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OtterA to Comic Strips@lemmy.worldEnglish · 2 years ago

xkcd: Language Acquisition

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xkcd: Language Acquisition

imgs.xkcd.com

OtterA to Comic Strips@lemmy.worldEnglish · 2 years ago
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Source: https://xkcd.com/2839/

Explain XKCD: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2839

Title text: My first words were 'These were my first words; what were yours?'

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  • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Reads comic.

    Goes back to count how many words are in the comic.

  • Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    deleted by creator

    • KapiteinPoffertje@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Child1? You start numbering at 1? You monster!

      • Chiarottide@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        You keep child0 unassigned in case the girl you met at the club three years ago starts looking for you

      • WhiteHawk@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Better not ask what happened to child0

        • rmuk@feddit.uk
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          2 years ago

          I let my children pick their own 96-bit number and just hope there’s no collisions.

          • z500@lemmy.world
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            I just name my children using GUIDs. To keep things simple I normally call them by the first 32 bits, but when they’re getting into trouble I use all 128.

            • rmuk@feddit.uk
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              Well their full names are 128-bit. I just use the last 32 bits to store timestamps, demographic info and checksum bits.

            • Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.works
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              deleted by creator

      • Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.works
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        deleted by creator

    • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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      2 years ago

      If he ever sends a 404, hopefully he just returns on all fours.

  • MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works
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    2 years ago

    Who learns twelve before one through eleven?

    • NotSteffen@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      That’s my favorite part of this joke.

    • joemo@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 years ago

      The first few updates must have been riveting 😂.

    • Johanno@feddit.de
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      2 years ago

      Is twelve a number or a word?

      • Grippler@feddit.dk
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        deleted by creator

        • dustyData@lemmy.world
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          We have solid reason to believe numbers are a pretty distinct symbolic category. We don’t use the same part of the brain we use for speech to process numbers. We use a different distinct part of the brain that is not used for speech and is more related with visual processing. Both, speech and number areas, are activated when we read spelled out numbers, and even homophones pointing to the theory that numerals develop into their own thing inside our brains.

          • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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            But being able to express those symbols in a sentence requires words

            • dustyData@lemmy.world
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              It’s more like, they can exist in our head without being words. So they are a distinct thing.

              • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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                That’s fine. So the kid has a concept of 1-11 but doesn’t know the words for them.

        • Hupf@feddit.de
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          It’s in a superposition of states until observed.

      • MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        Yes

  • Match!!@pawb.social
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    Twist: he knows more than 12 words, he just didn’t learn the right number

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Yeah, I immediately thought of that scene in the West Wing.

      President Josiah Bartlet : Sweden has a 100% literacy rate, Leo. 100%! How do they do that?

      Leo McGarry : Well, maybe they don’t and they also can’t count

    • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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      Actually, I’ve always had a rather extensive vocabulary, not to mention a phenomenal grasp of grammar and a superlative command of syntax. I simply chose not to employ them.

      • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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        Context

        For the uninitiated, uh huh had only ever said uh huh throughout the movie till he drops this.

  • WagnasT@iusearchlinux.fyi
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    2 years ago

    THESE WORDS ARE ACCEPTED.

    • bss03@infosec.pub
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      2 years ago

      Is that a stormlight archive reference?

      • TheActualDevil@lemmy.world
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        It’d be so much weirder if it wasn’t.

  • who8mydamnoreos@lemmy.world
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    Used every word he had to make that sentence

  • moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 years ago

    There are now two ____.

    • javasux@lemmy.world
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      of them

      • MajorHavoc@lemmy.world
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        Star Wars Ep I: Now there are two of them

    • duviobaz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 years ago

      wuggles

  • OtterOPA
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    2 years ago

    Didnt’ forget this time!

    Hopefully I did that correctly

  • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    How do you count to twelve without knowing the other numbers?

  • Doctor xNo@r.nf
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    2 years ago

    Finally that sentence makes sense, now that he knows all those twelve words that make it up… 😅

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