A Surprise Relationship Between John and Hank!
2014-11-14 · explainer · Hank · 3:49 · watch on YouTube
Topic: History & curiosities (also: Science & nature) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: self correction
Hank corrects John that his 'star' was Jupiter and explains twinkling, reworks the tortoise and the hare using Jonathan the 182-year-old tortoise, then rambles through forms of John, Y and W sounds, diphthongs and the Middle English '-kin' suffix to show that Hank derives from John.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — John's 'star' was Jupiter; why planets don't twinkle and stars only seem to
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★★★ Hank corrects John: the star John saw in his last video was Jupiter, recognisable as a planet because it is so bright and does not twinkle like stars. — 00:00:01
“The star that you saw in your last video was in fact not a star, it was Jupiter.”
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★★ Hank: planets are closer, so we see a tiny disk of many points of light; the atmosphere jiggles each point, but they average out, so planets look steadier than stars. — 00:00:08
- ★★ Hank: stars don't actually twinkle; their brightness is constant and our atmosphere makes them look like they twinkle, so 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' is a lie told to children. (playful) — 00:00:29
00:00:38 — The tortoise and the hare recalculated with Jonathan, the oldest tortoise
- ★★ Hank calls the tortoise and the hare another lie told to children: however much the hare messes around it wins; fast and steady, not slow and steady, wins the race. (playful) — 00:00:38
- ★★ Hank: a hare's top speed is about 45 miles per hour. — 00:00:44
- ★★★ Hank: the world's oldest tortoise, Jonathan, is 182 years old with a top speed of 0.17 mph; moving every one of his 1.5 million-plus hours he would have covered about 271,000 miles. — 00:01:07
- ★★ Hank: at 45 mph a hare would need only 13% of its five-year lifespan to beat Jonathan's lifetime distance, so even in that hypothetical the hare wins. (playful) — 00:01:20
- ★★ Hank: maybe the fable's real moral is that slow and steady loses the race, but who cares as long as you're not dead. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:38
- ★ Hank teases John for telling a history of Johns and forgetting 'the oldest John ever', Jonathan the tortoise: 'you're slacking'. (playful) — 00:01:44 · John (name)
00:01:49 — John trivia: forms of John, J and Y noises, W, diphthongs and semivowels, Iohannes
- ★★ Hank: there may be more forms of John than of any other name, e.g. Jane, Gianni, Juan, Ivan, Janice, Joan, Ian and Yanni. (hedged) — 00:01:53 · John (name)
- ★★ Hank: a J noise said without obstructing the air is a Y noise (John, Yahn); Y noises are never consonants but two vowel sounds shoved together, as in 'your', and W works the same way. — 00:02:08 · John (name)
- ★★ Hank: two vowel sounds slapped together make a diphthong, found even in words like 'Mike' and 'oil'; a diphthong in a consonant's place breaking two syllables apart is called a semivowel. — 00:02:29
- ★★ Hank: the source name Iohannes shows all the vowels and the origin of the silent H, since John used to be Johan. — 00:02:57 · John (name)
00:03:06 — Middle English '-kin': Johan to Han to Hankin to Hank; John and Hank have the same name; sign-off
- ★★ Hank: Middle English added '-kin' to mark something small: Tom became Tomkin, and a small piece of cloth (nap) became a napkin. — 00:03:06
- ★★★ Hank: Middle English shortened Johan to Han, and a little Han was called Hankin, which is how the name Hank first appeared; so John and Hank have the same name. — 00:03:22 · Hank (name), John (name)
Humor (significant)
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Rejecting the fable's moral, Hank asks John who actually wins the race. — 00:00:48
“Fast and steady, almost exclusively.”
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Even in Hank's sleepless hypothetical the hare outruns 182-year-old Jonathan, but hares live about five years. — 00:01:33
“Though the hare has been dead for a hundred and seventy seven years...”
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Listing forms of the name John, Hank ends on the musician's name and pauses on it. — 00:02:05
“Yeah, Yanni.”
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After tracing Han to Hankin to Hank, Hank turns to his brother. — 00:03:32
“John, you and I have the same name!”
Mentioned
Central: Hank (name) · John (name) · Jonathan (tortoise) · Jupiter · The Tortoise and the Hare
Also: diphthong · Eeyore · hare · Middle English · semivowel · tortoise · Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star · twinkling
Only in the description or credits: Aesop
Also centred on John (name): The History of Pizza and the History of John: Pizzamas Day 4
Also centred on Jupiter: The Kidney That Was In 3 People - And Other Amazing Science Things
Replies to
- corrects · The History of Pizza and the History of John: Pizzamas Day 4 — “The star that you saw in your last video was in fact not a star, it was Jupiter.”
Later videos replying to this one
- 2014-11-17 · Combines and Movie Magic: Pizzamas Day 6 (John) — continues — “Hank, thank you for the lesson in stars and planets” (00:02:38)
- 2014-11-18 · How to Never Feel Embarrassed Again (Hank) — corrects (tell on Hank says 'dipthong' for diphthong in his Friday video, a decade-old mistake (2014)) — Hank owns up that in his Friday video he used 'dipthong', a word that does not exist, and that he has pronounced and spelled diphthong wrong for at least a decade. (00:00:07)