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May 17th: Wikeeeeeepedia...and Happy Birthday Katherine

2007-05-17 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:09 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Personal life, Nerdfighteria) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: community lore

On Katherine's birthday Hank keeps it short, asks John how to write a book proposal for fiction, and argues from the word 'wiki' and Wikipedia's own article that his pronunciation of Wikipedia is right and John's is wrong.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; happy birthday Katherine; same age again; party tonight, France-themed, present kept secret

  • ★★ Hank wishes Katherine a happy birthday; they are the same age again after the 12 days a year when their ages differ. (playful) — 00:00:03 · Katherine Green
  • ★★ Hank keeps the video quick for Katherine's birthday: a France-themed party tonight, for which he'd rather she not clean, and a present he can't reveal because she'll watch this. — 00:00:34 · Katherine Green

00:01:03 — The proposed book proposals: Hank doesn't know how to propose fiction and asks John for help

  • ★★ On the proposed book proposals, Hank says so far he has only stories in his head, which are getting better, funnier, cooler and more intense. — 00:01:03 · Evil Baby Orphanage
  • ★★★ Hank says he has no idea how to write a book proposal for fiction (list characters? propose situations?) and asks John for help, feeling John must know. (hedged) — 00:01:03 · John Green

00:01:32 — 'Wiki' and the right pronunciation of Wikipedia, per Wikipedia's own page; commenters switched because John was wrong; text hides pronunciation; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says 'wiki' is a word for a collaborative website with its own pronunciation, and Wikipedia blends 'wiki' and 'encyclopedia', joined after 'wiki'. — 00:01:32 · wiki, Wikipedia
  • ★ Hank insists he is right about Wikipedia, though wrong about many things, such as once mispronouncing 'façade' in a Renaissance presentation. (playful) — 00:02:02 · Wikipedia
  • ★★ Hank says Wikipedia's own article on Wikipedia lists two pronunciations, and its audio button pronounces it his way. — 00:02:02 · Wikipedia
  • ★★ Hank says people in the comments were changing how they pronounce Wikipedia because John was wrong. (playful) — 00:02:29 · Nerdfighteria, Wikipedia
  • ★★ Hank calls it an interesting side effect of text-based communication that you never learn how words are pronounced; without text, he can now catch and correct John. — 00:02:29 · No textual communication

Humor (significant)

  • Hank says he and Katherine are the same age again and their 12 days of different ages throw him off. — 00:00:34

    “No, it doesn't. It doesn't really.”

  • Hank cites Wikipedia's own article to settle how to pronounce Wikipedia. — 00:02:02

    “And if Wikipedia is right about anything, it's right about itself.”

  • Hank admits he has been wrong before, mispronouncing a word in a presentation on the Renaissance. — 00:02:02

    “I was wrong. But about Wikipedia, I am right.”

  • Since the brothers now talk only by video, Hank gets to hear John's mistakes. — 00:02:58

    “And thus I can correct you. And rub your face all in it.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Katherine Green · Wikipedia

Also: Evil Baby Orphanage · France · No textual communication · wiki

Later videos replying to this one