Difference between revisions of "491: Twitter"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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m (Explanation: clean up, typos fixed: burma → Burma)
(Explanation: Why do we have a wiki link for "advertising"?)
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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
This comic plays off of an old shaving cream product's {{w|Burma-Shave}} {{w|advertising}} campaign employed on American highways from {{w|1925}} to {{w|1963}}. These ads used short poems, each line arranged sequentially on a sign along a highway, the last line always being "Burma Shave", the name of the shaving cream. Originally these ads only described the product, but others included driving safety messages.  
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This comic plays off of an old shaving cream product's {{w|Burma-Shave}} advertising campaign employed on American highways from {{w|1925}} to {{w|1963}}. These ads used short poems, each line arranged sequentially on a sign along a highway, the last line always being "Burma Shave", the name of the shaving cream. Originally these ads only described the product, but others included driving safety messages.
  
{{w|XKCD}} uses the image html-title-attribute text (sometime confused with {{w|Alt-text}}) as a major part of the joke-telling — on most browsers the title-text shows as a "{{w|tool-tip}}" when the cursor is left hovering over the image.   {{w|Firefox 2}} had the longest standing annoying bug where only the initial part of the title-text were shown as a tool-tip, creating a "Burma-Shave" effect of only being able to see some of the text. Unlike Burma-Shave where you would see the rest of the text as you were driving down the highway, Firefox didn't actually show you the rest of the text unless you right-clicked-show-property and you would be able to see a sideways scrollable field of the (alt)-title-text in the properties for the image.
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[[xkcd]] uses the image html-title-attribute text (sometime confused with {{w|Alt-text}}) as a major part of the joke-telling — on most browsers the title-text shows as a "{{w|tool-tip}}" when the cursor is left hovering over the image. {{w|Firefox 2}} had the longest standing annoying bug where only the initial part of the title text were shown as a tool-tip, creating a "Burma-Shave" effect of only being able to see some of the text. Unlike Burma-Shave where you would see the rest of the text as you were driving down the highway, Firefox didn't actually show you the rest of the text unless you right-clicked-show-property and you would be able to see a sideways scrollable field of the (alt)-title-text in the properties for the image.
  
 
{{w|Twitter}} is a messaging service where your messages are restricted in length, so to get a longer easay sent you will need to break it up in smaller fragments — like the {{w|Burma-Shave}} messages.
 
{{w|Twitter}} is a messaging service where your messages are restricted in length, so to get a longer easay sent you will need to break it up in smaller fragments — like the {{w|Burma-Shave}} messages.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in a caster office chair typing onto a smartphone]
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:[Cueball is sitting in a caster office chair typing onto a smartphone.]
: ''Beep beep''
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:''Beep beep''
  
 
:Phone: "On Twitter feeds"
 
:Phone: "On Twitter feeds"
  
:[More typing]
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:[More typing.]
  
 
:Phone: "an odd regression:"
 
:Phone: "an odd regression:"
  
:[More typing]
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:[More typing.]
  
 
:Phone: "ancient memes"
 
:Phone: "ancient memes"
  
:[More typing]
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:[More typing.]
  
 
:Phone: "find new expression"
 
:Phone: "find new expression"
  
:[More typing]
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:[More typing.]
  
 
:Phone: "Burma-Shave"
 
:Phone: "Burma-Shave"

Revision as of 09:27, 11 July 2014

Twitter
If long tooltips / cut off for you / then upgrade from / Firefox 2 / Burma Shave
Title text: If long tooltips / cut off for you / then upgrade from / Firefox 2 / Burma Shave

Explanation

This comic plays off of an old shaving cream product's Burma-Shave advertising campaign employed on American highways from 1925 to 1963. These ads used short poems, each line arranged sequentially on a sign along a highway, the last line always being "Burma Shave", the name of the shaving cream. Originally these ads only described the product, but others included driving safety messages.

xkcd uses the image html-title-attribute text (sometime confused with Alt-text) as a major part of the joke-telling — on most browsers the title-text shows as a "tool-tip" when the cursor is left hovering over the image. Firefox 2 had the longest standing annoying bug where only the initial part of the title text were shown as a tool-tip, creating a "Burma-Shave" effect of only being able to see some of the text. Unlike Burma-Shave where you would see the rest of the text as you were driving down the highway, Firefox didn't actually show you the rest of the text unless you right-clicked-show-property and you would be able to see a sideways scrollable field of the (alt)-title-text in the properties for the image.

Twitter is a messaging service where your messages are restricted in length, so to get a longer easay sent you will need to break it up in smaller fragments — like the Burma-Shave messages.

Transcript

[Cueball is sitting in a caster office chair typing onto a smartphone.]
Beep beep
Phone: "On Twitter feeds"
[More typing.]
Phone: "an odd regression:"
[More typing.]
Phone: "ancient memes"
[More typing.]
Phone: "find new expression"
[More typing.]
Phone: "Burma-Shave"


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Discussion

Just end every sentence in Burma Shave Spongebog (talk)

Never tried this/It could work/I just need an idea/Wait, crap./Burma-Shave

Are we sure that Cueball is typing? It seems to me that he is getting a series of texts (or a series of tweets), because of the "Beep Beep" sound: cell phones typically don't beep when typing. --Troy0 (talk) 09:25, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I have to agree, add in that the zig-zag is used for external text usually, like the other end of a call. 173.245.56.154 20:35, 22 July 2014 (UTC)
The transcript was accordingly edited. --Troy0 (talk) 04:05, 25 July 2014 (UTC

I don't think the title text explanation is correct. He's not suggesting you upgrade to "Burma Shave" - he's saying, "Upgrade from Firefox 2". Burma Shave just follows. I'll edit it. --108.162.216.54 12:55, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

This comic not appearing for me on the xkcd.com website, anyone else? 162.158.122.6 20:24, 15 December 2016 (UTC) For sale: baby shoes, never worn