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No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As A Glazed Lizard Donut

June 25, 2026 • 57m

Summary

⏱️ 5 min read

Overview

The QI team discusses four fascinating facts: how pretentious art titles make works seem more profound, Disney princesses becoming more ambidextrous over time, unexpected connections between world leaders and tailors, and desert grassland whiptail lizards that reproduce without males through pseudo-mating behavior. The conversation ranges from art criticism and animation history to presidential fashion demands and reproductive biology, with the hosts' characteristic blend of humor and curiosity.

The Power of Pretentious Art Titles

Dan explores how giving artwork pretentious or abstract names actually makes viewers perceive it as more profound and meaningful. The discussion covers scientific studies showing people rate art more highly when it has mysterious titles, the history of art naming conventions, and the infamous 1920s disumbration movement where an artist successfully trolled critics with deliberately bad paintings given highbrow titles.

  • Scientific study found that artworks with pretentious names like 'Death Echo' are rated as more meaningful than those with mundane titles
  • Art pieces didn't need names historically because they stayed in fixed locations like monasteries or homes - naming only became necessary when art started traveling in the 18th century
  • The Mona Lisa's name wasn't given by the artist but by someone many years later who needed to catalogue it
  • Pavel Jordanovich created the disumbration art movement in 1924 as a hoax, making deliberately bad art with pretentious descriptions that critics praised, then revealed it was satire in 1927
" Pavel Giordanovich is not satisfied to follow ordinary paths, his spirit delights in intoxication and he is prey to the aesthetic agonies which are not experienced without suffering "

Disney Princesses and Handedness Evolution

James reveals that most modern Disney princesses are ambidextrous, a shift from earlier films where princesses were right-handed and villains were left-handed. This reflects changing social attitudes toward left-handedness, which was stigmatized in the 1950s-60s when children were forced to write with their right hands. The conversation explores how Disney characters evolved from homemakers to more empowered figures, though hand size disparities between male and female characters remain extreme.

  • Before 1992, most Disney princesses were right-handed while villains tended to be left-handed, but this pattern has reversed in modern films
  • Only 13 characters qualify as official Disney princesses, with specific requirements including being human and either born royal, marrying royal, or being Mulan
  • In Disney and other animated films, male characters' hands are on average 3-4 times larger than female characters' hands, far exceeding the real 12% size difference
  • Tinkerbell and Esmeralda were demoted from Disney princess status despite appearing in Disney films
" Sex is far from the perfect way to reproduce, it imposes a huge cost on a species and that cost is called males. If half a species is made up of males who can't make babies, what's the point in that half? "

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