explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T18:24:19Z

172.69.58.74:

No comments yet? Probably everyone's still considering the filling in of the table. As for me, I just put a load of words in about the middle name(s), but perhaps it drifts and could be cut back a lot. However, I think we do know a lot of middle names of people, especially [[2393: Presidential Middle Names|politicians]]. Or at least use their middle initials (like with "John F[itzgerald]. Kennedy"), even if we don't use their full names (like with "Harry S. Truman"... :p ). Not that I've had much experience with middle names. Don't have one myself. Knew a couple of people at school who would admit to having them (one had "Colin", the other had "Douglas"), which weren't really names given to people our age and location, so they ''must'' have been grandparental honorifics (though I'm not sure the names were right for two generations back, either... never enquired further, but maybe they were being traditional ''middle'' names, inherited but never really used). To my knowledge, neither the "Colin" nor the "Douglas" ever went on to use those in post-school life, but at least one of them also changed from their first name as their habitual name to be known by, and likely they prefered to go for something altogether new. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.27|172.69.195.27]] 03:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:In Denmark middle names are common, and Kynde is actually my middle name... Many people use their second name like their first, which can be confusing in work places where the e-mail is auto generated from full name, so no one can find Nicolai, because his first name is Christian... which he never uses. Have more than one of those here at my job. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::In Denmark middle names are necessary. Otherwise we'd be lost in a vast sea of Jens Jensen, Hans Hansen and Niels Nielsen. Min farfar Niels Peder Nielsen, hedde altid Peder, ikke Niels. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.139|13:58, 7 January 2025}}

Unexplained smells or noises: I'm trying to figure out what he means by this. I can't say that this comes up often in my adult life. Am I just deaf and {{w|Anosmia|anosmic}} (I don't think so)? Is Randall worried about gas leaks or his house creaking and falling down? What could he be referencing? [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 09:29, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:I often smell something that others cannot or do not. So I'm completely at par with Randall here. Just now my office has a damp smell, after new people moved their things into my office replacing earlier office mates (four in the room). I'm sure it is some of their stuff that smells, but since the hole room is permeated with the smell, it has not been possible for me to find out what could cause the smell. But have tried this many times, for instance when someone leaves a citrus fruit to rot. Some people just cannot smell the fruit whereas I'm getting an instant headache from it. Also in my office, the guy with the rotten fruit, actually destroying his backpack, could not smell it, whereas other people could smell it down the hall. But inside the office it was hard to pinpoint the source as for those that could smell it is was all over the room. I could go on... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

''"In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt only them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary."'' -- What? Who says middle names may be considered unprofessional? Never heard of this before. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.55.140|172.70.55.140]] 14:55, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Just popping in to explain where this comic came from. It's an adaptation of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8l6mJQeclo|an old John Mulaney bit] that makes the rounds every so often on social media unattributed. (Example: [https://x.com/tmorello/status/463160714337603584|Tom Morello stealing the bit] over ten years ago on what was then Twitter.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.74|172.69.58.74]] 18:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T18:23:51Z

172.69.58.74:

No comments yet? Probably everyone's still considering the filling in of the table. As for me, I just put a load of words in about the middle name(s), but perhaps it drifts and could be cut back a lot. However, I think we do know a lot of middle names of people, especially [[2393: Presidential Middle Names|politicians]]. Or at least use their middle initials (like with "John F[itzgerald]. Kennedy"), even if we don't use their full names (like with "Harry S. Truman"... :p ). Not that I've had much experience with middle names. Don't have one myself. Knew a couple of people at school who would admit to having them (one had "Colin", the other had "Douglas"), which weren't really names given to people our age and location, so they ''must'' have been grandparental honorifics (though I'm not sure the names were right for two generations back, either... never enquired further, but maybe they were being traditional ''middle'' names, inherited but never really used). To my knowledge, neither the "Colin" nor the "Douglas" ever went on to use those in post-school life, but at least one of them also changed from their first name as their habitual name to be known by, and likely they prefered to go for something altogether new. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.27|172.69.195.27]] 03:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:In Denmark middle names are common, and Kynde is actually my middle name... Many people use their second name like their first, which can be confusing in work places where the e-mail is auto generated from full name, so no one can find Nicolai, because his first name is Christian... which he never uses. Have more than one of those here at my job. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::In Denmark middle names are necessary. Otherwise we'd be lost in a vast sea of Jens Jensen, Hans Hansen and Niels Nielsen. Min farfar Niels Peder Nielsen, hedde altid Peder, ikke Niels. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.139|13:58, 7 January 2025}}

Unexplained smells or noises: I'm trying to figure out what he means by this. I can't say that this comes up often in my adult life. Am I just deaf and {{w|Anosmia|anosmic}} (I don't think so)? Is Randall worried about gas leaks or his house creaking and falling down? What could he be referencing? [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 09:29, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:I often smell something that others cannot or do not. So I'm completely at par with Randall here. Just now my office has a damp smell, after new people moved their things into my office replacing earlier office mates (four in the room). I'm sure it is some of their stuff that smells, but since the hole room is permeated with the smell, it has not been possible for me to find out what could cause the smell. But have tried this many times, for instance when someone leaves a citrus fruit to rot. Some people just cannot smell the fruit whereas I'm getting an instant headache from it. Also in my office, the guy with the rotten fruit, actually destroying his backpack, could not smell it, whereas other people could smell it down the hall. But inside the office it was hard to pinpoint the source as for those that could smell it is was all over the room. I could go on... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

''"In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt only them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary."'' -- What? Who says middle names may be considered unprofessional? Never heard of this before. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.55.140|172.70.55.140]] 14:55, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Just popping in to explain where this comic came from. It's an adaptation of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8l6mJQeclo|an old John Mulaney bit] that makes the rounds every so often on social media unattributed. (Example: [https://x.com/tmorello/status/463160714337603584|Tom Morello stealing the bit]] over ten years ago on what was then Twitter.) [Special:Contributions/172.69.58.74|172.69.58.74]] 18:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T18:23:09Z

172.69.58.74:

No comments yet? Probably everyone's still considering the filling in of the table. As for me, I just put a load of words in about the middle name(s), but perhaps it drifts and could be cut back a lot. However, I think we do know a lot of middle names of people, especially [[2393: Presidential Middle Names|politicians]]. Or at least use their middle initials (like with "John F[itzgerald]. Kennedy"), even if we don't use their full names (like with "Harry S. Truman"... :p ). Not that I've had much experience with middle names. Don't have one myself. Knew a couple of people at school who would admit to having them (one had "Colin", the other had "Douglas"), which weren't really names given to people our age and location, so they ''must'' have been grandparental honorifics (though I'm not sure the names were right for two generations back, either... never enquired further, but maybe they were being traditional ''middle'' names, inherited but never really used). To my knowledge, neither the "Colin" nor the "Douglas" ever went on to use those in post-school life, but at least one of them also changed from their first name as their habitual name to be known by, and likely they prefered to go for something altogether new. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.27|172.69.195.27]] 03:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:In Denmark middle names are common, and Kynde is actually my middle name... Many people use their second name like their first, which can be confusing in work places where the e-mail is auto generated from full name, so no one can find Nicolai, because his first name is Christian... which he never uses. Have more than one of those here at my job. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::In Denmark middle names are necessary. Otherwise we'd be lost in a vast sea of Jens Jensen, Hans Hansen and Niels Nielsen. Min farfar Niels Peder Nielsen, hedde altid Peder, ikke Niels. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.139|13:58, 7 January 2025}}

Unexplained smells or noises: I'm trying to figure out what he means by this. I can't say that this comes up often in my adult life. Am I just deaf and {{w|Anosmia|anosmic}} (I don't think so)? Is Randall worried about gas leaks or his house creaking and falling down? What could he be referencing? [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 09:29, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:I often smell something that others cannot or do not. So I'm completely at par with Randall here. Just now my office has a damp smell, after new people moved their things into my office replacing earlier office mates (four in the room). I'm sure it is some of their stuff that smells, but since the hole room is permeated with the smell, it has not been possible for me to find out what could cause the smell. But have tried this many times, for instance when someone leaves a citrus fruit to rot. Some people just cannot smell the fruit whereas I'm getting an instant headache from it. Also in my office, the guy with the rotten fruit, actually destroying his backpack, could not smell it, whereas other people could smell it down the hall. But inside the office it was hard to pinpoint the source as for those that could smell it is was all over the room. I could go on... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

''"In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt only them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary."'' -- What? Who says middle names may be considered unprofessional? Never heard of this before. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.55.140|172.70.55.140]] 14:55, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Just popping in to explain where this comic came from. It's an adaptation of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8l6mJQeclo|an old John Mulaney bit]] that makes the rounds every so often on social media unattributed. (Example: [[https://x.com/tmorello/status/463160714337603584|Tom Morello stealing the bit]] over ten years ago on what was then Twitter.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.74|172.69.58.74]] 18:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T18:22:05Z

172.69.58.74: Source of the comic's inspiration

No comments yet? Probably everyone's still considering the filling in of the table. As for me, I just put a load of words in about the middle name(s), but perhaps it drifts and could be cut back a lot. However, I think we do know a lot of middle names of people, especially [[2393: Presidential Middle Names|politicians]]. Or at least use their middle initials (like with "John F[itzgerald]. Kennedy"), even if we don't use their full names (like with "Harry S. Truman"... :p ). Not that I've had much experience with middle names. Don't have one myself. Knew a couple of people at school who would admit to having them (one had "Colin", the other had "Douglas"), which weren't really names given to people our age and location, so they ''must'' have been grandparental honorifics (though I'm not sure the names were right for two generations back, either... never enquired further, but maybe they were being traditional ''middle'' names, inherited but never really used). To my knowledge, neither the "Colin" nor the "Douglas" ever went on to use those in post-school life, but at least one of them also changed from their first name as their habitual name to be known by, and likely they prefered to go for something altogether new. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.27|172.69.195.27]] 03:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:In Denmark middle names are common, and Kynde is actually my middle name... Many people use their second name like their first, which can be confusing in work places where the e-mail is auto generated from full name, so no one can find Nicolai, because his first name is Christian... which he never uses. Have more than one of those here at my job. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::In Denmark middle names are necessary. Otherwise we'd be lost in a vast sea of Jens Jensen, Hans Hansen and Niels Nielsen. Min farfar Niels Peder Nielsen, hedde altid Peder, ikke Niels. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.139|13:58, 7 January 2025}}

Unexplained smells or noises: I'm trying to figure out what he means by this. I can't say that this comes up often in my adult life. Am I just deaf and {{w|Anosmia|anosmic}} (I don't think so)? Is Randall worried about gas leaks or his house creaking and falling down? What could he be referencing? [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 09:29, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:I often smell something that others cannot or do not. So I'm completely at par with Randall here. Just now my office has a damp smell, after new people moved their things into my office replacing earlier office mates (four in the room). I'm sure it is some of their stuff that smells, but since the hole room is permeated with the smell, it has not been possible for me to find out what could cause the smell. But have tried this many times, for instance when someone leaves a citrus fruit to rot. Some people just cannot smell the fruit whereas I'm getting an instant headache from it. Also in my office, the guy with the rotten fruit, actually destroying his backpack, could not smell it, whereas other people could smell it down the hall. But inside the office it was hard to pinpoint the source as for those that could smell it is was all over the room. I could go on... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

''"In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt only them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary."'' -- What? Who says middle names may be considered unprofessional? Never heard of this before. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.55.140|172.70.55.140]] 14:55, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Just popping in to explain where this comic came from. It's an adaptation of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8l6mJQeclo|an old John Mulaney bit]] that makes the rounds every so often on social media unattributed. (Example: [[https://x.com/tmorello/status/463160714337603584|Tom Morello stealing the bit over ten years ago on what was then Twitter.)

47: Counter-Red Spiders

2023-06-26T00:14:34Z

172.69.58.74: Expanded the explanation to include “counter-offensive” and the title-text.

{{comic
| number = 47
| date = January 9, 2006
| title = Counter-Red Spiders
| image = counter-red-spiders.jpg
| titletext = I hope we can stop them
}}

==Explanation==
In previous comics, red spiders are seen navigating similar landscapes. Here, humanoid stick figures are standing on top of each other to reach some place above the top of the comic, in a similar manner to how the red spiders navigate, in order to engage in a {{w|counter-offensive}} against the red spiders.

These stick figures must be extremely light, or gravity must be really weak there, because it is extremely unlikely or even impossible to have a stack of humans that tall.

The title-text indicates that Randall hopes the counter-offensive is able to prevent the red spiders’ attack. However, the invasion in [[126: Red Spiders Cometh|Red Spiders Cometh]] suggests that it may have been unsuccessful.

The full series of [[:Category:Red Spiders|Red Spiders]] comics:
*[[8: Red Spiders]], the first one.
*[[43: Red Spiders 2]], in which the spiders begin building.
*[[47: Counter-Red Spiders]], this one.
*[[126: Red Spiders Cometh]], in which the spiders attack a city.
*[[427: Bad Timing]], in which, in a style more typical to xkcd, the spiders attack a couple in the middle of a serious relationship discussion in a hot-air balloon.
*[[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]], in which it appears briefly in the 14th panel crawling over a cube.

==Transcript==
:[A stack of stick figures, standing on each others shoulders, extends from the bottom of the frame to the top. Cuboids hang in the air.]
:The counter-red-spider offensive begins...

==Trivia==
*This was the 44th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[46: Secrets]].
**The next was [[48: Found]].
*Original title: "Drawing: Counter-Red Spiders"
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "[[8: Red spiders|They]] must be [[43: Red Spiders 2|stopped]]."
**The links pointing to the first two Red Spiders comics.
*This comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.
**These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the [[xkcd]] site opened on the 1st of January 2006.
**This comic was posted on the same day on both sites.
**They were not all posted on the same day though.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 44]]
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Red Spiders]]