explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1485: Friendship

2015-02-12T10:59:38Z

173.245.53.188:

In the article Randall wants to make us believe friendship is a rather new phenomenon or trend and its "early" occurences are something special,which may be true for bromance - at least for the term - but not for the concept. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 07:44, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm afraid I'm not currently up to doing it, but I feel we need further details of, and definitely citations for, the articles that have been vandalised. Maybe we could even have graphs showing view, edit, and vandalism spikes. Davii [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.154|141.101.98.154]] 11:18, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Why am I not surprised that this lead to Wiki-vandalism? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.109|108.162.216.109]] 12:25, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

The explanation currently seems to suggest that this is the page for "Bromance", trying to bring it into line with "Friendship". But with the "Friendship page" being the ''target'' of the comic, "How to improve the Bromance page" titletext and the "Portmanteau of 'Friend' and 'Ship' (i.e. romantic linking)" bits, I read the comic as "If Bromance is being used for non-homosexual same-sex associations, then Friendship 'obviously' now means for homosexual same-sex (indeed, it appears male/male only!) relationships. This is similar to complaints (which I personally have sympathy for) about the word "Guesstimate" being an unnecessary neologistic portmanteau in common use, as someone using it often ''actually'' means "Estimate" in its normal state of the term and thus must imagine "Estimate" is something far more strict. (Or else they invoke th term when they actually mean "Guess" in the first place, either to make it sound 'better than a guess' or with the same 'shove-over' attitude applied to ''that'' word, e.g. guess is "only ever out of thin air" rather than often-as-not based upon a semi-educated hunch if not more.) So, anway, as it it currently stands, I don't agree with the way the explanation goes. But I can't actually say it's wrong either! We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programme. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:03, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Completely off topic for the comment, but a guestimate is an estimate without the math, using intuitive averaging, and thus, more kin to a guess than an estimate.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:45, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Additionally, I meant to add that I'm surprised that Randall didn't "Bluetext" the word Ship, indicating a link to {{w|Shipping_(fandom)}}. But then the fictional Wiki editors he's emulating are notoriously inconsistent with what they do link and what they don't link (upon first appearance in an article), so it's accurate enough. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:10, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:(Although, to reply to myself, given the inclusion of the phrase "There is also something called 'friendshipping', or a 'BrOTP' (a portmanteau of the terms bromance and one true pairing).", there'd be some weird recursiveness that arises if all the competing claims for word-origin are true!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:16, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

@ Sebastian - I think you totally misunderstand the intentions of the cartoon. I think the point is a very simple one. It is similar to Liz Feldman's argument that people should not call it 'gay marriage': it's marriage. "You know, because I had lunch this afternoon, not gay lunch. I parked my car; I didn’t gay park it" [[http://www.salon.com/2013/06/26/lets_end_gay_marriage/]} Or in this case: Call it friendship - marking the fact that it is between men as if that is in some way abnormal is a homophobic thing to do. [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 15:14, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

:In my experience the term bromance is used to describe a particularly strong and close friendship, one which exceeds the normal bounds of simple friendship. In the same way that two close but non-related males might cal themselves blood brothers. Noting that the term is almost exclusively used for male-male relationships (due to the use of 'bro') is entirely valid, and personally I don't see any suggestion that friendship between men is abnormal in Sebastians comment. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:39, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:I tend to agree with Pudder here.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.195|199.27.128.195]] 16:53, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

I used the FoxReplace plugin to see what this would look like, with some hilarious results:
<pre>The first legislation on the subject was The Fanclub Act of 1792 which provided, in part:

That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age
of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively
be enrolled in the fanclub, ... every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with
a good musket or firelock....

During the nineteenth century, each of the states maintained its fanclub differently, some more than others.</pre>
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.195|199.27.128.195]] 16:53, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Pretty sure this isn't the first WP-related comic that then led to vandalism of the pages in question, and I'll be damned if it will be the last. [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 22:19, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Yep. I can find [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wood&offset=20080708000000&action=history Wood] ([[446: In Popular Culture]]), [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=430796083 Spark Plug] ([[903: Extended Mind]]) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=535635995&oldid=535635680 Star Trek Into Darkness] ([[1167: Star Trek into Darkness]]) after a [[:Category:Wikipedia|quick check]], and considering [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikiality_and_Other_Tripling_Elephants how bizarre edits some vandals make], there's got to be a lot more. -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.188|173.245.53.188]] 10:51, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Anyone notice [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friendship&diff=prev&oldid=646768341 this edit?] Well, not so much the edit, but the edit summary... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.43|141.101.99.43]] 10:40, 12 February 2015 (UTC)
:I'd prefer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZZ7oFKsKzY a slightly more modern method], but I fully agree with the general idea. -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.188|173.245.53.188]] 10:59, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1485: Friendship

2015-02-12T10:51:48Z

173.245.53.188:

In the article Randall wants to make us believe friendship is a rather new phenomenon or trend and its "early" occurences are something special,which may be true for bromance - at least for the term - but not for the concept. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 07:44, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm afraid I'm not currently up to doing it, but I feel we need further details of, and definitely citations for, the articles that have been vandalised. Maybe we could even have graphs showing view, edit, and vandalism spikes. Davii [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.154|141.101.98.154]] 11:18, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Why am I not surprised that this lead to Wiki-vandalism? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.109|108.162.216.109]] 12:25, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

The explanation currently seems to suggest that this is the page for "Bromance", trying to bring it into line with "Friendship". But with the "Friendship page" being the ''target'' of the comic, "How to improve the Bromance page" titletext and the "Portmanteau of 'Friend' and 'Ship' (i.e. romantic linking)" bits, I read the comic as "If Bromance is being used for non-homosexual same-sex associations, then Friendship 'obviously' now means for homosexual same-sex (indeed, it appears male/male only!) relationships. This is similar to complaints (which I personally have sympathy for) about the word "Guesstimate" being an unnecessary neologistic portmanteau in common use, as someone using it often ''actually'' means "Estimate" in its normal state of the term and thus must imagine "Estimate" is something far more strict. (Or else they invoke th term when they actually mean "Guess" in the first place, either to make it sound 'better than a guess' or with the same 'shove-over' attitude applied to ''that'' word, e.g. guess is "only ever out of thin air" rather than often-as-not based upon a semi-educated hunch if not more.) So, anway, as it it currently stands, I don't agree with the way the explanation goes. But I can't actually say it's wrong either! We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programme. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:03, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Completely off topic for the comment, but a guestimate is an estimate without the math, using intuitive averaging, and thus, more kin to a guess than an estimate.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:45, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Additionally, I meant to add that I'm surprised that Randall didn't "Bluetext" the word Ship, indicating a link to {{w|Shipping_(fandom)}}. But then the fictional Wiki editors he's emulating are notoriously inconsistent with what they do link and what they don't link (upon first appearance in an article), so it's accurate enough. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:10, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:(Although, to reply to myself, given the inclusion of the phrase "There is also something called 'friendshipping', or a 'BrOTP' (a portmanteau of the terms bromance and one true pairing).", there'd be some weird recursiveness that arises if all the competing claims for word-origin are true!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:16, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

@ Sebastian - I think you totally misunderstand the intentions of the cartoon. I think the point is a very simple one. It is similar to Liz Feldman's argument that people should not call it 'gay marriage': it's marriage. "You know, because I had lunch this afternoon, not gay lunch. I parked my car; I didn’t gay park it" [[http://www.salon.com/2013/06/26/lets_end_gay_marriage/]} Or in this case: Call it friendship - marking the fact that it is between men as if that is in some way abnormal is a homophobic thing to do. [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 15:14, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

:In my experience the term bromance is used to describe a particularly strong and close friendship, one which exceeds the normal bounds of simple friendship. In the same way that two close but non-related males might cal themselves blood brothers. Noting that the term is almost exclusively used for male-male relationships (due to the use of 'bro') is entirely valid, and personally I don't see any suggestion that friendship between men is abnormal in Sebastians comment. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:39, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:I tend to agree with Pudder here.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.195|199.27.128.195]] 16:53, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

I used the FoxReplace plugin to see what this would look like, with some hilarious results:
<pre>The first legislation on the subject was The Fanclub Act of 1792 which provided, in part:

That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age
of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively
be enrolled in the fanclub, ... every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with
a good musket or firelock....

During the nineteenth century, each of the states maintained its fanclub differently, some more than others.</pre>
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.195|199.27.128.195]] 16:53, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Pretty sure this isn't the first WP-related comic that then led to vandalism of the pages in question, and I'll be damned if it will be the last. [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 22:19, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Yep. I can find [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wood&offset=20080708000000&action=history Wood] ([[446: In Popular Culture]]), [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=430796083 Spark Plug] ([[903: Extended Mind]]) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=535635995&oldid=535635680 Star Trek Into Darkness] ([[1167: Star Trek into Darkness]]) after a [[:Category:Wikipedia|quick check]], and considering [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikiality_and_Other_Tripling_Elephants how bizarre edits some vandals make], there's got to be a lot more. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.188|173.245.53.188]] 10:51, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Anyone notice [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friendship&diff=prev&oldid=646768341 this edit?] Well, not so much the edit, but the edit summary... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.43|141.101.99.43]] 10:40, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

476: One-Sided

2014-02-21T18:08:20Z

173.245.53.188: One: this IS One-Sided. Two: Why is it an XKCD link, not an explainxkcd link? Three: There is another comic involving crossbows.

{{comic
| number = 476
| date = September 15, 2008
| title = One-Sided
| image = one-sided.png
| titletext = He continued, "Okay, Bernanke is uncontaminated. Find a crossbow and get him into position behind one of the columns at the Fed entrance. This is gonna get ugly."
}}

==Explanation==

The comic refers to the phenomenon of hearing half a conversation from a stranger on a cell phone and, not noticing the cell phone, imagining that that person is talking to you and responding in kind. The chart gives a plot of the frequency that this occurs against the amount of time that passes before the error is discovered. It also implies that the author's second relationship was in reality just a particularly long instance of this occurrence, suggesting that his girlfriend tended to be more interested in talking on her phone than talking to him.

The title text is the continuation of the phone call, which involves a fictional conspiracy involving the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and a crossbow. It may be a reference to the video game Fallout 3, in which you eliminate mutated or "contaminated" denizens of the "Capital Wasteland"--a post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Ben Bernanke does not appear as a character in the game.

==Transcript==
:[Sometimes my conversations with strangers go on for a while before I realize that they're talking on their phones.]
:Guy with backpack: Hi!
:Cueball: Hi.
:Guy with backpack: What's up?
:Cueball: Uh, not a lot...
:Guy with backpack: Shit. Does Bernanke own a crossbow?
:[Background is a graph, with x-axis labelled "Length of Conversation" and y-axis labelled "How Often This Happens". The graph looks parabolic towards the left-hand side, but as x approaches infinity, y approaches zero. A vertical dashed line runs through the graph, slightly to the right of the peak of the graph. To the right of the dashed line there is an arrow pointing to the right that is labelled "Awkward Zone". The x-axis has a broken scale, and to the right of the break there is a very small increase in the graph that is parenthetically labelled "My Second Relationship".]

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