Computer Science Name
Grammar
Cars
Philly Sports
Random Trivia
100

These 1s and 0s are the original minimalist lifestyle: no clutter, just two options.

Bits

100

This controversial comma keeps the peace in lists, preventing diners from thinking you invited “the strippers, JFK and Stalin.”

oxford comma

100

This blinking light you forget to turn off after a lane change is not “optional courtesy,” despite popular belief

turn signal (indicator)

100

This green, fuzzy, flightless “thing” is arguably the most beloved citizen of Citizens Bank Park.

Philly Phanatic

100

This planet is not only the hottest in our solar system, it also spins so slowly that its day is longer than its year—talk about poor work-life balance.

Venus

200

This letter used in Big-O notation means “the input size,” not “the time left before the demo starts.”

N

200

In the sentence “The data are convincing,” this grammatical concept insists the verb agree with a plural noun—even if you wish it were singular.

subject-verb agreement

200

This term measures engine work over time; contrary to myth, it does not refer to actual small horses under the hood.

Horsepower

200

This NFL team’s fans will boo Santa yet cry at a Jason Kelce speech.

Philadelphia Eagles

200

This board game brand mascot wears a monocle in the collective imagination—but in reality, he never has. Your memory’s been Mandela’d.

Rich Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly Man)
(Also acceptable: What is the Monopoly mascot)

300

It’s the function that won’t stop calling until given a proper base case—like a teenager with no ride home.

recursion

300

Running down the street, the briefcase flew open” commits this error—unless your briefcase grew legs.

dangling participle

300

This braking system keeps your wheels from locking so you can steer while stopping—unless you panic and mash it like a video game button.

ABS

300

Trust the Process” became the mantra of this NBA franchise through years of strategic suffering.

76ers

300

The smell of rain on dry ground has this poetic name, which sounds like a niche indie perfume.

petrichor

400

Consistency, Availability, and Partition Tolerance walk into a distributed bar; the bartender says, “Pick two.” This theorem gets the credit.

CAP Theorem


400

If I were taller” uses this mood—ideal for hypotheticals and regrets about not making varsity

subjunctive

400

Thieves love this emissions device for its precious metals; your wallet doesn’t love replacing it.

catalytic converter

400

The 1970s-era Flyers earned this bruising nickname that sounded more like a street gang than a hockey club.

Broad Street Bullies

400

This language, still widely used today, has no native word for “yes” or “no”; you answer with the verb instead, which feels very on-brand efficient.

Latin

500

This famous problem says a general program can’t always predict whether another program will finish—kind of like estimating how long a “quick refactor” will take.

Halting Problem

500

When one word does the job of two in a sentence—“She broke his car and his heart”—you’ve stylishly deployed this figure of speech

zeugma

500

This drivetrain feature distributes torque to the wheel with better traction instead of letting one spin uselessly—making corner exits far less embarrassing.

limited-slip differential

500

He threw the final pitch of the 2008 World Series for the Phillies, dropping to his knees in a perfect closer’s catharsis.

Brad Lidge

500

Discovered in 1938 off South Africa after being thought extinct for 66 million years, this lobe-finned “living fossil” fish basically said, “Surprise, I was just deep.”

coelacanth (see·luh·kanth)