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The stories behind the episodes — history, pop culture, and the little things that make you just dangerous enough to hold your own. New reads every week.

What Is the Shopping Cart Theory? The Character Test With No Proctor in the Room

by: Sorta Sophisticated with Pete and AmandaPublished on: 09/09/2026

What is the shopping cart theory? The 2020 internet argument that returning your cart tests your character, where it came from, and why a quarter beats it.

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What Is the Shopping Cart Theory? The Character Test With No Proctor in the Room

What Is an Irish Goodbye? The Party Exit That's Only Rude Below a Certain Headcount

by: Sorta Sophisticated with Pete and AmandaPublished on: 07/09/2026

What is an Irish goodbye? Leaving a party without saying goodbye — where the phrase came from, whether it's rude, and the guest count that settles it.

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What Is an Irish Goodbye? The Party Exit That's Only Rude Below a Certain Headcount

What Is Dunbar's Number? The 150-Person Ceiling That Explains Every Unwritten Rule You Follow

by: Sorta Sophisticated with Pete and AmandaPublished on: 24/08/2026

What is Dunbar's number? The 150-person ceiling on how many people you can really know, where the figure came from, and why researchers still fight over it.

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What Is Dunbar's Number? The 150-Person Ceiling That Explains Every Unwritten Rule You Follow

What Is the Broken Windows Theory? Why You're Not Mad About the Merge — You're Mad He Got Away With It

by: Sorta Sophisticated with Pete and AmandaPublished on: 23/08/2026

What is the broken windows theory? The 1982 idea that unpunished small rule-breaking spreads, the abandoned-car study, and where the theory got it wrong.

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What Is the Broken Windows Theory? Why You're Not Mad About the Merge — You're Mad He Got Away With It