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Too Excited about Pears! (Question Tuesday with Hank)

2017-01-06 · Q&A · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, song or performance, self promotion, community lore

Because most Question Tuesdays go to John, Hank does one on a Friday, giving quick, mostly playful answers (Republican health care, Superman, VidCon travel, eating pears, Bernie, cats, the silent letter in 'scent'), then shows Claire Emery's tenth-anniversary prints and woodblock.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — This Day in Vlogbrothers archives; why Hank does a Question Tuesday on a Friday

  • ★★ Hank says he has spent a lot of time going through the Vlogbrothers archives for their This Day in Vlogbrothers project. — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank notes most Question Tuesday videos go to John, which makes sense as John posts on Tuesdays but is a bit unfair, so today is Question Tuesday on a Friday. (hedged) — 00:00:07 · Question Tuesday, John Green
  • ★ Hank says he asked people on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to ask him hard questions. — 00:00:16 · YouTube, Facebook, Twitter

00:00:21 — Answers: Republican health care plan, Superman, 'thistle', VidCon cars, pears, Bernie, Dave the fish, cats, 'scent'

  • ★★ Hank says there is no new Republican health care plan: Republicans want to keep Obamacare's good parts but make it cost less by waving their hands around. (playful) — 00:00:28 · Republican Party
  • ★★ For a less partisan take, Hank recommends Healthcare Triage's amazing, in-depth video on the subject. — 00:00:36
  • ★ Hank says flying through space is probably not Superman's fastest route: air resistance shouldn't matter much to him, and a bigger radius means a longer circumference. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:54
  • ★ Asked how to pronounce 'thistle', Hank says he doesn't know how to pronounce anything and uses the HowJSay app, whose narrator has said nearly every word. (playful) — 00:01:11
  • ★★ Hank says VidCon visitors shouldn't rent a car because parking and driving in Los Angeles are terrible; take a cab to the hotel, probably walk to the convention center, use Uber. (hedged) — 00:01:32 · VidCon, Los Angeles
  • ★★ A self-declared pear connoisseur, Hank avoids pear juice on his nose by cutting a square around the core, nibbling the core, then eating the rest in strips. (playful) — 00:01:47

  • ★★ Asked whether Bernie would have won, Hank sings that he doesn't know and nobody does; anyone sure is wrong, since it is too easy to be certain of the unprovable. (unsure) — 00:02:17 · United States presidential election

    “It's too easy to be certain of things that can't be proven”

  • ★ Asked how Dave is, Hank says that if they mean the fish, Dave is less good: he can barely hold up his string but is still floating. (playful) — 00:02:32

  • ★ Hank says his cat thinks two cats would be too many, which is terrible for him because his own answer is maybe eight. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:41
  • ★★ Hank reports the Online Etymology Dictionary says the C in 'scent' was added in the 17th century, joking that people just felt like it. (playful) — 00:02:59
  • ★ So, Hank concludes, it is the C that is silent in 'scent'. (hedged) — 00:03:07

00:03:10 — Claire Emery's tenth-anniversary prints and the actual woodblock

  • ★★ Hank shows prints Claire Emery made for the brothers' tenth anniversary on YouTube, plus the actual woodblock she loaned him, so viewers can see the paper and size. — 00:03:10 · Vlogbrothers, YouTube
  • ★★ Hank explains woodblocks degrade with use until they lose their crispness, so woodblock printing is definitionally a limited run. — 00:03:26
  • ★ Hank loves the prints and is surprised that they smell good. (playful) — 00:03:38

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Claire Emery will do a couple of woodcut demos at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria. — video description
  • ★ The description says Hank did answer some actual hard questions, but the video came out 12 minutes long. — video description
  • ★ Hank says answering even one hard question on Vlogbrothers takes too long for a Question Tuesday, so he might edit his hard-question answers into smaller videos for Twitter, Facebook or Hankschannel if he has time. (hedged) — video description · Twitter, Facebook, hankschannel, Question Tuesday

Humor (significant)

  • The first 'hard question' asks whether he will answer this question first. — 00:00:21

    “Joe, that was pretty easy, actually.”

  • Asked how to say 'thistle', Hank defers to the HowJSay app, whose narrator then pronounces a string of silly words. — 00:01:20

    “Butt. Butt. Butt. Butt. Butt. Anglerfishes. Pooping.”

  • After lovingly describing knifing through a soft Bartlett pear, Hank catches himself. — 00:02:12

    “I may get too excited about pears. I just realized that for the first time.”

  • Saying he likes cats and pears, Hank sings a riff on Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen. — 00:02:47

    “Cat pineapple. Apple pear.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Question Tuesday

Also: People: Bernie Sanders

Projects: Healthcare Triage · This Day in Vlogbrothers History · VidCon

Works: Online Etymology Dictionary · PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen) (“Cat pineapple. Apple pear.”)

Organizations: Facebook · HowJSay · Republican Party · Twitter · Uber · YouTube

Concepts: Intellectual humility · Woodcut

Places: Los Angeles

Characters: Superman

Policies: Affordable Care Act

Only in the description or credits: Claire Emery · hankschannel · NerdCon: Nerdfighteria

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