For 12 seasons, we watched the lives of four self-proclaimed "nerds" find their way through science, love, and friendship. The fun part about this sitcom was that it was oddly educational (if fans could keep up, that is). With a theoretical physicist, an experimental physicist, an engineer, and an astrophysicist, fans sure did pick up on the lingo of the everyday scientist.
Nevertheless, over the course of 279 episodes, we saw our favorite group of friends try their best at telling jokes according to their respective fields. And whether those jokes were picked up on or not, let's take a look at 10 of the nerdiest ones.
'If He Were Any Bigger, He'd Have Moons Orbiting Him'
In "The Middle-Earth Paradigm," Penny throws her first Halloween party and invites Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj to mix and mingle with her friends. By this point, it's obvious Leonard is obsessed with Penny (without her knowing), so they go to the party. But who shows up at Penny's party? Her ex-boyfriend. He's shirtless, dressed as some kind of caveman and is quite rude to the guys.
In an attempt to showoff to Penny, Leonard stands up for himself against Kurt and leaves the party. But not before referring his size to the planet Earth.
'I Don’t Care For Perchloroethylene, And I Don’t Like Glycol Ether'
In the fourth season, we find out that Sheldon and Amy are still "friends" who text every day. While the group is sitting around the coffee table having dinner, Sheldon giggles at a joke Amy had texted him.
While she was at the dry cleaners, she said: "I don’t care for perchloroethylene, and I don’t like glycol ether." For anyone who missed this pun, it's a joke surrounding glycol ether; solvents that are typically found in cleaning liquids. The rest of the gang probably picked up on this pun but Penny (and some of us) sure didn't.
'Notify The Editors Of The Oxford English Dictionary, The Word 'Plenty' Has Been Redefined To Mean Two'
Sheldon is not afraid to correct someone's grammar. In fact, he finds it a point to correct people on a daily basis because he feels he's doing his part in educating the world. But let's be real, no one likes the grammar police!
As Leonard is naming the "plenty" of women he's dated, he can only come up with two names (Joyce Kim and Leslie winkle). This leads Sheldon to his quick remark about changing the definition of 'plenty.'
'A Neutron Walks Into A Bar And Asks How Much For A Drink. The Bartender Replies, ‘For You, No Charge.''
In the episode "The Plants Alternative," Sheldon wins an award for the Chancellor's Award for Science. In order to receive the award, he had to give a speech publicly, which terrified Sheldon. As someone with stage-fright, he decided to have a few sips of Penny's drink at the ceremony. But, of course, Sheldon never drinks and got drunk extremely fast.
This led him to a pretty quirky joke about a neutron while on stage. But as we know neutrons have no charge — protons do.
'Do You Mean Guy Or Jai?'
In "The Fortification Implementation," we see the guys eating lunch in Caltech's cafeteria when Howard and Raj are bickering about the pronunciation of gifs. "Well, the 'g' stands for graphics. And that's a hard 'g' so I'll say gif." However, Raj fights Leonard's reasoning and says "The guy who invented it says it's jif." As per usual, Howard swoops in with the "guy or jai" comment, making everyone laugh.
The constant bickering between Howard and Raj is something so many fans adore. They act as if they're a couple but are just best friends. In many ways, Howard acts as the third party in Howard and Bernadette's marriage.
'No Matter Where I am, This Will Always Be My Spot. Like An Embassy In A Foreign Country, This Seat Is The Sovereign Soil Of my Bottom'
Sheldon takes his spot on the couch very seriously. To him, it's the best spot in the house and he notices when others sit in his spot. In fact, one of the only people he lets sit in his spot was his meemaw.
Throughout 12 seasons, we've seen jokes centered around Sheldon's spot, including when Penny accidentally shot his spot with a paintball gun. But when Sheldon is ready to take the next step with Amy and move in with her, he claims his spot in 4A will always be his spot. He even compared his spot to an embassy and his butt sitting to sovereign soil.
'A Little Misunderstanding?! Galileo And The Pope Had A Little Misunderstanding!'
With Sheldon and Leonard arguing over a research paper, the two were not on speaking terms. But thanks to Penny, she took their walk up the four flights of stairs to pry into their argument. "So Sheldon! You and Leonard - a little misunderstanding, huh?" she says dryly. Sheldon is annoyed by her question and says "A little misunderstanding?! Galileo and the pope had a little misunderstanding!"
Just in case his joke went over viewers' heads, he's referring to Galileo's argument with the Catholic Church over the Earth orbiting the Sun. Galileo was correct, of course, but he still spent his remaining days imprisoned for his forward-thinking.
'This Physicist Goes Into An Ice Cream Parlor Every Week And Orders An Ice Cream Sundae...'
You don't need to be a physicist to laugh at Penny's sad attempt at a joke when her competitive neighbor moved in upstairs. Seeing how much attention she was getting from "her" friends, Penny became annoyed that someone as pretty and cute as her and was on her turf. To make matters worse, the new neighbor was also an actress (with a better resume than Penny's).
In a weird attempt to get the guys back on her side, she tells a long (and apparently insulting) joke to get them back on her side. But if anything, it confused them as to what point she was trying to make.
'You're Not Well Suited For Three-Dimensional Chess, Perhaps Three-Dimensional Candyland Would Be More Your Speed'
In "The Pancake Batter Anomaly," Sheldon is sick and has Penny take care of him. Once Leonard found out Sheldon had a cold, he bolted for the door and hoped to never return. Sheldon's not easy to take care of, after all.
At the beginning of the episode, however, the pair are playing a game of three-dimensional chess. After Sheldon wins (as per usual), he tells Leonard "Obviously you’re not well suited for three-dimensional chess, perhaps three-dimensional Candyland would be more your speed." We have to give Sheldon a hand for at least knowing the game of Candyland, right?
'Excuse Me, No One Does A Better Job At Pretending To Be A Person Than I Do. Siri Comes Close But I Know More Jokes'
In "The Mystery Date Observation," Sheldon and Amy have officially broken up and she's out on a date with a British man named Dave. To mend his broken heart, Raj and Howard help Sheldon find a new girlfriend through a series of intricate questions a potential suitor would have to answer before winning Sheldon's heart.
It's in this episode that we see Sheldon comparing himself to a robot, which was comically accurate. Sheldon doesn't seem like a person who spits jokes out, but he actually does... Just in his quirky Sheldon way.