https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Cyberpageman 2026-05-03T08:40:28Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=450:_The_Sea&diff=60457 2014-02-18T18:25:03Z

<p>Cyberpageman: The author of this edit wrote &quot;straight forward&quot;. I corrected this to &quot;straightforward.&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 450<br /> | date = July 16, 2008<br /> | title = The Sea<br /> | image = the_sea.png<br /> | titletext = And then a second one, to drain the sea.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Title text explain is wrong, there is no ocean drained, just a sea.}}<br /> [[Cueball]] becomes introspective when contemplating the sea. The straightforward reading of &quot;how small I really am&quot; means he feels humbled by the sea and recognizes his insignificance on this planet. This is a common sentiment expressed in poetry, literature, and blogs.<br /> <br /> However, in English the sentences ''I'm small'' and ''I'm big'' sometimes mean ''my penis is small''[http://im-small.tumblr.com/] and ''my penis is big''.[http://es.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=big&amp;defid=3086531][http://wtfcontent.com/wtf-2500.htmlhttp://wtfcontent.com/wtf-2500.html]<br /> <br /> The final line ''&quot;I should get one of those pumps&quot;'' references a {{w|penis pump}}, a device that is alleged to permanently increase the size of the male member. Anybody with access to the internet or an email account is continually bombarded with spam messages and advertisements for penis enlargement products, all of which work about as well as you would expect. That is, not at all.<br /> <br /> Even if Cueball is not literally saying that he has a small penis, men very commonly associate their own self image with the size of their organ. Therefore, enlarging it would improve his self image and make him feel less small.<br /> <br /> The title text suggests another straightforward way to read the word pump. Namely as a water pump to drain the ocean. Cueball is unsatisfied with the sea intimidating him, and is turning his attention to putting the sea in its place (not literally but figuratively (by literally removing it from its place)). Of course this is impossible as there is no where on Earth that will hold all that water.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball stands on a beach at night, staring out across the moonlit ocean.]<br /> :Cueball: The sea always makes me realize<br /> :Cueball: How small I really am.<br /> :Cueball: I should get one of those pumps.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]<br /> [[Category:Sex]]</div>

Cyberpageman