Curated Tumblr

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tumblr reading comprehension: electric boogaloo (i.redd.it)

submitted 7 months ago by Mandarbmax@lemmy.world to c/curatedtumblr@sh.itjust.works

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I came to a similar conclusion from the greentext. Big and small are valuable but one is more convenient to carry around with you (due to the mass).

E: I think I see the tumblr users' confusion here... the sentence

Suppose you had $30 in coins as well, which would have greater mass?

can be interpreted like a semicolon or separate sentence...

Suppose you had $30 in coins as well. Which would have greater mass?

or as a extension describing the object...

Suppose you had $30 in coins which would have greater mass as well?

Some might have taken the latter interpretation which makes the rest of the story incomprehensible.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The latter interpretation is itself incomprehensible. So yes, it renders the story incomprehensible, but I don't know why anyone would consider it.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

You are correct it is, I'm trying to highlight where things diverged in the story into gibberish, which is not easy to tell for someone that lost the thread of the story there. The word "which" is the key difference, so if people miss the first interpretation and go with the other cadence when reading.

Try this: Read the word "which" in the original sentence in your head or out loud once with a higher pitch than the rest of the sentence. Then try reading the sentence again with the word "which" at the same or lower pitch as the rest. If the reader goes the wrong path then they might not even realize that the alternative is there.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Ok fair enough, but I don't think it matters specifically how they got to their ridiculous interpretation. The problem is that instead of thinking "hey, I probably misunderstood, I should read that over again" they just started going "REEEEEEEEEEEEEE"