• @Kftrendy
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      5811 months ago

      I think it’s referencing Clever Hans, a horse who allegedly could do arithmetic and would respond to questions by tapping his hoof (Clever Hans famously could not actually do math - he had just learned to tap his foot until his trainer looked happy with the number of taps).

      • sab
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        1511 months ago

        I had heard of Clever Hans before, but never knew the trainer himself wasn’t actually aware he was giving cues to the house. The horse was actually really smart, just not in the way people imagined.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 months ago

        I think that’s it. Also, teacher horse is upset that they’re all giving the wrong answer.

    • @Afelia
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      411 months ago

      I think they’re trying to count on their “fingers,” but they’re horses so they only have the one hoof?

      • @[email protected]
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        1011 months ago

        It’s referencing an old trick some charlatans would do where they would train a horse to stomp its hoof in order to appear like it can do arithmetic. So like the con-man would ask the horse “what’s 3+2?” And the horse would stomp its foot 5 times.

        • @Afelia
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          111 months ago

          That makes more sense.

    • Tb0n3
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      811 months ago

      These aren’t new.

  • @octoperson
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    511 months ago

    I don’t think I’ve seen a 2-panel Far Side before