65: Banter

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
Banter
This was an actual mock conversation between me and a friend at TGIF. The waitress walked up around panel 5 and was somewhat put off.
Title text: This was an actual mock conversation between me and a friend at TGIF. The waitress walked up around panel 5 and was somewhat put off.

Explanation[edit]

Two guys are trash-talking each other with homophobic comments and "your mom" jokes. It goes somewhat astray and becomes awkward when the first guy makes a pass at the second guy and is rejected. Part of the element of the humor in this comic stems from a common assertion that the most homophobic of men are the most likely to be a closeted homosexual. Another element is the incredible awkwardness of the end conversation, with both characters standing awkwardly for the last 2 panels.

Fag, ass pirate, fudge packer, and cock jockey are all insults for a homosexual man, while cum dumpster can apply to both men and women. These terms were not generally considered more than mildly offensive by most of the public at the time this comic was posted. The cultural mainstream is now typically much more critical of this type of language, and this comic would likely be heavily criticized if it were published today.

In the title text, he says he mock-held this conversation with a friend in a TGIF restaurant, indicating how awkward this would be in real life. Even the waiter, a bystander, is put off by it.

Transcript[edit]

[Two Cueball like characters have a discussion. They are drawn the same in all eight panels.]
Guy: Man, she's hot
Friend: Whatever, you are so gay.
Guy: C'mon, everyone knows you're the gay one.
Friend: Hey, your mom's pretty masculine, but sleeping with her doesn't make me gay.
Guy: Fag.
Friend: Ass pirate.
Guy: Fudge packer
Friend: Cock jockey
Guy: Cum dumpster.
[Beat panel.]
Guy: Okay, seriously, are you gay? Because if you've been holding out on me, we're missing out.
Friend: No, it's cool.
Guy: OK, me neither.
[Beat panel.]
[Beat panel.]


comment.png add a comment! ⋅ comment.png add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif refresh comments!

Discussion

There is a community portal discussion of what to call Cueball and what to do in case with more than one Cueball. I have added this comic to the new Category:Multiple Cueballs. In this case there is no reason to call one Cueball and the other friend. It could easily be the other way. So I have changed to remove Cueball--Kynde (talk) 13:34, 15 March 2015 (UTC)