Scary Names
Scary Names
[A scatter-plot, with 12 labeled dots. Both axis are labeled but neither has an arrow at its end. The dots are scattered from left to right and top to bottom. Below all labels are given, first for the axis, and then for each dot in approximately normal reading order, left to right top to bottom, but in the order it would make sense to read them:] Y-axis: Scariness of name X-axis: Scariness of thing name refers to
[Top left]: Chernobyl packet [Top halfway right]: Kessler syndrome [Top three quarters towards right]: Demon core [Top right]: Flesh-eating bacteria [A third down left]: Bomb calorimeter [Halfway  down three quarters towards right]: Bird flu [Halfway  down right]: Nuclear football [Dead center]: Mustard gas [Just below and right of center]: Superbug [Bottom halfway right]: Soil liquefaction [A third up three quarters towards right ]: Criticality incident [Very bottom two-thirds to the right]: Grey goo

This chart humorously explores how things are often named colloquially and without regard to accuracy in correlating actual scariness with apparent scariness. It is interesting to note how people react to the items near the bottom right of the chart "scary things with not-very-scary names" when compared to how they may react to items in the upper left "not-very-scary things with scary names". Some of the entries on the chart are especially interesting examples considering that portions of the names that are associated with significant historical or cultural events and themes. i.e. Chernobyl Packet, Demon Core. All items are described in the table below including the title text on Helvetica Scenario.
On the chart, things toward the right are scary/dangerous/very bad, while things toward the top sound scary without necessarily being scary.
Note that Randall uses similar diagrams in both 388: Fuck Grapefruit , 1501: Mysteries and 2466: In Your Classroom , which also contain different items. The first two also have an extra point, and the last two extra points mentioned in the title text. Only the first and the last comics points are also off the chart, whereas for the second the description of the point is too long to fit on the chart. Extra info outside the chart is also used in the title text of 1785: Wifi , but this is a line graph.
[A scatter-plot, with 12 labeled dots. Both axis are labeled but neither has an arrow at its end. The dots are scattered from left to right and top to bottom. Below all labels are given, first for the axis, and then for each dot in approximately normal reading order, left to right top to bottom, but in the order it would make sense to read them:] Y-axis: Scariness of name X-axis: Scariness of thing name refers to
[Top left]: Chernobyl packet [Top halfway right]: Kessler syndrome [Top three quarters towards right]: Demon core [Top right]: Flesh-eating bacteria [A third down left]: Bomb calorimeter [Halfway  down three quarters towards right]: Bird flu [Halfway  down right]: Nuclear football [Dead center]: Mustard gas [Just below and right of center]: Superbug [Bottom halfway right]: Soil liquefaction [A third up three quarters towards right ]: Criticality incident [Very bottom two-thirds to the right]: Grey goo
