explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:586: Mission to Culture

2014-06-03T05:25:02Z

108.162.219.21:

If Megan's only got stick-figure arms with no hands or fingernails, how is she leaving multiple scratches on the floor in the first scene? {{unsigned ip|‎121.223.16.83}}
:I think she's grabbing the rug. --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 16:08, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Edited the explanation section on orchestra seating to make plurals of violist, cellist, and bassist consistent with violinist. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 05:25, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

586: Mission to Culture

2014-06-03T05:22:00Z

108.162.219.21: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 586
| date = May 20, 2009
| title = Mission to Culture
| image = mission to culture.png
| titletext = It can't be very MUCH money... they apparently can't even afford a sampler. I mean, with a little remixing, some of this could be kinda good!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] wants to take [[Megan]] out for his idea of a cultural experience. The inference is that Megan's culturally impoverished because 'all she ever listens to is techno'. After much griping on various levels, she starts to get into the experience — sort of. The big 'cultural lesson' she [mis-]gleans from the experience is similar to what a sporting aficionado would gain from watching a sports event.

Her observation regards the seating configuration of a typical modern orchestra, in which the violinists all sit audience-left, while the violists, cellists and bassists are on the right.

The title text basically just ices the cake. A {{w|sampler (musical instrument)|sampler}} is an instrument frequently used in techo music that samples other sounds and plays them back, usually electronically altered. {{w|Remix|Remixing}} is a process, also often used in techno, of editing recorded music to get a different sound.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is pulling Megan by the legs. She is holding onto the ground.]
:Cueball: We're getting some culture in you if it ''kills'' you.
:Megan: Don't wanna.

:[Cueball is pushing Megan through a door.]
:Cueball: All you listen to is techno.
:Megan: But... the ''symphony?''

:[The couple stand in line between other people.]
:Megan: I think we're the only people here under 60.
:Cueball: Shhh.

:[The couple sit in the audience just before the concert.]
:Megan: The right side is definitely better.
:Cueball: Better?
:Megan: They've all got bigger instruments. I bet they make more money.
:Cueball: *Sigh*

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Music]]

575: Tag Combination

2014-06-02T12:55:54Z

108.162.219.21: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 575
| date = April 29, 2009
| title = Tag Combination
| image = tag combination.png
| titletext = I love Eileen / and want you to love her / When you're around / I'm one floor above her / If you could see / just how much I adore her / Oh, that pretty red dress / I'd do anything for her / (Too ra loo ra too ra loo rye ayy)
}}

==Explanation==

Song tags are a form of file {{w|metadata}} used to categorize music. Tags will typically describe the content and genre of the song, and many music organization programs and services will allow users to find all songs that contain a particular tag; so when a user searches for "Country breakup music," they will receive a list of {{w|Country music|country}} songs about breaking up.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] tests [[Megan]]'s claim that she can make a song name for any set of tags by coming up with a collection of mostly unrelated words: "{{w|lesbian}} {{w|voyeurism}} {{w|one-hit wonder}} {{w|Mashup (music)|mash-up|}}." A {{w|lesbian}} is a woman who is only romantically interested in other women. {{w|Voyeurism}} is the act of watching someone else do something sexual, generally without their knowledge. A {{w|one-hit wonder}} is a band that had "one big hit" before fading from the public eye forever. A {{w|Mashup (music)|mash-up}} is when someone takes two previously unrelated songs and makes a third song that's a mix of both of them (a recent example of which would be [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82LCKBdjywQ this Gangam Style/Ghostbusters theme mashup]). In response, Megan almost immediately replies with two song titles that look like they would fit the tags well.

Megan's first title, "I Wish That Stacy's Mom Had Jessie's Girl" is a ''mash-up'' of {{w|Jessie's Girl|"Jessie's Girl"}} by {{w|Rick Springfield}}, and {{w|Stacy's Mom|"Stacy's Mom"}} by {{w|Fountains of Wayne}}, which were both ''one-hit-wonders''. The second title, "When You Come on Eileen I Touch Myself" is a ''mash-up'' of {{w|Come On Eileen|"Come on Eileen"}} by {{w|Dexy's Midnight Runners}}, and {{w|I Touch Myself|"I Touch Myself"}} by {{w|Divinyls}}.

The title text is a set of potential lyrics to Megan's second title. Randall borrowed the rhyme scheme, phrasing, and subject matter from the first eight stanzas of {{w|I Touch Myself|"I Touch Myself"}} with additional subject matter inspired by {{w|Come On Eileen|"Come on Eileen."}} The final stanza is the chorus lead-in from the latter.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: So you can come up with a song title fitting any tag combination?
:Megan: Try me.
:Cueball: Lesbian voyeurism one-hit wonder mash-up.
:Megan: "I wish that Stacey's Mom had Jessie's Girl."

:Cueball: Well, that was one, but-
:Megan: "When you Come On Eileen I touch myself."
:Cueball: Okay, wow.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Music]]

Talk:532: Piano

2014-05-29T08:47:30Z

108.162.219.21:

Maybe I'm wrong here, but by looking at the size of the piano compared with Cueball and having read the title text, I wonder if the joke might be that he wished for a 4-5 inch penis instead? I wasn't sure enoough to go ahead an change it though.{{unsigned|Athang}}
: If you look at the piano compared to Cueball's forearm plus hand, they are approximately the same length. Considering how the average male human is slightly shorter in height (1.7 m) than a grand piano is long (2 m), a to-scale pianist would be slightly shorter than Cueball's forearm. The average length of a 1.7 m tall person's forearm plus hand is about 47 cm, so the pianist would need to be about 40 cm. (1.7:2 = 0.85 ratio. 47 cm * 0.85 = 40 cm.) 40 cm is almost 16 inches. In [[526: Converting to Metric]], 14 cm is labeled "penis", and according to the {{w|Kinsey Institute}}, the largest medically recorded was 13.5 inches (34 cm).

:Alternatively, the title text might have been saying "Good thing [the genie] didn't make [his penis] smaller [than it was before?], or [his penis would] need someone three inches tall to play [with] it." [[User:Tryc|Tryc]] ([[User talk:Tryc|talk]]) 15:20, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

:The extremely clear implication is that he asked for a 12-inch pianist, echoing the original joke. Occam's Razor and Megan's response support this view. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]]

Currently, this comic is listed as being in the "My Hobby" series, but it doesn't fit the series description. It's not phrased as if this is Randall's hobby, it's more situation-specific than the other My Hobby comics, and the title doesn't start with "My Hobby:". Should it be removed from the list? [[User:Sciepsilon|Sciepsilon]] ([[User talk:Sciepsilon|talk]]) 22:19, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
:The first two words from Cueball are: "My hobby...". The category is appropriate here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:16, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
:Agreed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]]
:Disagreed. It has nothing to do with the other "my hobby" comics, which all describes some weird trolling activity. This is just a guy making miniatures, a much more normal hobby. The ensuing panels of discussion doesn't fit the pattern either. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.119|108.162.254.119]] 20:21, 30 January 2014 (UTC)
:Also disagreed. The "my hobby" comics are about Randall's, and not Cueball's (albeit his alter-ego) hobbies. They all begin vey clearly with the phrase "My hobby:" in superscript before describing that hobby for comedic effect. Here, Cueball's hobby is not the subject and punchline of the comic, but rather the set-up for the joke about the size of his erm... member. It might meet the letter, but misses the spirit of the "my hobby" rubric. Any person searching for a comic in the "my hobby" series would be pretty surprised to find this one. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 08:47, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

447: Too Old For This Shit

2014-05-27T05:25:02Z

108.162.219.21:

{{comic
| number = 447
| date = July 9, 2008
| title = Too Old For This Shit
| image = too_old_for_this_shit.png
| titletext = They say if a mathematician doesn't do their great work by age eleven, they never will.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of the fact that most mathematical geniuses have their exceptional work done in their early years (for which they eventually become famous) by exaggerating it, particularly given that "too old for this shit" is a phrase more appropriately used by people later in age. At the age of thirteen, even precocious mathematicians will not be to a point where they would be pushing the frontier of mathematical knowledge, let alone to the point where they would be "too old for it." As such, this is more a joke about a young boy attempting to dismiss the world around him.

A striking example is Carl Friedrich Gauss the famous mathematician, who wrote his exceptional masterpiece Disquisitiones Arithmeticae at the early age of 21. At least in "{{w|Measuring the World}}" he admitted having trouble understanding it when he got older because of his age.

The title of the comic, "Too Old For This Shit", is also likely a reference to the {{w|Lethal Weapon}} series, in which one of the main characters (Roger Murtaugh, played by Danny Glover) is repeatedly quoted as saying things along the line of "I'm too old for this shit."

The title text just tops this and claims that a mathematician should do their first great work at the age of eleven, if not, they've failed.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and friend and standing somewhere.]
:Cueball: I wish I could do math like when i was young.
:Friend: Huh?
:Cueball: It doesn't come easy like it once did.
:Friend: Uh huh.
:Cueball: Math is a game for the young. I need to sit back and let the future happen.
:Friend: You're thirteen.
:Cueball: Yes, and it's time I accept that.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:428: Starwatching

2014-05-21T12:55:52Z

108.162.219.21:

An interesting interpretation. I thought Cueball was just referencing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King The Lion King]. [[Special:Contributions/184.41.49.246|184.41.49.246]] 00:53, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

My thoughts exactly. "Great kings of the past," "great bloggers of the past"... I don't think there was any intended reference to Christianity.{{unsigned ip|24.20.112.104}}

I think the word "blog" is more an elision than a portmanteau, since it's not a conflation (e.g. mansplain, muppet, or smog) of two words, here "web" and "log," but rather a shortening (or eliding) of the same. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 12:55, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-05-21T08:29:20Z

108.162.219.21: Created page with "The title text doesn't "imply" that Randall went through a frosting phase in college similar to his present-day bacon obsession; it flat-out states it. The reader need not inf..."

The title text doesn't "imply" that Randall went through a frosting phase in college similar to his present-day bacon obsession; it flat-out states it. The reader need not infer anything. Also, the usage of parens to define both a "phase" and "frosting" struck me as a little bit pedantic. I suspect most, if not all, readers of both xkcd and this explainer site are well enough versed with these nuances. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 08:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)