0943: "Empirical"

[Eutychus]

Alt Text: I'm as surprised as you!

Being married: able to argue more conveniently (now 26 years and counting...)

[joee]

OP: you're missing a link

Is being married more convenient to arguing than just living together?

[scarletmanuka]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

[glasnt]

So.. are you supposed to say "May you marry me?"

HI JOEE

[Eärendil]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

I think reproduction is the next step!

[zd0]

I made an account just for this...

Did you notice the woman was the person to propose? Intriguing?

[Cranica]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

Capability isn't probability - he did it once, so he -can- do it.

[Eternal Density]

Forum, will you marry me?

...

...

Apparently not.
Good choice.

Being married: able to argue more conveniently

Reminds me of a line from the ending of The Horse and His Boy.
[edit] I'm sure you've all seen the Best Proposal Ever, but here it is again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8SdYz7cq04
[edit again] I suppose an alternative description of the comic is, "A demonstration of the silly things that happen if the guy is the proposee not the proposer."

[Maxpm]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

Capability isn't probability - he did it once, so he -can- do it.

But the original question was whether or not he would, not whether or not he could.

[RAGBRAIvet]

Too bad it's never that easy.
For the man *or* the woman.

[james_a_craig]

So.. are you supposed to say "May you marry me?"

No, the right question is "Would you like to marry me?".

[RogerB]

And finally it's my turn:

• Survive major life threatening illness.
• Realise life's too short.
• Get married.

GOOMHR

Or am I reading too much into this?

[bitwiseshiftleft]

Arguably, the question answered here is better expressed "shall you marry me?".

[sjorford]

So.. are you supposed to say "May you marry me?"

No, the right question is "Would you like to marry me?".

No, the right thing is to use proof by contradiction. "Marry me."

[TheEngineer]

So.. are you supposed to say "May you marry me?"

No, the right question is "Would you like to marry me?".

No, the right thing is to use proof by contradiction. "Marry me."

... or "Would you like to test the null hypothesis that you and I will not marry?

[Sean Quixote]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

Apparently, you've never met MY father...

/rimshot

[AvatarIII]

So.. are you supposed to say "May you marry me?"

No, the right question is "Would you like to marry me?".

liking to get married != getting married

Arguably, the question answered here is better expressed "shall you marry me?".

that just sounds a bit wrong

"May i marry you?" might be better but it sounds a bit too much like asking permission.

"let's get married!" not really a formal question

i think perhaps a subtextual disclaimer on "Will you marry me?" would be best like "to the best of your knowledge, do you currently believe that you will marry me?"

[colinmon22]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

I think reproduction is the next step!

I think I'm doing it wrong...

[hagegnom]

The best proposal:

http://twitpic.com/59bn2q

[Mantis]

I saw someone the other day in the middle of a lake shouting, "I will drown and no one shall save me!" so we all left him to it.

[atrahasis]

The best proposal:

http://twitpic.com/59bn2q

I think this one is better, though I think the script would be improved by not giving the question away in the anteroom at the end.

[Aelfyre]

I saw someone the other day in the middle of a lake shouting, "I will drown and no one shall save me!" so we all left him to it.

wait.. they were floundering around in the middle of a lake and they broke out "shall"? or were they just in a canoe or something?

[Apeiron]

This comic illustrates why requests in the form of questions are a bit screwy. "Will you pass the salt?", is a request for a prediction of whether you will pass the salt. "Please pass the salt", is a request to pass the salt.

[somrh]

Russell would always say in response to that question, "I'll marry you if and only if you won't marry me." For some strange reason this response resulted in a marriage to a lovely professor. The couple were a pair of docs.

[Afrael]

The next day, the guy meets a girl and hears a choir of angels.

[cellocgw]

But how are you going to repeat the experiment, for verifiability? I mean, it could have just been an outlier.

Sister wives?

[miquelfire]

Is it just me, or this comic smaller than normal?

[TaylorP]

Is it just me, or this comic smaller than normal?

I seemed that way to me as well. Further inspection shows that it is in fact shorter than most of the other single-row comics.

Also did anyone else think of this one http://xkcd.com/310/ when they first saw it?

[oddtail]

The joke's really funny, I like the comic very much.

But I would like to point out to anyone in the forums who doesn't know it yet: "will" originally meant something akin to the modern word "want" (which lives on in the expression "be willing to"). Hence the expression "[do something] if you will", which would not be very grammatical if it meant a modal verb like it usually does.

So basically, "will you marry me?" roughly means "Is it your will to marry me?". And since it's a very formulaic expression, it hasn't changed much in the past few hundred years.

[spillingvelvet]

CONGRATULATIONS! People in love is my most favorite thing, and people that I admire in love makes me even happier. May your days together be filled with interesting conversation, love, affection, and learning.

[A_of_s_t]

So, was the girl just randomly asking people if they'd marry her?

[enmaku]

So I'm actually getting married in November. We're having guests sign a white guitar instead of a guestbook and I've been toying with the idea of having an XKCD comic printed on the guitar, because that's just the sort of couple we are... I'm fairly certain this one is now in the running... Leading the pack...

[ctrloptcmd]

The best proposal:

http://twitpic.com/59bn2q

Her proposal to me (yes that's my hand) was of course directly inspired by the XKCD-strip "Sudo make me a sandwich".

[Roberto Font]

And finally it's my turn:

• Survive major life threatening illness.
• Realise life's too short.
• Get married.

GOOMHR

Or am I reading too much into this?

Dude that post was very insensitive... You really should´nt talk that way about something so personal, even less here of all places... I really hate bringing to attention such a post but I could´nt help it, I had to say something. You should keep such thoughts to yourself next time.

[Sir Real]

Warning: Responding in this fashion to a marriage proposal may cause the eventual answer to be "no", regardless of what you thought it was.

[dacaldar]

I don't think the above poster was necessarily being insensitive - I think he's happy for Randall.

I am reading into the comic that Randall has just gotten married to his fiancee, or is about to, so I think congratulations are in order!

I also just created this account to post, because I have been a fan for a year now, and with the implication that he just got married, I really wanted to say Congrats!

[War Horseman]

Mr. Munroe, you are starting to creep me out. Your comics have often been interestingly relevant to my life, but now...

I've actually had this exchange with my girlfriend, a little under a year ago. It was good for a laugh then, but now you post this comic the day we are to be wed.

I'm absolutely amused, but get out of my brain.

Love, Mr. and Mrs. Eric P.

[deiden26]

Hooray for standard gender behavior role reversal!

[existentialpanda]

Hey, a stick figure wearing a bow tie! Bow ties are cool.

[Roberto Font]

I don't think the above poster was necessarily being insensitive - I think he's happy for Randall.

I am reading into the comic that Randall has just gotten married to his fiancee, or is about to, so I think congratulations are in order!

I also just created this account to post, because I have been a fan for a year now, and with the implication that he just got married, I really wanted to say Congrats!

I think it is insensitive because it implies that the reason for getting married is that he is coming out of a traumatizing experience and he realized that life is short, and saying something like that its just terrible. The only reason that people should ever get married is because they love each other enough to want to be together for the rest of their life's.