Main Page
Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki! We already have Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character ",". comic explanations!
(But there are still Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character ",". to go. Come and add yours!)
And we are back! Sorry for the database issues! --Jeff (talk) 13:16, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
Latest comic
| Sticks and Stones |
 Title text: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me think I deserved it. |
Explanation
|
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect. If you see a way to improve it, edit it! Thanks. |
Sticks and stones will break my bones
But words/names will never harm/hurt me.
is a nursery rhyme said, often by parents, to persuade an individual, usually a child, to ignore any name calling or mean taunts that were said by others in an attempt to hurt the individual's feelings.
This comic plays on this rhyme by having the child come in and say that although words can't harm you physically, they can change how you feel and make you feel happy or sad and the child suggests that how you are feeling is all that matters in the world. When Cueball suggests that the world isn't that bad the child reminds him of the "sticks and stones" part of the rhyme meaning that, even when emotions aren't an issue, the world can be quite harsh because there are things like sticks and stones that break your bones and presumably people who use them as weapons to do so. This is enough to change Cueball's mind so that he thinks the world is actually horrific.
The rhyme is actually incorrect, as recent studies (for example: http://www.pnas.org/content/108/15/6270.full?sid=758b38cc-b399-4d22-9c37-3c074cf321b) have shown that the brain's reactions to physical pain and emotional rejection are very similar and even feed into each other.
Transcript
- Child: Did you hear what he said about me!?
- Cueball: Well, remember: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words—
- Child: —can make someone else feel happy or sad, which is literally the only thing that matters in this stupid world?
- [Brief pause]
- Child: Right?
- Cueball: The world isn't that bad.
- Child: Explain the line about sticks and stones?
- Cueball: ...OK, maybe it's kind of horrific.
New here?
Feel free to sign up for an account and contribute to the explain xkcd wiki! We need explanations for comics, characters, themes, memes and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd web comic, it should be here.
- If you're new to wikis like this, take a look at these help pages describing how to navigate the wiki, and how to edit pages.
- Discussion about various parts of the wiki is going on at Explain XKCD:Community portal. Share your 2¢!
- List of all comics contains a complete table of all xkcd comics so far and the corresponding explanations. The red links (like this) are missing explanations. Feel free to help out by creating them!
Rules
Don't be a jerk. There are a lot of comics that don't have set in stone explanations, feel free to put multiple interpretations in the wiki page for each comic.
If you want to talk about a specific comic, use its discussion page.
Please only submit material directly related to—and helping everyone better understand—xkcd... and of course only submit material that can legally be posted (and freely edited.) Off-topic or other inappropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users posting such are at risk of being blocked.
If you need assistance from an admin, feel free to leave a message on their personal discussion page. The list of admins is here.
Logo
Explain xkcd logo courtesy of User:Alek2407.
