Talk:QI (C series)

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redirect to List of QI episodes, 29 September 2015, see discussion.
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Bullshit alert

"In the English language, there are 33 Vowel sounds." Rubbish. You can't count the number of vowel sounds in a language; first, because different dialects have different numbers; second, because each vowel may have an indefinite number of minute variations. What you can count is the number of vowel phonemes. The variety of British English that I speak has 21 vowel phonemes. All American English varieties have considerably fewer, some as few as ten. No variety at all, British, American or any other, has more than 25, let alone 33. 91.105.8.168 (talk) 00:46, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well you can count vowel sounds, but most people specify which variety of English they are counting, in Received Pronunciation there are 20 vowel sounds, but the IPA only has 28 vowel sounds and that covers all languages and their variants so where are the others coming from? ^{lɘɘяɘM яɘɫƨɐƮ} 09:03, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cat means dog

They almost certainly got this part wrong. For "cat" there are 2 words, "cat(t)us" and "felis"; felis being the (european)wildcat and catus being the domestic cat. "Cattus" most likely is borrowed from Egyptians (who first domesticated the cat). And dog simply is canis (see: Cave canem).

The notion that the English language "cat", the German "Katze" for "Felis catus"/cat derive from the latin word for "Canis lupus familiaris"/dog is very strange - especially since there is no evidence FOR it, only indication AGAINST it. The Latin "catula" has indeed the meaning "little dog", but on the other hand "catulus" can mean "boy" or "smart". Just because it sound/looks similar doesn't mean it is. And QI has been shown to be wrong in the past. -92.227.70.138 (talk) 19:38, 17 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nero

This theory that Nero played the bagpipes while Rome burned seems very unlikely, given that Tacitus says Nero wasn't even in Rome at the time... Nero#Great_Fire_of_Rome —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.5.130.78 (talk) 20:02, 12 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Exploding Custard

I don't see how this can be the appropriate equation for exploding custard. While it's certainly the equation for the oxidation of glucose, in other words the equation of cellular respiration, custard should be very low in the glucose department. Unless I've missed something special about custards, exploding custard would involve oxidizing or burning sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), not glucose. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.5.130.78 (talk) 20:27, 12 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Velcro

Swiss inventions include velcro, milk chocolate, cellophane, rayon and the Swiss army knife (forfeit: cuckoo clock)

Forfeit points for Steven Fry no? hook-and-loop fastener is the actual name of that invention, velcro is just the companies name. This seems to me to be the perfect General Ignorance question as even Fry fell into it. LancelotLoire (talk) 10:58, 24 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]