So, today, my girlfriend sent me a link to this comic by XKCD (CAUTION: Not Safe for Work language, namely, the F-Bomb). What’s funny about it is not so much the content, but the fact that they’re ripping not only on Linguistics, but specifically on computational linguistics. Having done a bit of corpus linguistics myself, I couldn’t help but laugh, and, quite frankly, he does have a bit of a point at times. So, I applaud him for taking a strong stand.

As a counterstrike, I propose that some bored Computational Linguist create a corpus of all the text from XKCD’s website. That way, no matter their feelings, fears, or secret desires, XKCD will always be aiding the cause of Computational Linguistics. Our revenge will be swift and searchable.

Tagged with Computational Linguistics, Language Humor, Notes, Tirades | 2 Comments

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  1. alan November 24, 2006 5:50 pm

    Our revenge will be swift and searchable.

    Okay, that was funny. (Big xkcd fan here, by the way.)

  2. sudo enjoy /this/post » Notes from a Linguistic Mystic December 8, 2006 12:43 pm

    [...] So, the good people at XKCD.com, in addition to ripping on Computational Linguists, make some very funny comics. Today, I’d like to briefly discuss one of my favorites (Re-Hosted here, as to not steal bandwidth. Click for Full-Size!): [...]

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