Language Log

奥本海默中国大陆版本剪辑情况 pic.twitter.com/Nbjxy5PJ4J

— 小径残雪 (@xiaojingcanxue) September 1, 2023

[link to full tweet here]

…or maybe we should call it a "semantic jump"? It's a pun that illustrates how word meanings can evolve along sensible paths that become obscure as time passes and culture changes. Which is one of the reasons that the reconstruction of linguistic history gets harder as time depth increases.

Here's the upper scene in the latest Perry Bible Fellowship comic:

Today's Non Sequitur:

Today's SMBC starts like this:

The next-most-recent xkcd:

Mouseover title: "Slowly progressing from 'how do protons behave in relativistic collisions?' to 'what the heck are protons even doing when they're just sitting there?'"

The most recent xkcd:

A recent Dinosaur Comics strip features T-Rex imitating (a certain kind of) speech style from the 1940s:

Mouseover title: "to t-rex's mind, and mine as well, all of the past takes place around the 1930s. well sure! and why not?"

Today's Tank McNamara:

Of course the joke in this strip is the seven fingers on Tank's right hand, and the eight fingers on his left hand.

A recent Dinosaur Comic features a passionate investigation into alleged philosophical plagiarism:

From 9 Chickweed Lane (4/28/23):

(source)

Frazz for 4/25/2023:

Today's xkcd — "Linguistics Gossip":

The mouseover title: "The E's wedding invitation definitely used the word LOVE more times than was strictly necessary."

From Phillip Remaker:

Loved your deep dive on finding the provenance of the "conspiracy theory" image.