This is a belated reaction to the statement on a recent show that one million microphones equal a megaphone. In the usual parlance, one million microphones would be a phone; a million million microphones, or a million phones, would be a megaphone.

Interesting catch. It is an exercise in semantics I suppose, as I don’t think it takes a million microcars to equal one car. Glad to see someone is thinking, fun!

A million microphones isn’t a phone…it’s a million microphones. “Microphone” is a nomenclature, an improper noun. There is no correct term for a million of them other than…a million of them. Similarly, a million tomatoes isn’t a megatomatoe…it’s just a million tomatoes.

So a bug with 1000 legs isn’t a megapede?

Nope. A bug with a MILLION legs is a megapede! But a half million bugs with two legs each isn’t a megapede…it’s a half million two legged bugs.

I have a special telephone on its own line to book musical engagements. This telephone is called a gigaphone.

Gigaphone…I like that. CORRECTION: a half million two legged bugs is a half million bipedal bugs!

I don’t think there’s any such thing as a bipedal bug - unless some obnoxious kid pulled a bunch of its legs off. I think only two legs disqualifies it from the bug category. But if there were bipedal bugs then I give the argument to mountainbike. But wait…if by a “bug” we mean a tiny little micr…

Cig, I was wondering when someone would catch that. Where’s that retired linguistics professor when you need him?

Nit-Picking Dept: A million microphones do not make a megaphone!

The Show

DfromSD January 26, 2012, 10:33pm 4

It was a joke. It can be anything the teller wants it to be as long as it gets a laugh!

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Nit-Picking Dept: A million microphones do not make a megaphone!

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