From time to time, we here at CERN Love are priveleged enough to overhear some truly amazing discussions.  Whether we are wandering through one of CERN’s overcrowded restaurants at the peek of lunch hour, spending 8 grueling hours on a shift, or just casually drinking a coffee in the newly-furnished atrium of lovely Building 40, we are privy to some interesting shit coming out of people’s mouths.

Today, I want to bestow upon you a gem of a dialogue I overheard last week between two not-so-intelligent physicists (with a special appearance by an intelligent physicist!):

Dumbass A :  So, if you look here, you can see the output rates…
Dumbass B :  …yes, I can follow that.  My only question is abou–
Dumbass A :  –and don’t forget the units are in [read as 'megahertz'] mHz.
Intelligent Physicist :  Actually, the units printed there are millihertz.
[...the two dumbasses stare at the laptop screen, and then confusingly at one another...]
Dumbass B : Well, the ‘k’ in ‘kilohertz’ is lowercase, so…
Dumbass A : …yeah, I think it’s ‘mega.’
[Intelligent Physicist walks away, dumbfounded.]

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that CERN is a wonderfully stimulating place, with many of the world’s greatest minds, but this left me awe-struck.  If there’s any confusion:

Answer key.

Even Wikipedia says so!  The only other question is: what the hell were they discussing that could be measured in millihertz?