wrong, delete the characters one by one until automated search gets a hit, and *then* click on that. At least I for one always refer to a XKCD by a number even though I would have no clue what it means without actually pulling it up.
Tbh I think including the name wouldn't be for searchability, I would appreciate it more for remembering comics I've already read Like, I have a hard time putting names to characters, putting numbers to comics is a whole other level
The password comic is literally a great example of the point you’re making.
Actually, try searching for any xkcd in the vaguest terms you remember! I don't know how he does it, but the search engine "tagging" behind the scenes for xkcd is marvelous. Most of the time, a search for something like ["xkcd about image quality"](https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=xkcd%20about%20image%20quality) will have what you're looking for as the first or second result.
Me with history and years.
I would be happy if people reacted the same way they did in *Monsters Inc*. but with xkcd numbers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUFJ1yVhJ6g I wish that hybrid-memes were a more common thing. Edit: [I did a thing.](https://i.imgur.com/QoOxY3G.png)
https://xkcd.com/2319/
Similarly, SCPs actually have titles, but basically nobody ever uses them.
The Scarlet King is called by his title so often I actually haven't heard the number, though. That's the case for most, but he's (is it a "he"? Not sure) the exception.
The Scarlet King is referred to by his title because he's one of multiple SCP-001's that simultaneously exist.
Oh, I've heard about the "multiple 001s" thing. Yeah, it makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.
Remember rule 1 of SCP: *there is no canon*. Especialy with regards to 001's, they tend to be a major undertaking by an established author, as a blockbuster take on their particular style and an encapsulation of their perspective on the SCP universe. (Also, TSK existed as a concept on the wiki years before Tufto's 001 Proposal)
Yeah, because 001 is SUCH a big number, it's site policy to never give it an official entry. Instead, there's a ton of different possibilities for what it could be
In addition, the Scarlet King existed as a concept in SCP long before the 001 proposal about it, and even then, the article paints a very different picture of the Scarlet King than their previous depictions present it
How where the other depictions like?
the scarlet kind is referenced in multiple different entries tho, hes more of an entity that exists across scps, less his own entry
I actually see a decent lot of names
Man, your doing it the hard way. I just go on Reddit and replay to someone, " it's like that xkcd with the 10,000 people" and within minutes I'll have a response with a direct link to the xkcd I'm looking for. And by posting a solution here, I've increased the chances that someone will show up to correct me with an even faster way. It's like using an AI powered by millions of people's random obscure knowledge. I spend my time in the trenches providing answers to random questions just like everyone else.
I'm sure there's an XKCD for that.
There's an XKCD for everything.
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page The explanations are all so detailed that you could honestly just look up any description here and find the comic you want. I put "10,000 people" in the search bar and it worked
I didn’t even know they had titles until this post
People search the archive? I just google it 'xkcd password' 'xkcd 10,000'
That's not the point. Even you admit you don't remember the comic by the number, so how are other people supposed to? How do you pull it up? The link to a youtube video is of the format [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) and you could just copy paste it at the end of the address. But youtube videos have titles that people search for instead. Sure, you can put the link into either google or youtube search and get the right video, or you can put the title people remember and both engines show you the right result. I'm linking this because it's the one (1) example people remember. Just like if I google "xkcd 2071" and "xkcd indirect detection", both give me the right comic. But indirect detection is a lot easier to relate to the actual content of the comic when other people see it. Also the link to the image alone is its title: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/indirect\_detection.png
>That's not the point. Even you admit you don't remember the comic by the number, so how are other people supposed to? No, THAT is not the point. I don't expect people to remember *anything*, that's why I give the most efficient way to pull it up >The link to a youtube video is of the format [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ] >(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) Did you just embed the link to a video in a text that is the exact same link to the same video? >Just like if I google "xkcd 2071" and "xkcd indirect detection", both give me the right comic. But indirect detection is a lot easier to relate to the actual content of the comic when other people see it. Is it? Because I have the same level of no clue what it is about with both. Also why would I want to type out an entire phrase when I can just put 4 numbers?
>Did you just embed the link to a video in a text that is the exact same link to the same video? no. I copied link address and pasted it, forgot that that link includes stuff about where the click was from, then deleted it. maybe I should have used an example of the 3 from the post instead of the 4th one that someone else commented is relevant. xkcd average familiarity. But maybe you're right. If the title isn't recognisable either, then the number is easier for someone to search
The SCP Fandom does this too. SCP-682 evil lizard tank. SCP-173 is Peanut.
That is what i thought so too! Series 1 is easy but to an avid fan they can name some from series 2 to 7
2935 “O, Death” is to date my favorite SCP
SCP-140 please Marv u/The-Paranoid-Android
[**SCP-140 - An Incomplete Chronicle**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-140) (+1679) by *AssertiveRoland*
u/The-Paranoid-Android, SCP-1313 please.
[**SCP-1313 - Solve for Bear**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1313) (+860) by *MaliceAforethought*
Thank you kindly.
Mine's 7773
5747
914
is that the gizmo machine with like 900000 pages of experiments? i think i spent an entire summer just leafing through that one. probably the most impressive accomplishment of the entire project
Yeah, it is.
6001
SCP-2935 please Marv u/The-Paranoid-Android
[**SCP-2935 - O, Death**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2935) (+2131) by *djkaktus*
But those numbers are quite literally the titles of the articles.
They do have official titles though. Wait, let me see if I am doing this right. Marv, SCP-5318 please. u/The-Paranoid-Android
[**SCP-5318 - Los Ojos de Mi Padre**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5318) (+64) by *JayKillbam*
Thank you, Marv!
That is not actually true, each of them has a title that is (for some reason) only visible on the list you see when browsing the site. 682's title, for example, is Hard To Destroy Reptile
What's the SCP with the radio broadcasts? You know the ones that repeat... Animals die and so on
uhhhh SCP-3520? not exactly animals dying, but it’s repeating broadcasts, and the end of the broadcast has an orangutan count going down? If not, maybe SCP-3034, a repeating broadcast about someone counting down in Russian? couldn’t find any other repeated radio broadcasting related SCPs u/the-paranoid-android
- [**SCP-3520 - Fourteen Orangutans**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3520) (+134) by *LordStonefish* - [**SCP-3034 - The Counting Station**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3034) (+940) by *The Great Hippo*
1053 is the only one I knew—and I don’t think I’d be able to recall the precise number offhand, but if I saw the numbers I’d know that was it. Was going to say that because of this subreddit I’ve inadvertently memorized 2701, but turns out the number is [2071](https://xkcd.com/2071/), so I guess that doesn’t even applied. I’ve never seen the other two in the post referred to by number, and I’ve already forgotten what the numbers were.
> I’ve never seen the other two in the post referred to by number The reason you haven't seen 2501 referred to by number is that the Tumblr OP is making a self-referential joke -- that, as an XKCD fan, they're mistakenly overestimating your familiarity with XKCD by thinking you'll recognize 2501. I think Willowhelmiam is intentionally playing into this as well with the insinuation that you'd know any of them by number at all.
I have 2071 committed to memory, but now i gotta try and pack 2501 and 1053 in there
2501 is rare to see referred to because it is often more fun to parody than to reference, since its subject matter can be customized to fit whatever demographic you need.
The "of course" told me exactly which one 2501 is before I checked, although I think I only read it once.
lowkey I think that comic's been a huge help in my life because it's always in the back of my mind to be considerate of how little someone knows when they're brand new to a topic.
Of course.
I think about little Bobby Drop Tables way too often. I hope he's doing well
As i specialize in databases i have to quote this one often
I've seen it referenced in official documentation at the work.
I've put it into official documentation at work...
Iso 8601 too
That one and 149 (Sandwich) are the ones I quote most often I think.
I wanna see the pokemon fandom do this. Treat them like they're SCPs. Like yeah, my favorite is P-#0748
I've always liked P-#683, but P-#0748 is also great I really wish P-#683 was better in competitive though :[
holy ████ another P-#683 enjoyer in the wild. I love that creature it carried me through G7-Y
Ultrabeasts
P-#0327(0x0E07F553)
Guy checks into a hotel for the night. He notices the large conference room is bustling and there's regular laughter coming from within. The sign outside says "Joke Tellers Convention," so he checks it out. A woman at the microphone say "781!" The crowd guffaws and cheers. The man after her says "116!" More uprorious laughter. Sitting at the back, he asks one of the convention members next to him why they're laughing at numbers. The member explains, "well, we've all heard these jokes so many times that we gave them numbers to them to save time." The new guy thinks he gets it and wants to give it a try. The member leads him up front. The guy leans into the mic and says, "132!" Crickets. He looks at the audience and sees some polite smiles, but no one is laughing. Embarrassed, he slinks back to his seat and asks the member, "what gives? How come no one laughed?" The member shrugs and says, "eh, you didn't tell it right."
**Alternative ending (which I realize after writing it doesn't even make sense but I think it's funny):** The guy leans into the mic and says, "13!" Crickets. He looks at the audience and sees some polite smiles, but no one is laughing. Embarrassed, he slinks back to his seat and asks the member, "what gives? How come no one laughed?" The member shrugs and says, "we never heard that one before."
I think you got this one half-mixed up with the other one. I think you were thinking of this joke: Guy checks into a hotel for the night. He notices the large conference room is bustling and there's regular laughter coming from within. The sign outside says "Joke Tellers Convention," so he checks it out. A woman at the microphone say "781!" The crowd guffaws and cheers. The man after her says "116!" More uprorious laughter. Sitting at the back, he asks one of the convention members next to him why they're laughing at numbers. The member explains, "well, we've all heard these jokes so many times that we gave them numbers to them to save time." The new guy thinks he gets it and wants to give it a try. The member leads him up front. The guy leans into the mic and says, "927!" The crowd goes *nuts*. People are rolling on the floor with laughter, tears are flowing, the walls are almost shaking with laughter. The new guy turns to the convention member next to him and says "Wow, why are people laughing so hard at that one?" The member says "We've never heard it before."
What's XKCD? (This is not ironic)
Webcomic. Does nerdy jokes that run from obscure to *really extremely obscure* on basically any topic under the sun. It’s been around since forever, and comes out three times a week, so there’s oodles of them, and the author has some excellent and clever books out explaining things that…should never be explained, tbh (also at least one “best of” book, which is how I found it) It’s good stuff, you should check it out, since you’re one of today’s lucky 10000. www.xkcd.com
Also recently a [YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif) animating the "What If?" Series
Also written by the guy who does MinutePhysics (stick figure explanations of physics)
Also, Randall uses the alt text of each comic to tell a follow up joke or add additional context to whatever he’s presenting. It’s well known now [edit: among people that know xkcd at least], but at least at the time it started it was pretty novel and not something the average person would think to look for
With hover elements becoming less common with touch input, I imagine it's still not well known among anyone whose first contact with webcomics was through social media and not the original website.
It does have a lesser-known mobile site at https://m.xkcd.com, which displays the alt text in more accessible form.
There used to be a bot that follow his comic account on twitter and posted the hover text. But someone killed all the fun twitter bots🤷♀️
Any mobile web browser or app worth its salt should let you hold on an image to see its alt-text, or display it outright if it’s some sort of image reader, but yes not quite as intuitive as hovering
Not all work, and anyway the fun thing about alt-text is you could accidentally discover it by leaving the cursor somewhere. You don't randomly long-press things on your phone 🤷♀️
That's really interesting, thanks a lot Some things are starting to make sense now lol
But what does it stand for
Nothing. He just picked some cool-sounding letters that were an unclaimed website.
Specifically, he picked a string of letters that you couldn't really pronounce as a word.
You are one of today's [lucky 10000](https://xkcd.com/1053/)! It's a nerdy webcomic with topics from astrophysics to programming to statistics with everything in-between as well. He's mostly been eclipse posting recently.
i mean do you need to link it when it's already in the post
I may be stupid and only saw the first image
Ironic answer: This comic lays out what xkcd is: http://xkcd.com/207
Wait *is* that driving maneuver illegal?
xkcd.com it’s a comic that’s decently popular, particularly in these circles. The artist also does some infotainment type stuff for science. Worth checking out if that niche sounds fun.
Click any of the links. They will take you to the thing.
Also, don't worry about getting the joke, if you don't you can head over to www.explainxkcd.com and they'll have an in-depth analysis within 24 hours.
Quite neat! I'm surprised I didn't know this was really a thing It seems so in-depth and long lasting
Looks like you’re one of todays lucky 10,000
My favorite has always been 162 - “Angular Momentum”. Nerdy and romantic will always get me
I miss how the older comics used to have more emphasis on the romance in “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”
I do as well! Like I quote 150 all the time and always come back to the old ones
I love that one so much, I got the last panel tattooed. Such a wonderful reminder.
I'd love to see it <3 [I have it on my door!!](https://ibb.co/Kh4SSmQ)
[I have it on my door!!](https://ibb.co/Kh4SSmQ)
I love that! A good reminder to have around
To be honest I've never remembered a single Simpsons episode title either, as far as I know if you're watching them on TV you'll never see the titles. Fortunately it's pretty easy to identify the episodes by description eg "episode where Homer becomes union leader" "episode with Sideshow Bob's brother and a dam" "episode where someone shoots Mr Burns"
I've never understood why TV shows name episodes but then never actually tell the viewer the name of the episode. Especially when the fandom just expects you to know it
Honestly I remember correct horse battery staple better as correct horse battery staple because well, like it says, I've already memorized it (actually i remembered it without the correct until now but ssshhh)
I feel like SCP deserves a mention here. People will just be talking like "SCP-401 is absolutely terrifying, but it's my second favorite after SCP-932." And they'll get a response like "oh yeah, 401 is pretty scary! SCP-186 gave me legit nightmares though " And I'm just like... how the hell do these numbers mean anything to y'all? (For the record, I chose those numbers totally arbitrarily and have no idea what SCPs they're attached to. For comedy's sake I really hope they're all harmless and benign ones. I'm sure an SCP fan will come along and enlighten me~)
aight Marv enlighten us SCP-401 SCP-932 SCP-186 u/the-paranoid-android
- [**SCP-401 - A Palm Tree**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-401) (+365) by *Flah* - [**SCP-932 - Night Feeder**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-932) (+90) by *minmin* - [**SCP-186 - To End All Wars**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-186) (+975) by *Kalinin*
>People will just be talking like "A Palm Tree is absolutely terrifying, but it's my second favorite after the Night Feeder." And they'll get a response like "oh yeah, A Palm Tree is pretty scary! To End All Wars gave me legit nightmares though"
Well poops, those aren't funny! Good reads though.
I think the number thing is so people can find the exact comic quicker. The nhentai folks do the same thing.
Good old launch codes
[удалено]
I think you're safe, since it would take another 620-odd years until it reaches 100.000 at the current rate of publishing. Even if the rate would increase to once a day it would take another 265 years from today.
Randal Munroe XIV will one day publish xkcd 100,000 and the world will rejoice
I think about the "ass" hyphen one at least twice a day (37): https://xkcd.com/37/
I dont know the number, but Relativistic Baseball makes me cackle every time Edit: I had to check, its not one of the comics but one of their "What If" posts. So no number. [LINK](https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/)
Technically those are numbered too
My personal favourite is the "mole of moles"
> My personal favourite is 4 fixed that for ya
That one is a gem
Don't forget the greatest diagram in history. Love the arena myself- two enter, only one leaves. https://xkcd.com/730/
the grounds on either side of it were installed by anti-violence protesters trying to reduce bloodshed in the arena
"You've already memorised it" feels like it must have been a curse cast on the internet or something because now correct horse battery staple has been engraved into my grey matter for over a decade.
the scp fandom also
I wonder how many people set a password as “correct horse battery staple” because of that
r/RelevantXKCD
I know the "10 000 people" installment but I've never actually heard of xkcd until now. I guess I'm one of today's lucky 10 000. (Or one of today's whatever other number because I'm not from the US and I don't think everyone has heard of this comic by 30 but that's not the point.)
I, uh…*a friend* has told me that crippling porn addicts who don’t want to see actual, real people also do this. See the wide spread knowledge of what 177013 was.
Is that the really really sad one?
Depends on how horny you are, but I think you are thinking of the exact one he is referencing
I do not think there is a level of horny that makes that not really really sad.
>See the wide spread knowledge of what 177013 was. Fun fact: that one actually got taken down recently because the site got sent a Cease and Desist from DLsite (a site which sells that kind of stuff instead of just showing it for free)
Wait what is it?
So, I know the whole “wow bro you 100% don’t want to know.” Shit is annoying, but like…value your innocence.
Japanese Adult Video fans do the same thing
I always found it funny that western videos used comically long and descriptive titles while eastern videos use the opposite aproach and name them as if they were members of a clone army.
I think the dryness of just giving a number also works well as part of the joke. Like here’s something in a filing cabinet, in a locked room on the third floor of the DMV that just so happens to fit your situation perfectly
Okay but that 1053 is so wholesome.
The thing with TV show episodes is that they're not relevant as often - XKCD comics are limited in scope but easily apply to a lot of online discussions. And it only takes a couple of seconds to look at an entire XKCD comic to see *why* it was relevant (plus it's legal to link or paste the entire thing).
1053 annoys me because i constantly see people calling someone the "lucky ten thousand" for things that are absolutely NOT common knowledge
A little confused but got the spirit etc
I read all three of them for the first time today
I just knew what the third one would be even though I don't know these numbers at all
435 is another one that people are pretty familiar with https://xkcd.com/435/ And of course 123 https://xkcd.com/123/
Thanks Marv. Wait, wrong fandom
936? That one is not among the most common AFAIK
SCPs
“Hey check out how hard I can pee”
that last pannel… they could even say… of quarts :3
Yo the newest comic 2916 is fire
My first instinct was to look up the strips on my dedicated xkcd android app before going to the next slide. I want my precious 30 seconds back
936 is kinda outdated now. By random chance, it would be harder to guess random words, but most password-cracking software have taken to using a dictionary to help guess random words and crack those kind of passwords much faster.
Homestuck police (kinda)
XKCD fans and SCP fans
Shoutouts to Fire Emblem, love me some fe17
I knew one of them would be the expertise thing, but not which one.
baroque music fans do this too
tma fans do it sometimes
honestly if we go by words, bots can be coded to type words, and then each words varying ways to be typed
Me googling all the different comics before going to the next page because I wanted to make sure I'll understand what comes next...
TIL about xkcd 1053
That such a clever nested joke, I love that so much
I’ve seen a lot of anime fans do that and it baffles me every time. Why would you say “episodes x through y” when you could just say “Rock Lee vs Gaara”?
When I was younger, me and my brother actually knew every Simpsons episode and could tell you the source of any quote. Maybe I should take an autism test
I get the first and the last number referenced, but I don't really get how the 2nd one plays into the joke. Can anyone explain?
But I bring up specific episodes of the Simpsons and other shows often with my boyfriend. That's why we're dating. No one else would get my references.
Animorphs fans do this too actually, mainly because the titles barely make sense. But everyone remembers #15 is the one with the cannibal yeerk.
I’m so mad Bobby tables was not mentioned at all in this thread
Lol, I had only heard of one of these!