Editing Talk:1388: Subduction License

"In the end, much to Cueball's consternation, these mountains turn his desk and chair over. Cueball actually falls out of the frame in the final panel, where Beret Guy is already halfway down beneath the floor. This would not be possible in real life. [citation needed]"
...Hoping this is a joke...
:Citation needed is a recurring joke on ExplainXKCD.{{Citation needed}} [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]] ([[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]]) 18:00, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

I'm assuming "subduction license" is being comically reinterpreted here from some other meaning.  What is a subduction license, normally speaking? [[User:Jevicci|Jevicci]] ([[User talk:Jevicci|talk]]) 15:20, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
:play on words with "production license".

Um, you're making it too easy to make me normal and rub away very fast {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.9}}

I'm thinking the closest real term to "subduction license" is probably "Subversion License" - Subversion being a popular source code repository system. (Edit: Created a new account) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:02, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

:Nah, that's not it ... there's got to be some pun on ''license'', or perhaps a term that sounds like ''-uction license''. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.159|173.245.54.159]] 23:14, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
::Could be the ''seduction license'' he should have applied for instead. He wishes to seduce his roommate, and has applied for a license for this. However he misunderstood the word and has applied for the other license, and has also read about it on Wikipedia ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 1 July 2014 (UTC)
::: Given Beret Guy's past and future expressions of unusual or impossible power, it's probably best to assume that it is literally a license that allows him to perform subduction. That it. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 05:59, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Google supplies http://www.cafepress.ca/+subduction+license-plate-frames which offers "Subduction License Plate Frames", which I believe is an accidental verbal conjunction.  I believe it's in the context of the web site selling a range of images and designs printed on various objects.  In this case the object is a license plate frame, and the image is a diagram of subduction.  Since the centre is cut out of the image in order to display the license plate, the combination is pretty useless.  But, here it is, a subduction license plate frame, in which to place your subduction license.  So why is that funny?  Well, maybe it was the web site's special offer of the day, or, it was a Googlewhack.  But now, a few days later, the Internet is awash with people asking "Why is 'subduction license' funny?" rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 08:45, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

My second theory: by the time he sobered up and realised it wasn't funny after all, there wasn't time to draw a new comic.  Although I could draw one of these in five minutes (lettering takes longer), so that doesn't work.  Maybe he's ill, badly ill. rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 08:45, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

My third theory: did someone make earthquakes illegal?  Or make them legal with a license?  It's in the news that scientists are satisfied with the evidence that licensed fracking is causing earthquakes in Oklahoma, but it seems to be pretty easy to get a license or permit to do fracking.  But the news story appeared after this comic was published - if you get your geology news from regular newspapers.  And obviously the question had been asked earlier.  So, the comic may be based on that.  rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 08:45, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

Alternate explanation for the title text: A fault is a break between two blocks of the lithosphere (or the crust if you want to be more vernacular). The two blocks move in one of three ways: laterally side-by-side (making it a transform fault), away from each other (a normal fault) or toward each other (a reverse fault, which is the kind involved in subduction). If Beret Guy were normal, he'd have to be moving away from Cueball. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 15:15, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Also, "AUGH!" reminds me of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts Peanuts]: [[File:https://fenetreovale.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/charliebrownlucy-rugby.png]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.232|108.162.229.232]] 19:02, 14 February 2017 (UTC)Mandel

Why does the mini mountain range have snow on the peaks? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.138|172.68.65.138]] 15:45, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

:Because it's funny! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 20:18, 27 October 2021 (UTC)