Is Four A Lot? Meme Template

Clara asks a question, and the Doctor explains that the answer changes with the context. Keep the same number and compare something where it seems small with something where it seems enormous.

A number means little until you say what you are counting. The first example makes it sound modest; the last gives it a much larger consequence.

The contrast should be easy to judge. Four chips are not much of a snack, while four pizzas are quite a meal for one person.

The familiar exchange was not written for Doctor Who. It grew from an online joke about whether four counts as a large number. A screenshot from Yik Yak was shared on Tumblr in April 2016, following an earlier related Reddit question in 2013. [1]

On May 26, 2019, the Instagram parody account incorrectwhoquotes placed the joke over images of Clara Oswald and the Twelfth Doctor. Reposts in June helped turn that four-panel conversation into a template with replaceable examples. [1]

Read the four pictures left to right, then down. Put the question in the upper-left picture and the context reply in the upper-right. The two lower pictures supply the contrasting answers.

Keep the number consistent. The last caption should make the difference obvious without needing a calculation or a specialist explanation.

The quantity question

Below Clara’s face in the upper-left picture.

The qualified answer

On the Doctor’s shirt in the upper-right picture.

Where it is not much

Near the bottom of the lower-left picture.

Where it is a lot

Near the bottom of the lower-right picture.

• Write one line of the exchange in each panel.
• Keep captions on the lower parts of the pictures.
• Make the third panel the modest quantity.
• Save the bigger consequence for the final panel.