The Big Bang Theory

Correction: In most cases, this would be true. But given the way things were set up, he had to pick a new, temporary spot for the practice. It's likely that their living room setup is too complex to change just for a short amount of time, which is why the practice area was set up as it was. Sheldon chose a spot related to the practice area so he would be comfortable, just like he chose a new spot when the gang went to the north pole.

Knever

Correction: The signed napkin (from s02e11 "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis") was from Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock) whom Penny met at the Cheesecake Factory, not Stan Lee.

Bishop73

The Large Hadron Collision - S3-E15

Corrected entry: The "Hollermus" that Sheldon allegedly makes is not actually a Swiss breakfast dish. It is in fact simply a kind of jam made from elderberries which is quite common in most German-speaking countries. Also, judging by the ingredients on the table (eggs, milk, butter) and the food on the plate, the dish prepared by Sheldon seems most likely to be an omelette with a Vienna sausage, which is in no way traditionally Swiss.

Tanngrisnir

Correction: He actually says Cholermus which is a swish breakfast dish similar to a pancake, I had to find a script online when I first heard it to figure out what it was.

The Jiminy Conjecture - S3-E2

Corrected entry: Professor Crawley states he discovered a new species of dung beetle (named after him) in a rain forest in Borneo. That is impossible - dung beetles do not live in damp climates as the fecal matter upon which they live degrades too quickly when moist. You can find dung beetles in Savannah grassland, semi-arid desert, some lightly wooded areas, but a rain forest? Never.

Correction: Never is a big word. Deltochilum valgum and Oxysternon pteroderum are two examples of dung beetles that live in rainforests.

Guy

I'm from Borneo and yes we do have dung beetles here. My family is in the adventure business and we take coleopterists to do research on the dung beetles species found here.

The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation - S3-E1

Corrected entry: At the end of the episode, Sheldon runs off to Texas. That would be impossible in the short time frame the episode was set in. Especially since they live in Pasadena, California. California is 18 hours away by car from Texas. It has also been stated previously that Sheldon dislikes cars and airplanes a lot.

Correction: Just because he dislikes planes, doesn't mean that he will never go on one, as proven by him traveling by plane to Texas with Howard.

Greg Dwyer

Yes! Also on Young Sheldon, when he goes to Pasadena with his dad to visit CalTech, when he visits Amy in New Jersey, and when he goes with Howard to the Space Station in Houston. And lastly, Sweden.

Correction: The answer Leonard gives to Penny is actually a correct scientific statement, and it doesn't indicate that he's clueless. He says "kinda like carbon atoms for a benzene ring, proximity and valence electrons". This is a correct statement. Carbon atoms are small and have 4 valence electrons, i.e., they can form 4 bonds. Due to catenation, carbon atoms have a very strong tendency to bond with other carbon atoms. Similarly, Leonard's statement suggests that they worked at the same place (hence proximity) and they were all seeking friends (valence electrons). Hence they became friends.

Ashish_Agrawal

Thanks for the correction.

bcrd500

The Bakersfield Expedition - S6-E13

Corrected entry: At the end of the episode Sheldon's sat nav voice asks "Can you name the four state capitals that are not served by the interstate system?" In fact, there are five, according to the Interstate System's website. Juneau, Alaska; Dover, Delaware; Jefferson City, Missouri; Carson City, Nevada; and Pierre, South Dakota.

Captain Defenestrator

Correction: Although there used to be 5 state capitals not served by the interstate system, the completion of I-580 means that Carson City is now served, hence there are only four, and the sat nav was correct. 580 was completed in 2012, the episode in question aired in 2013.

Shua320

What about Hawaii?

Honolulu, HI has an Interstate Highway. Not all Interstate Highways physically go from one state to another, the name just indicates it receives federal funding as part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways initially set up through the Federal Aid Highway Act.

Bishop73

Honolulu Hawaii is served by H1, H2 and H3, all part of the U.S. Interstate system.

The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary - S3-E5

Corrected entry: Wil Wheaton tells Sheldon that he missed the convention because his grandmother died. When Wheaton later refers to a living grandmother, Sheldon realizes he has been tricked. He shouldn't - presumably Wheaton, like everyone else, has two grandmothers (mother's and father's side) and thus Wheaton announcing he has a living grandmother in no way contradicts what he said before. This alone shouldn't tip Sheldon off that Wheaton was lying.

Moose

Correction: In context of how the scenes played out, it is directly implied (and very obvious) that Wheaton is talking about the same grandmother.

XIII

The Excelsior Acquisition - S3-E16

Corrected entry: Penny got a red light camera ticket while Sheldon was driving her car. She says she gave up Sheldon as the driver to the court because she didn't want to get any more points on her license. You don't get points on your license for a camera issued violation. The registered owner just gets a straight fine. A police officer has to issue a ticket at the scene to get license points.

terry s

Correction: Penny is not a legal expert. She might not be aware of this technicality and is still afraid of gaining points.

Captain Defenestrator

Correction: It's not a stupidity. It's entirely within the personalities of the two friends that Sheldon wouldn't accept change and give up something that is rightly his and for Howard to gloat over that he's a bigger deal than Sheldon now and refuse to give up something given for his new celebrity.

LorgSkyegon

Correction: Sheldon didn't even have a car. Heck, he didn't even have a license. Well, except for a later episode where he secretly had a license that he never used.

terry s

This point is made several times in the episode. The fact that Sheldon does not have a car but still agues forcibly for his right to the parking space serves to reinforce the recurring theme of the show, that Sheldon is unbearably eccentric and opinionated but still manages to engage with his social group.

Correction: When bringing her to lunch with the other guys, Sheldon specifically says "You may remember Dr. Nowitski" and they reply. They obviously do remember meeting her.

LorgSkyegon

Correction: As the other correction states he introduces her by saying you may remember. Sheldon is also very literal and skeptical of Penny's memory, having had to explain most things for a decade.

Ssiscool

Correction: No, he's right - 2cm x 2cm (for example) would be 4 sq cm. 2m x 2m (200cm x 200cm) would be 40,000 sq cm - off by a factor of 10,000.

Correction: Sheldon actually says "I suppose she will have to have access to our progeny".

THGhost

Correction: The chain isn't what's important. It's the ring. The chain is not part of the prop.

Knever

The Friendship Algorithm - S2-E13

Corrected entry: When Sheldon and Barry are rock climbing, Sheldon looks down and shouts in fear. When Barry asks "You all right there Cooper?", Sheldon answers "I feel somewhat like an inverse tangent function approaching an asymptote." An inverse tangent function approaches its asymptote in the horizontal axis, not the vertical. (00:15:55)

Correction: The vanity card at the end explains the joke. "A linear asymptote is essentially a straight line to which a graphed curve moves closer and closer but does not reach. In other words, given a function y=fn (x) with asymptote A, A represents a number that, no matter how big (or, given the function, small) you make x, y will never make it to A. The particular example Sheldon quotes is the inverse Tangent function, or Arctangent, which has two asymptotes. If you graph it, it sort of looks like a horizontal S. No matter how big you make x (that is, how far you move to the right [that is horizontally]), the function is never going to hit that top line (π/2), and no matter how small x gets (moving to the left), y is never going to be smaller than - π/2" Sheldon is saying he will never reach the top.

Bishop73

Correction: That's Raj wearing a blue jacket getting condiments.

Greg Dwyer

The Pork Chop Indeterminacy - S1-E15

Corrected entry: Sheldon asks Missy why she doesn't tell her friends that he is a toll taker on The Golden Gate Bridge. There are no toll takers on the Golden Gate Bridge. Tolls are paid by credit or debit card, a prepaid account or by invoice to the registered car owner's address. There is no way Sheldon would not know this.

Correction: S1-E15 aired in May, 2008, but the Golden Gate Bridge didn't switch to all-electronic toll collection until March 2013, and the decision to convert to electronic toll collection wasn't made until January, 2011.

Correction: Sheldon was just suggesting that being a toll taker or something of that profession is as ridiculous as her telling everyone he was a "rocket scientist." Even if the statement was indeed true it doesn't affect my point.

Correction: Howard tells Sheldon to have a nice walk and Sheldon replies "I shall", not "Bye Shel".

THGhost

Show generally

Corrected entry: Bernadette says the thing she loves most about Howard is his chest hair to which the other girls say "he has a hairy chest?" and she replies "Nope, just one" but a few episodes later they are in bed and Howard has a full chest of hair.

The_Iceman

Correction: She's just making a joke.

THGhost

The Misinterpretation Agitation - S8-E7

Corrected entry: When the guys are locked in the basement, the door hinges are on their side. You would think a theoretical physicist, experimental physicist, astrophysicist, and NASA engineer could together figure out to simply take the pins out of the hinges.

Correction: It's not that they couldn't do it. It's that they're in a room full of stuff they find awesome. They're having too much fun to try that hard. They don't care if they get out.

Greg Dwyer

The Pork Chop Indeterminacy - S1-E15

Character mistake: In his conversation with Missy Sheldon makes it clear that his superior intelligence is a result of a random, mutated gene. Since Missy isn't similarly intelligent she obviously isn't carrying this mutated gene (which would be a billion to one shot anyway) so her offspring wouldn't inherit it. Sheldon would know this - his offspring would carry the mutated gene for superior intelligence, Missy's would not. Anyone knowing enough about genetics to use the term 'randomly mutated gene' understands enough to know that the mutated gene would only be expressed in a direct line from the carrier - Sheldon. Also bear in mind he has a model of the DNA molecule in his living room - it is obviously an interest.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Genes can be dormant. Which allows them to skip generations. Therefor Missy's children could actually get the "mutated" gene. This is especially true since Sheldon and Missy are twins. Also, since the episode is about who out of Leonard, Howard or Raj, Sheldon would allow to "mate" with his sister, there is the added "insurance" of getting any smart genes from any of the 3 Lothario's mentioned above.

If you are going to try to argue with a geneticist about genetics, please use the correct terms. Sheldon is not referring to a recessive gene - there is no such thing as a dormant gene - he is speaking of a randomly mutated gene. Those are the words he used. If he had inherited a homozygous recessive karotype - one recessive gene from each of his parents - then somewhere in his family tree there would similarly gifted people, in which case he would use the correct term - a recessive gene. If Missy is a heterozygotic dominant karotype possessing the recessive gene for super-genius and the dominant for ordinary intelligence then mating her with Howard, Raj or Leonard would be a waste of time as their dominant genius gene would prevent the recessive super-genius gene from being expressed in the phenotype of the resulting child. The child would be highly intelligent but not on Sheldon's standards. It doesn't matter if Sheldon does not know any of this as he refers several times to a randomly mutated gene, not a recessive one. Missy does not carry the super-genius gene. The posting is correct.

Sheldon is prone to magical thinking when necessary to preserve his obsessive need to control his environment. He may have simply ignored the flaw in his reasoning, as even the most intelligent humans do when venturing outside their ares of expertise. He may be interested in the science of genetics, but his Ph.D. in physics doesn't qualify him as an expert in that field.

More mistakes in The Big Bang Theory

The Extract Obliteration - S6-E6

Stephen Hawking: Do you like brain teasers?
Sheldon Cooper: Oh, I love brain teasers.
Stephen Hawking: What do Sheldon Cooper and a black hole have in common? They both suck. Neener, neener.

More quotes from The Big Bang Theory

The Holographic Excitation - S6-E5

Trivia: In this episode, Sheldon and Amy are trying to decide on couples' themed Halloween costumes. Sheldon is standing in front of the dry erase board. There are 2 columns written on the board. One named "Couples I Like" and the other "Couples You Like." Under the "Couples You Like" column, one of the couples is Blossom and Joey. Blossom is the name of the television character played by Mayim Bialik in the 90s and Joey was one of her brothers.

More trivia for The Big Bang Theory

Chosen answer: The song is called "Dark as a Dungeon" and was written and first performed by singer-songwriter Merle Travis in 1946. It has been performed by a wide array of artists, including Tennessee Ernie Ford, Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton, Queens of the Stone Age, Kathy Mattea and Amy Grant. But it was made most famous when it was performed and recorded by Johnny Cash during his concert at Folsom Prison in 1968. According to Wikipedia: "It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions."

Michael Albert

More questions & answers from The Big Bang Theory

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