互联网与文化english.stackexchange.com
哪个单词以“y”开头，在图中看起来像斧头？（2017）
Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)
2017 — 2024，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 English Stack Exchange 上的一个提问：一张字母学习图片里，哪个以 y 开头、外形像斧头的单词对应图中物品？高赞回答通过比对瑞典语字母书，认定答案是瑞典语 yxa（斧头），并讨论了它为何会被误认成黄色颜料管。整帖是一次围绕儿童字母插图展开的跨语言考据。
为什么经久不衰：它把一个看似无聊的小疑问变成了可验证的集体侦探过程，展示了 Stack Exchange 式考据的乐趣和互联网最迷人的一面。
HN 评论精选
关键证据是瑞典语字母书里 yxa 的用法，足以反驳颜料管误读。
最高赞回答给出的是瑞典语字母学习书里使用 Yxa 的图片，但这里仍有人坚持“黄色颜料管”理论。真不可思议。不知道是哪种认知偏差（或者更宽容地说：他们没往下滚）。补充：有人说这些图片是颜料管和黄色颜料……同一本瑞典语书里斧头正是这样使用的，这构成很强的证据——有先例。
Luc查看英文原文
The top answer is a picture of the use of Yxa in a Swedish alphabet learning book, yet there's still people here clinging to the yellow paint tube theory. Incredible. Not sure what cognitive bias is at play here (or more charitably: perhaps they didn't scroll down). EDIT: Some say these are pictures of a paint tube and some yellow paint: https://jimthechairmaker.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/my-carving-axe/ The fact that an axe is used in the exact same way in the Swedish book is very strong evidence. There's prior art.
这种冷门问题的深度考据正是互联网最迷人的样子。
我就喜欢读这种对极其具体的问题做深度调查的内容。这正是 20 年前我以为互联网会变成的样子。
CJefferson查看英文原文
This is the kind of deep investigation of a super specific issue I always enjoy reading. This is what I thought the internet would be, 20 years ago.
低质量复制品中常藏有无人察觉的随意改动，这也许解释了图中为何出现瑞典斧头。
很久以前，我给墨西哥一个连锁零售店老板兼印刷厂主做“设计师”。某款印刷品卖得很好时，他就让我做一个尽可能相似的东西，好让他自己生产赚更多利润。他一直这么干，完全不在乎质量。起初我试着自己画插图或做原创版本，但他施压让我直接拿剪贴画交差。有时我故意藏些内部笑话或不合适的内容，看有没有人发现。比如有次他让我赶工复制一本关于天主教圣人的书，又拒绝花钱请人校对。我就故意替换一些词来改变含义，甚至把书中圣人的名字改成“Batman”。没人发现。所以我猜设计这个球的人处境类似，花的功夫比 StackExchange 第三高赞回答还少；或者她甚至放了一把瑞典斧头，就想看看有没有人注意到。
armandososa查看英文原文
A long time ago I worked as a "designer" for somebody who owned a chain of medium retail stores in Mexico and a also biggish printshop. When there was a (printed) product was selling very well, he would go to me and ask me to make one as similar as possible so he can manufacture it and get more of the profits. He did it all the time and didn't care at all for the quality of the product. At first I tried to make the illustrations myself or actually try to do an original spin on the product, but he put pressure to just pull a clip art and call it a day. Some times I tried to hide some in-jokes or innappropiate stuff just to see if anybody noticed. For example, he once got me to to copy a whole book on some catholic saint, on a hurry, and refuse to pay some one to proff-read it. So I intentionally replaced some words here and there to change the meaning and I even changed the name of the saint to "Batman" in the middle of the book. Nobody ever noticed. So my guess is that whoever designed this ball is on a similar situation and did put even less effort into doing it, than whoever has the third top answer in the Stackoverflow post. Or maybe she even put a swedish axe just to see if anybody would notice.
最高赞的推理链条堪比《硅谷》里的投资侦探桥段。
这让我想起《硅谷》里 Peter Gregory 从汉堡王芝麻用量一路推理到芝麻产地和蝉群周期，最后押注印尼芝麻期货的场景。写出最高赞回答的那种侦探工作，如果这人还没做投资，真该去做投资。
peterkelly查看英文原文
This reminds me of the scene in Silicon Valley where Peter Gregory notices the popularity of Burger King, the number of sesame seeds they use, and remembers that sesame seeds only grow in Myanmar, Brazil, and Indonesia - the former two of which have large Cicada populations that emerge at different times. After some research, he finds that this is about to occur simultaneously in both countries for the first time in a couple of centuries. Apparently Indonesia doesn't have cicadas, so he purchases some surprisingly cheap Indonesian sesame seed futures based on the expectation that the price will spike next year. Whoever did the detective work in the top answer to this article should get into investing, if they aren't already.
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