1. 

   yutzwagon2
   May 1st, 2010 - 17:56

   Aww I thought it said “geeks.”
2. 

   AuranHarpy
   May 1st, 2010 - 18:08

   what are the opening letters in QI from? It sounds like John from the NT
3. 

   threecardmontegirl
   May 1st, 2010 - 18:36

   “You’re very good on word I always like to check”
   Well if you were going to ask anyone Mr Fry would be the man to ask!
4. 

   nndaystar
   May 1st, 2010 - 19:31

   Lol the intro song always finds a way to make me smile, no matter wot!
5. 

   amethystdrop
   May 1st, 2010 - 19:51

   The Brothers Grimm! Fricative Shifts! Diachronic linguistics!

   It might not have been interesting to the others, Stephen, but it was to me! I’m glad I didn’t have to wait until series L for some linguistic geekery up in here.
6. 

   mrbeanaswell
   May 1st, 2010 - 20:29

   fav – ou -rite!!!!!!!
7. 

   sausagedogmcgee
   May 1st, 2010 - 20:58

   How come Greece gets a cool sounding national anthem? Bastards.
8. 

   libekala
   May 1st, 2010 - 21:43

   I am afraid you are confusing democracy with liberalism. Most democratic societies now are liberal but this is not an inevitability.
9. 

   FangMom
   May 1st, 2010 - 22:28

   Merci, Gracias, THANK YOU!!
10. 

    TheSnearwils
    May 1st, 2010 - 23:25

    The whole property-swapping thing is just to test who’s richer; if B has greater wealth he’ll refuse to swap, and then have to sponsor the ship. Or he could accept the swap to avoid sponsorship, and A will be in the position you mentioned.
    Either way, the person with most valuable property has to be the sponsor
11. 

    StefanWraith
    May 1st, 2010 - 23:26

    @sweetcl0ver Democracy with a limited franchise is still a democracy, you are thinking of how most us would view what a democracy should be.
12. 

    atisenif
    May 1st, 2010 - 23:58

    Well, I suppose that, in THAT time, compared to other empires, the Greeks had the closest democratic politics as we know it now. Know what I mean?
13. 

    BushmenKing
    May 1st, 2010 - 23:58

    Greeks! Alan’s favorite subject! XD
14. 

    jknov17
    May 2nd, 2010 - 00:43

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!
15. 

    BVargas78
    May 2nd, 2010 - 01:01

    It was a very direct democracy if you were a citizen, but many of the ancient greeks criticised this because it made the state vulnerable to folly and whims of people, and also to demagogues.
16. 

    weavehole
    May 2nd, 2010 - 01:08

    Waita minute.
    So Rich Athenian A is told he has to sponsor a ship. He says Rich Athenian B is richer to get out of this sposorshif. They swap property.
    If B _was_ richer, A now his wealth so is better off but still has to sponsor the ship.
    If A was richer to begin with then he’s just lost out on his greater wealth but doesn’t have to sponsor a ship.
    I bet no-one ever bothered with the swapping and just got on with the sponsoring, whilst grumbling.
    Clever rulers.
17. 

    qifanable
    May 2nd, 2010 - 01:13

    His quick remark of “true democracy” referred to the process of taxation being directly related in responsbility to one’s wealth and property; he was not making an umbrella judgement of all of Ancient Greece.
18. 

    sweetcl0ver
    May 2nd, 2010 - 01:49

    I know Stephen has a metaphorical boner for Ancient Greece, but it certainly wasn’t a “true democracy” if you happened to be female, a slave, not own land, foreign-born, etc.
19. 

    grinningcrazoid
    May 2nd, 2010 - 01:54

    Having had a job for three years that obliged me to attend a great many conferences, conventions, seminars and round tables on a great many subjects, I’d enlighten Stephen (and one doesn’t frequently encounter the opportunity to enlighten Stephen, does one?) with the knowledge that a symposium has the potential to become a much more obscene affair than any given orgy.
20. 

    profane1972
    May 2nd, 2010 - 02:37

    The part from the Greek anthem sounds a bit like the beginning of “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” from Mozart’s Zauberflöte to me.
    (No offense to any Greek people intended. Most likely, there is something wrong with my ears. )
21. 

    gloomyoutlook
    May 2nd, 2010 - 03:15

    also, by Persian’s use of the Arabic alphabet, how Parsi came to be Farsi (y)
22. 

    gloomyoutlook
    May 2nd, 2010 - 03:17

    I just want to say, again, thank you so much for uploading all of these so soon after they air.
23. 

    freaky108
    May 2nd, 2010 - 03:45

    censorship authority sweating a bit at 5:31
24. 

    duliGirl
    May 2nd, 2010 - 04:14

    Dang it. I keep getting “An error has occurred, please try again later” message. Let me watch this video YouTube.
25. 

    emptyangel
    May 2nd, 2010 - 04:38

    It’s starting to show that everyone is ageing…

    Even Alan Davies is starting to look old.

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