explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2540: TTSLTSWBD

2021-11-11T17:16:26Z

141.101.105.73: People have lunch (citation needed)

{{comic
| number = 2540
| date = November 10, 2021
| title = TTSLTSWBD
| image = ttsltswbd.png
| titletext = Tomorrow's sessions will be entirely devoted to sewing machine rotary hooks.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXCESSIVELY LONG ACRONYM THAT SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULD WORK BUT DOESN'T. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]] is standing at a lectern on a [[1661: Podium|podium]], addressing a large crowd. He is describing the program of some event, listing the different topics that will be covered. These appear to be random, but the caption gives the punchline: it is a conference on things that seem like they shouldn't work but do.

By "things that seem like they shouldn't work", it means things that you wouldn't expect to be able to function at all. TTSLTSWBD in the title and the banner is the abbreviation for "Things That Seem Like They Shouldn't Work, But Do".

{{w|Organ transplantation}}, where a functioning organ is pulled from a (possibly deceased) person and put into another person where it will continue to operate, is not a simple process, and a lot of things could go wrong and make it not work. Nevertheless, humanity’s medical knowledge is advanced enough that organ transplantation is a widely accepted and largely effective life-saving procedure.

{{w|Airship|Airships}}, or dirigibles, are big,{{citation needed}} and look pretty heavy [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Hindenburg_disaster.jpg 1]], but are able to be held aloft by the lighter than air gas inside.

{{w|Lunch|Lunch}} is listed as if it was another topic of the TTSLTSWBD, but it actually just means that after discussing airships, the conference will take a break to eat lunch, as many humans usually do.[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]

{{w|Gyroscope|Gyroscopes}}, where a spinning disk will tend to keep its orientation in space despite the movement of the structure around it, can be counterintuitive even to those who understand the physical principles. This weirdness has been previously referenced in [[332: Gyroscopes]].

{{w|Butterfly|Butterflies}} fly with an unusual fluttering behaviour, which works in part due to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithopter#Aerodynamics notoriously complex principles of fluid dynamics] that may look like uncontrolled fluttering but yet somehow allows the creature to land directly on specific flowerheads to feed. This is not as intuitively understandable as the flight of larger creatures such as birds.

The title text refers to {{w|Rotary hook|rotary hooks}} on sewing machines, which are a complicated (and complicated looking) mechanism whose purpose is to feed one thread in a loop around a whole spool of another thread, to the extent that they feel they need a whole day to cover them.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands at a lectern gesturing with one hand held out, speaking to an audience. A banner hangs on the wall with the acronym "TTSLTSWBD" displayed in large text, with illegible smaller text under it.]
:Cueball: Next we have a session on organ transplants and another on airships.
:Cueball: Then lunch, then we'll have one on gyroscopes and one on butterflies.
:[Caption below panel:]
:The first annual conference on Things That Seem Like They Shouldn't Work But Do

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2539: Flinch

2021-11-10T08:24:02Z

141.101.105.73:

A follow-up joke: "Psychologist: I don't trust you not to give it a push."
[[User:Who, me?|Who, me?]] ([[User talk:Who, me?|talk]]) 02:13, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

A sudden wind guest wouldn't add much momentum to a smooth, small object like a bowling ball in one swing. Even given minimal friction losses (air resistance and the chain's internal friction) I very much doubt it would speed it up enough to cause much of an impact. Also, unless Cueball has very bad luck or precognitive powers, he's unlikely to have set up the experiment perfectly in line with the next unexpected gust of wind, meaning any velocity vector change is likely to make the bowling ball miss the target scientist or engineer, not hit harder. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 04:26, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

I disagree with the explanation's contention that the way Cueball is holding the ball means the experiment is being performed incorrectly. I think it's pretty clear he's not saying it will be released from exactly where he's holding it, since it's obviously not in front of any of their faces, and it's not yet above the mark on the floor. [[User:Esogalt|Esogalt]] ([[User talk:Esogalt|talk]]) 07:44, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

:Ditto. Although I have in mind a way in which a (passive) string support could be arranged so that upon the outward swing it unwraps a ting little bit and returns upon a marginally lower/significantly more face-ward back swing (same K+P energy totals at all points), even starting with a taut string. Or of course an active support that moves on command, but that'd be definite cheating-with-intent as opposed to an 'accident'.
:(I also imagine Randall saw the original, if not the Youtube parody, of your US Science-Explaining-Guy doing this for real. The Youtube parody had a cartoony 'face smash' edited in as the result as a (faux-?) bite back at the scientific rationalism. If I could remember the guy's name I'd have looked for video links to potentially insert, but all I'm getting is the likes of Brian Cox doing it (successfully), on a quick and broad search.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.50|172.70.91.50]] 10:05, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

: "Not hung up correctly" might also mean that the hook suddenly comes loose on the way back, in which case the ball would fly into your face, wouldn't it? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 10:58, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

::No, if the hook came loose the ball would drop to the ground. If it happened to come loose just at or very near the "closest to the target" point, it might fall on his/her foot, though. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:40, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

:: (Edit-conflicted by Nitpicking, who says the start of this more succinctly. Apols. for 'repeating' that as I repaste it all in again!)
:: More likely hit your chest/fall into your lower body. It would have to be set up very fine/coincidental to still be head(/chin?)height as it was now ballistic, instead of supported at the 'original' (nose?) level. I was thinking more like a small half-loop of string (an inch or two?) round the back and over of the presumed supporting rod and held under the taut cord leading to the nose-held ball with friction enough to preventing it unwrapping immediately.
:: On swinging away, the dangling cord angles off of the looped bit, the pendulum-arc lenghthens, and if this doesn't dissipate energy in too many other ways then the extra inch or so of length means that the outward swing of the ball (and, more importantly, the return one) will still get up to roughly nose-height at zero kinetic motion, but that would be several inches (assuming total pendulum arc somewhat less than 45°*2) horizontally outward from the centre.
:: (*Note: there'd be a moment of fall-and-catch with this setup, that a slightly different string-wrapping method might avoid, but this is the archetype for the principle. A more gradual slippage-event would also prevent possible catastrophic cord-snapping upon the completion of the lengthening, which would just drop the ball away from the 'experimentee' and be more dangerous to others.)
:: Perhaps the string isn't even anchored to the anchor-point, but looped over to a smaller weight that nonetheless catches or swings round like a bolas-ball, when dragged up, to prevent total unwinding beyond the 'accidental' short distance. It could look and ''feel'' like a proper hook-tied pendulum (within limits), but probably not so easy to be inadvertently arranged than an accidental twist of a cable over the support when (in 'good faith') setting up the equipment the first time. Which the engineer seems more concerned about (bridges/etc rarely collapse by design, but due to unaccounted-for technical issues/ocersights usually only blindingly obvious after seeing what went wrong) than "you set it up that way deliberately", as I read it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.145|141.101.98.145]] 12:00, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

:::Rather than your half-loop, which might be very visible, you could use a material for the cord/chain that stretches slightly under maximum tension (inelastically), say a soft alloy chain. Wait, why am I designing booby-trapped physics demonstrations? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 12:24, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Ponytail hardly ignores the question: "I don't trust that you hung that thing up correctly." is her answer to the question! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.161|172.70.178.161]] 11:44, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Not being familiar with the US university system, my knowledge of "premed" comes entirely from a brief scan of the Wikipedia article. Nonetheless I've expanded on the title text; hopefully it's not too egregiously wrong. [[User:Esogalt|Esogalt]] ([[User talk:Esogalt|talk]]) 13:15, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

An unmistakable xkcd leitmotif: in a world suckered by theory, engineers are the crafty realists (think [[670]] and [[898]]). (ezra) 15:09, 9 November 2021 (UTC)
:Or overconfident believers that if they can do engineering, they are experts in everything (think [[1570]]). [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 15:21, 9 November 2021 (UTC)
:: We should have a category for "engineering", similar to how we have categories for [[:Category:Physics]] and [[:Category:Biology]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.91|172.69.34.91]] 17:47, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Maybe in the explanation a link to someone performing the experiment? e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ZF50ve6rs [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.80|162.158.111.80]] 08:22, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
: oh, a similar video has already been linked. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.73|141.101.105.73]] 08:24, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

1142: Coverage

2021-11-09T12:02:24Z

141.101.105.73: /* Explanation */ I don't know if I'm not just over-interpreting, but it was the first layer of joke that I noticed. Undo if it's too far-fetched

{{comic
| number = 1142
| date = December 3, 2012
| title = Coverage
| image = coverage.png
| titletext = My resonant tunneling diode phone has limited range but a short enough wavelength to penetrate even the densest cages. This gives me a major combat advantage, hopefully.
}}

==Explanation==
The caption "faraday cagematch" is a portmanteau of "faraday cage" and "cagematch".

A {{w|Faraday cage}} is a cage of conducting material that interferes and blocks out {{w|electromagnetic radiation}} like cell phone signals, provided the material is of the appropriate thickness and the gaps between the "bars" are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. A {{w|cage match}} is a type of professional wrestling match in which the participants fight in a ring enclosed by a metal cage. The comic caption is a play on the two terms, putting [[Cueball]] into a cage match in the Faraday cage that is blocking his reception.

Also the fact that cueball gets hit in the face immediately after stating that the coverage is awful might be a joke about the different meanings of the word cover, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing#Defense|in boxing for example] the word cover-up is a defensive technique, while [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_network#Mobile_phone_network|cell phone coverage] refers to the connection quality of his phone to the mobile phone network. The fact that Cueball, obviously referring to his phone signal, complains about awful coverage (caused by the faraday cage) while his head is also badly or not at all covered (caused by himself), which allows his opponent to strike him, might be described as ironically comedic.

The title text is a play on a rule in cage matches that states that a participant wins if they are first to escape the cage. {{w|Tunneling diode|Tunneling diodes}} are capable of fast operation, allowing a device to generate high frequency signals, which are more capable of penetrating the mesh openings in a Faraday cage.

Randall uses Faraday cages again in [[Faraday Tour]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is looking at a phone.]
:Cueball: Man, the coverage here is ''awfu—''

:[Another man punches Cueball.]
:Caption: Faraday cagematch
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Phones]]

1427: iOS Keyboard

2021-11-08T12:21:56Z

141.101.105.73:

{{comic
| number = 1427
| date = September 29, 2014
| title = iOS Keyboard
| image = ios_keyboard.png
| titletext = More actual results: 'Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You [are the best. The best thing ever]', 'Revenge is a dish best served [by a group of people in my room]', and 'They may take our lives, but they'll never take our [money].'
}}

==Explanation==
It looks like [[Randall]] has been playing with his Apple device after installing the recently released {{w|iOS 8}} update. The comic is referencing the autocomplete function on the iOS virtual keyboard. A comparable feature is also available on other operating systems, like Android. When the phrase, for example, "Revenge is a dish best served" is typed, the keyboard will suggest “by” followed by “a” then “group” and so on.

The top of the comic, where the keyboard is shown, is a reference to the character Sherlock Holmes, a detective who is often attributed the famous line "Elementary, my dear Watson" (despite having never said that in the canon). In Randall's typing history, the word "dear" is most often followed by "lord", "friend", or "friends," and thus the phone suggests those words as a likely continuation of the line.

The title text continues, by showing more actual results from keyboard predictions from other movie quotes.

The following movies are referenced in the comic and title text:

{|class="wikitable"
!Movie
!Character & Situation
!Full Quote
!iOS Keyboard Version
|-

|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/quotes Scarface (1983)]
|Scarface is holding an M16, defending his house from Sosa's gunmen, shouting to attackers.
|"You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!"
|Say hello to my little ''sister and my mom and my dad and my friends''
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/quotes The Wizard of Oz (1939)]
|Dorothy with her dog, Toto, in Munchkin land.
|"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
|Toto, I've a feeling we're not ''going to the gym today''
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000007/quotes James Bond]
|Bond introducing himself, while holding trademark martini.
|"Bond, James Bond." (nothing follows).
|Bond, James Bond ''yields''
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/quotes Serenity (2005)]
|Wash, at the controls of Serenity.
|"I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar."
|I am a leaf on the wind - watch ''me play the piano''
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089218/quotes The Goonies (1985)]
|Mikey standing at the pool in the wishing well, encouraging his troop of misfits to continue on their journey.
|"Goonies never say die!"
|Goonies never say ''anything''
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/quotes The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)]
|Aragorn, Legolas & Gimli pledge allegiance to protect the ring bearer on their mission to destroy the ring.
|Aragorn: "If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword." Legolas: "And you have my bow." Gimli: "And *my* axe."
|Aragorn: "You have my sword." Legolas: "And my bow." Gimli: "And my" ''dad''
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/quotes The Princess Bride (1987)]
|Inigo Montoya facing the six fingered man, the man he swore a vendetta against for killing his father.
|"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
|Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You ''are the best. The best thing ever''.
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/ Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)]
|Khan paraphrasing Shakespeare to justify his vengeance.
|{{w|Revenge#Proverbs|"Revenge is a dish best served cold"}} (e.g. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/quotes Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)]: Khan: "...do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold?") The quote is not originally from Star Trek but was used already in 1967 in {{w|Death Rides a Horse}} but it is likely that it is the Star Trek reference that is best known to Randall as it is also referenced as a Klingon proverb in {{w|Kill Bill: Volume 1}}.
|Revenge is a dish best served ''by a group of people in my room''.
|-
|[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112573/quotes Braveheart (1995)]
|Wallace rallying his Scottish army before a seemingly hopeless battle against the English.
|"They may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"
|They may take our lives, but they'll never take our ''money''
|}

An older comic [[1068: Swiftkey]] is also about keyboard predictions, but without any preceding text (by the Swiftkey keyboard application instead of the iOS 8 keyboard).

It is similar to [[2169: Predictive Models]].

==Transcript==
:'''Movie quotes'''
:[Top picture shows a line typed on an iPhone.]
:Elementary, my dear
:[Then the next line shows the words suggested by the virtual keyboard.]
:Friend | Lord | Friends
:[Below are the visible part of keyboard. In the second line only the top of the letters can be seen.]
:QWERTYUIOP
:ASDFGHJKL
:[Below is a new sub heading above six pictures arranged in two rows.]
:According to iOS 8 keyboard predictions
:[For each of the six pictures a part of the text is black, and the other part is light grey. Below the black text is written in bold letters.]
:[Picture 1: Cueball stands with a machine gun.]
:Cueball: '''Say hello to my little''' sister and my mom and my dad and my friends
:[Picture 2: A girl stands next to her dog with a basket.]
:Girl: '''Toto, I've a feeling we're not''' going to the gym today
:[Picture 3: Bond talks to Megan.]
:James Bond: '''Bond, James Bond''' yields
:[Picture 4: A pilot operates his plane and talks to Cueball behind him.]
:Pilot: '''I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch''' me play the piano
:[Picture 5: A guy with dark hair stands behind a jagged edge.]
:Goonie: '''Goonies never say''' anything
:[Picture 6: A dwarf with long beard and helmet stands with an axe.]
:Off panel left: '''You have my sword.'''
:Off panel right: '''And my bow.'''
:Dwarf: '''And my''' dad

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:iOS]]
[[Category;Smartphones]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:LOTR]]

1618: Cold Medicine

2021-11-04T09:43:34Z

141.101.105.73: /* Explanation */ visibility of vital information?

{{comic
| number = 1618
| date = December 18, 2015
| title = Cold Medicine
| image = cold_medicine.png
| titletext = Seriously considering buying some illegal drugs to try to turn them back into cold medicine.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Cueball]] is probably representing [[Randall]] who seems to have been suffering from a long lasting {{w|Common cold|cold}} that he just can't get rid of. Two weeks before this comic Randall posted another comic about how a cold works: [[1612: Colds]]. This is also supported by the way the title text is phrased to make it sound like something Randall writes, disconnected with the action in the comic (see below).

The comic was released in December, and since Randall is living in {{w|Massachusetts}} in the {{w|Geographical zone|North Temperate Zone}} he, and everyone else living in this zone, is very likely to catch a cold at least at some point during fall and winter.

In the comic Cueball is evidently suffering from a cold and he is searching the shelves labeled cold and {{w|Influenza|Flu}} at a {{w|pharmacy}} for any kind of '''cold medicine''' (hence the title), to alleviate his symptoms. Note that this is all he can hope for, as there are still {{w|Common_cold#Management|no cure}} that really helps getting rid of the cold any faster. All medication can do is help relieving the symptoms until the body's own {{w|immune system}} takes care of the relatively harmless cold virus.

After looking at several different options Cueball is clearly unsatisfied with what he finds. Either he doesn't feel that any of the unmonitored drugs available on the serve-yourself-shelf is useful, or he is actually too sick to properly ascertain which medicine he needs. In the end he approaches the counter and asks the {{w|pharmacist}} ([[Ponytail]]) to give him one of every kind of cold medicine which requires an ID to purchase. Two years later Randall finds a solution for Cueball's problem with a new cold medicine with only active ingredients, including among other all the active ingredients from all the cold medicines on the market, see [[1896: Active Ingredients Only]].

'''Warning:''' [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtisticLicenseMedicine|Taking lots of different medicines together in real life could harm, or even kill you], because certain combinations of medications interact in ways that make them dangerous or even lethal.

Back in the comic, Ponytail tries to warn Cueball of another danger, that by simply ''purchasing'' so much cold medicine he would end up on a law enforcement watchlist, presumably one of the government agencies ({{w|DEA}}, {{w|FBI}}, {{w|CIA}} etc.) But she never gets to finish her sentence because Cueball is beyond caring and tells her this.

In the USA, cold medicines containing {{w|pseudoephedrine}} are kept behind the counter and IDs purchasing them are monitored, because pseudoephedrine can be used to make the {{w|List of Schedule I drugs (US)|scheduled}} drug {{w|methamphetamine}} or meth (a more hydrophobic - and thus potent - version of {{w|amphetamine}}). However, it is also an extremely effective {{w|decongestant}} (a pharmaceutical drug that is used to relieve {{w|nasal congestion}}/plugged nose), much more so than the common substitutes such as {{w|phenylephrine}} and {{w|oxymetazoline}} which have no clinically proven decongestant effect.

This could be one reason why Cueball just requests all kinds of cold medicines of amongst other this type; he does not appear to care what exactly he is purchasing, believing that his one criterion will provide him medicine powerful enough for his illness. It may also be that he is just too sick to care or realize that this will arouse suspicion of him being a drug dealer, or to recognize the need to select only one medication of these type.

This could be a reference to the medicine with the brand name {{w|Sudafed}}, sold as an over the counter decongestants with pseudoephedrine as the active ingredient. Now the manufacturer also sells a different type of medicine with the same brand name without pseudoephedrine, but with phenylephrine, which seems to be much less effective. If you buy this off the shelf (where it can be sold because it does not contain methamphetamine precursors) then you could easily get home with the once effective Sudafed, only to realize later that it does not alleviate any symptoms. This could offer another explanation for Cueball's request and outburst in the final panel.

The title text seems to be Randall's own comment on how badly he is affected by his cold. He thus, humorously, suggests that he is now ready to purchase illegal drugs (this would then be ''meth'') in order to turn it back into a cold medicine (i.e. pseudoephedrine). This would not be safe to do, but may be a reference to this spoof paper: ''[http://heterodoxy.cc/ A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine''], a take on the long-going joke about the recent difficulty in obtaining pseudoephedrine, i.e. it is now easier to get your hands on the illegal drug made from it.

It is a humorous exaggeration of how far Randall is willing to go to get the best cold medicine, and the potency of the drugs needed to treat his apparently debilitating illness. There are many illegal drugs that when first synthesized were planned to be used as a medical drug, but then later abused by drug addicts, but given the subject of the comic, the title text obviously refers to meth.

Randall continued in the medical world with the next comic: [[1619: Watson Medical Algorithm]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in a drug store, with a drug in his hand he has taken from the shelf he is standing next to. The shelf is labeled.]
:Cueball: *Sniffle*
:Label: Cold & Flu

:[Cueball is standing alone, examining some medicine he is holding up, while having some other medicine in the other hand.]
:Cueball: *Cough*
:Cueball: *Sniff*

:[Cueball continues examining more medicine. Looking down on one in his hand, having another in the other hand and there are also three packages at his feet.]
:Cueball: Ughhh...

:[Cueball is at the labeled counter in the drug store with computer etc. Ponytail is behind the counter.]
:Counter label: Sale
:Cueball: Just gimme one of every kind of cold medicine you need ID to buy.
:Ponytail: You'll go on the watchlist for—
:Cueball: Don't care.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

366: Your Mom

2021-10-29T12:48:47Z

141.101.105.73: /* Transcript */ maybe this works?

{{comic
| number =366
| date =January 4, 2008
| title =Your Mom
| image =your_mom.png
| titletext ='It's either 'your mom' jokes or me' 'Then I, like so many men before me, must reluctantly choose your mom.'
}}

==Explanation==
"Your mom" jokes could be considered an example of fraternity humor, and are seen by most adults as being a sign of immaturity, especially when overused. They generally involve the speaker making indelicate references to the mother of the person to whom he is speaking. They are a distinct variation from the more traditional "yo momma" jokes (as in, "yo mamma is so fat..." or "yo mamma is so stupid..."), which are merely insulting.

"That's what '''she''' said" is a supposedly funny retort to an innocent looking statement, the intent being to recast it in a sexual light. It gained its most recent surge of popularity as Michael Scott's catchphrase on the television series ''{{w|The Office}}.'' xkcd contains only failed attempts at "that's what she said" jokes, such as [[436: How it Happened]]. The phrase is a simplified version of the older, British expression "...{{w|said the actress to the bishop}}".

We enter in the middle of a conversation between [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] about the status of their relationship. Megan has apparently just said that Cueball turns every conversation into a "your mom" joke and it's becoming unbearable. Cueball, somewhat self-destructively, immediately turns ''that'' sentence into a "your mom" joke.

When Megan makes it clear that she has had enough and that she is leaving, Cueball, in a heroic effort to make things even worse, can only respond with the "that's what she said" joke. Megan agrees with Cueball that it is exactly what she (Megan) said, and is obviously about to depart his life forever.

The title text stretches the joke further, Cueball suggesting that many men have been with her mother, but perhaps as a last resort or under duress. This is, if possible, even more offensive than his previous efforts.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Well, your mom turns every conversation into a "your mom" joke and it's becoming unbearable.
:Megan: I'm serious; I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving.
:Cueball: ...That's what she said!
:Megan: Yes. Yes, it is.

==Trivia==

For examples of "your mom" jokes, see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Your_Mom Category:Your Mom].

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