5 ms·

I was shocked at how low on the list "katana" was. It's so prevalent in pop culture, from Kill Bill to The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kye 5y ago
Leonardo uses ninjatos as of the last time I paid attention to the franchise. Katanas are much longer.
- brimble 5y ago
  Whatever they look like, they're usually described by TMNT media as katanas. Quite possibly incorrectly, for all I know.
  - UnpossibleJim 5y ago
    They wrote and spoke of them as katanas, yes. But you're also talking about a series who treated the Sai as a sharp weapon (which is round and a striking and blocking weapon)... though, I don't think they did this in the comic. It's been a while).
brimble 5y ago
I bet if you charted hours spent with media in which the word "katana" occurs, you'd see a male/female ratio very similar to the "knows what 'katana' means" ratio in TFA.
Delk 5y ago
I don't know if this would affect the observed/reported differences between sexes, but there are also different levels of knowing. I would have known that neodymium is some kind of a substance, but I wouldn't have known or remembered that it was an element without checking. I'd probably answer I knew the word "degauss" but if I had to explain what it physically is, I'd struggle. I might not remember what distinguishes howitzers from other artillery pieces. Out of these, I'd probably report not knowing neodymium, knowing howitzer, and be a bit torn on degaussing. Someone might know that a katana is a weapon, or "some kind of a ninja thing", or maybe even a sword, but might not feel comfortable enough about the details to report knowing it. Also, it might be more well-known among younger people who know the pop culture than people who don't. But then, I guess it might also be that people just have rather different areas of familiarity, as the article indicates, and a significant part of the English speaking population might be as clueless about katanas as I am about tulles, or whatever the plural for that is. I only knew one or two of the words from the upper half. I'm not a native English speaker, though, which perhaps not only limits my vocabulary compared to native speakers but might also tilt things even further towards the science/tech words.
- prionassembly 5y ago
  "Unusually strong neodymium magnets" were a popular young-adult toy in the late 2000s to early 2010s. I had them both in flat discs and little balls. Now that I have a baby crawling around I pray that I haven't misplaced any in some crevice of the house...
  - kqr 5y ago
    They were also a part of rotating rust drives, which made it very fun to find old ones and pick them apart.
  - marton78 5y ago
    Wait. What will they do to babies?!
    - caf 5y ago
      If someone swallows more than one, they can pinch together different parts of the intestine or bowl and cause a perforation, which is a serious medical emergency that if untreated will lead to death. It's dangerous for anyone, but babies and toddlers are most likely to actually swallow them.
      - mcv 5y ago
        It's the only example I know of where swallowing one thing is totally harmless, but swallowing a second one is really seriously dangerous.
- mcv 5y ago
  > I'd probably answer I knew the word "degauss" but if I had to explain what it physically is, I'd struggle. It's a button on old monitors. That's all I know about it. It sounds like it undoes something magnetic-field related, but I have no clue what.
  - Delk 5y ago

Kye 5y ago

Leonardo uses ninjatos as of the last time I paid attention to the franchise. Katanas are much longer.

brimble 5y ago
Whatever they look like, they're usually described by TMNT media as katanas. Quite possibly incorrectly, for all I know.
- UnpossibleJim 5y ago
  They wrote and spoke of them as katanas, yes. But you're also talking about a series who treated the Sai as a sharp weapon (which is round and a striking and blocking weapon)... though, I don't think they did this in the comic. It's been a while).

brimble 5y ago

I bet if you charted hours spent with media in which the word "katana" occurs, you'd see a male/female ratio very similar to the "knows what 'katana' means" ratio in TFA.

Delk 5y ago

I don't know if this would affect the observed/reported differences between sexes, but there are also different levels of knowing. I would have known that neodymium is some kind of a substance, but I wouldn't have known or remembered that it was an element without checking. I'd probably answer I knew the word "degauss" but if I had to explain what it physically is, I'd struggle. I might not remember what distinguishes howitzers from other artillery pieces. Out of these, I'd probably report not knowing neodymium, knowing howitzer, and be a bit torn on degaussing. Someone might know that a katana is a weapon, or "some kind of a ninja thing", or maybe even a sword, but might not feel comfortable enough about the details to report knowing it. Also, it might be more well-known among younger people who know the pop culture than people who don't. But then, I guess it might also be that people just have rather different areas of familiarity, as the article indicates, and a significant part of the English speaking population might be as clueless about katanas as I am about tulles, or whatever the plural for that is. I only knew one or two of the words from the upper half. I'm not a native English speaker, though, which perhaps not only limits my vocabulary compared to native speakers but might also tilt things even further towards the science/tech words.

prionassembly 5y ago
"Unusually strong neodymium magnets" were a popular young-adult toy in the late 2000s to early 2010s. I had them both in flat discs and little balls. Now that I have a baby crawling around I pray that I haven't misplaced any in some crevice of the house...
- kqr 5y ago
  They were also a part of rotating rust drives, which made it very fun to find old ones and pick them apart.
- marton78 5y ago
  Wait. What will they do to babies?!
  - caf 5y ago
    If someone swallows more than one, they can pinch together different parts of the intestine or bowl and cause a perforation, which is a serious medical emergency that if untreated will lead to death. It's dangerous for anyone, but babies and toddlers are most likely to actually swallow them.
    - mcv 5y ago
      It's the only example I know of where swallowing one thing is totally harmless, but swallowing a second one is really seriously dangerous.
mcv 5y ago
> I'd probably answer I knew the word "degauss" but if I had to explain what it physically is, I'd struggle. It's a button on old monitors. That's all I know about it. It sounds like it undoes something magnetic-field related, but I have no clue what.
- Delk 5y ago