1393: Timeghost - Revision history

42.book.addict: Undo revision 389446 by 131.242.30.38 (talk) nice bit of trivia, but it doesn't really belong there...maybe put it somewhere else in the explanation or perhaps in the talk page?

2025-10-24T04:46:49Z

Undo revision 389446 by 131.242.30.38 (talk) nice bit of trivia, but it doesn't really belong there...maybe put it somewhere else in the explanation or perhaps in the talk page?

131.242.30.38: Added a fact.

2025-10-24T04:12:40Z

Added a fact.

172.71.241.100: /* Explanation */ presumed typo (now<-not), as it had reversed the meaning somewhat.

2025-04-24T09:08:19Z

‎Explanation: presumed typo (now<-not), as it had reversed the meaning somewhat.

Firestar233: this sounds better

2025-04-24T04:33:50Z

this sounds better

Beret: /* Explanation */ Clarified the table, removed incomplete tag

2025-04-24T04:27:03Z

‎Explanation: Clarified the table, removed incomplete tag

FaviFake: i still don't know what they mean tho

2025-03-30T10:30:10Z

i still don't know what they mean tho

Autranaut: /* Explanation */

2025-03-30T01:43:23Z

‎Explanation

FaviFake: {{incomplete|Need to improve the 3 separators in the table, they're too easy to miss.}}

2025-03-24T17:22:56Z

{{incomplete|Need to improve the 3 separators in the table, they're too easy to miss.}}

172.70.214.152: Added an alternative interpretation for the last panel

2025-03-08T05:09:53Z

Added an alternative interpretation for the last panel

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */

2025-03-07T15:55:01Z

‎Explanation

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |}
-People born years after 9/11 are now old enough to vote.
 ==Transcript==
 :[Cueball and Megan are approached by a floating ghost]

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |}
+People born years after 9/11 are now old enough to vote.
 ==Transcript==
 :[Cueball and Megan are approached by a floating ghost]

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 [[Megan]] has been haunted by a ''Timeghost'' for some time. It is obviously not the first time the ghost arrives to let Megan know that "...ooOOOOOOOOooo... Tiiiime is passiiiing!" The ghost is dedicated to making people feel old by having them think about the passage of time. It is shown to reference time periods related to well-known people and events, such as famous actors and the release of movies and TV shows. Megan is just annoyed that it is back and wishes it to go away. However, when [[Cueball]] ask "How long has it been doing this?", the ghost suddenly predicts that Megan and Cueball will die in a shorter amount of time than the time that has passed since the ghost began its hauntings. This disturbs Megan who stops her complaining and asks "'''What!?'''" This is not the first time she has been haunted by the ghost but it has probably not been that long, so this is a very scary thought to her (and Cueball).
-We do now, however, know how long the ghost has been haunting Megan. Also the "staaaaart of my haunting" may refer to the first time the ghost haunted anyone, not just Megan. This could be a long time ago and thus be true for anyone it meets today. Or it could mean since the start of this particular manifestation, meaning their deaths are imminent! It is also possible Timeghost is being deliberately ambiguous in an effort to frighten them even more. This is of course only scary if you believe the ghost can predict the future, which is not what it has been doing so far. There is no example in the comic where it makes a prediction that we know is accurate - only comparing time spans we can look up - see below. An alternative interpretation of the last panel is that the ghost is going to kill Cueball and Megan soon.
+We do not, however, know how long the ghost has been haunting Megan. Also the "staaaaart of my haunting" may refer to the first time the ghost haunted anyone, not just Megan. This could be a long time ago and thus be true for anyone it meets today. Or it could mean since the start of this particular manifestation, meaning their deaths are imminent! It is also possible Timeghost is being deliberately ambiguous in an effort to frighten them even more. This is of course only scary if you believe the ghost can predict the future, which is not what it has been doing so far. There is no example in the comic where it makes a prediction that we know is accurate - only comparing time spans we can look up - see below. An alternative interpretation of the last panel is that the ghost is going to kill Cueball and Megan soon.
 One thing about the prediction is true - they will eventually '''die'''. And this is the scary part about realizing how old you are and that you are quickly getting older: You will die, and "[[Time Vulture|soon]]" (for some value thereof). The comic seems to be using "factoid" to mean a small fact. "{{w|Factoid}}" can also mean a "questionable or spurious statement presented as a fact", but this does not seem to be intended usage here. In this instance, some of the factoids are easily verifiable, while others are reasonable assumptions based on the number of years passed since the individual events. Several sources advocate the use of the word "factlet" to express a brief interesting fact, while using the word "factoid" for unverifiable or untrue statements passed as fact.

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 [[Megan]] has been haunted by a ''Timeghost'' for some time. It is obviously not the first time the ghost arrives to let Megan know that "...ooOOOOOOOOooo... Tiiiime is passiiiing!" The ghost is dedicated to making people feel old by having them think about the passage of time. It is shown to reference time periods related to well-known people and events, such as famous actors and the release of movies and TV shows. Megan is just annoyed that it is back and wishes it to go away. However, when [[Cueball]] ask "How long has it been doing this?", the ghost suddenly predicts that Megan and Cueball will die in a shorter amount of time than the time that has passed since the ghost began its hauntings. This disturbs Megan who stops her complaining and asks "'''What!?'''" This is not the first time she has been haunted by the ghost but it has probably not been that long, so this is a very scary thought to her (and Cueball).
-We do, however, not know how long the ghost has been haunting Megan. Also the "staaaaart of my haunting" may refer to the first time the ghost haunted anyone, not just Megan. This could be a long time ago and thus be true for anyone it meets today. Or it could mean since the start of this particular manifestation, meaning their deaths are imminent! It is also possible Timeghost is being deliberately ambiguous in an effort to frighten them even more. This is of course only scary if you believe the ghost can predict the future, which is not what it has been doing so far. There is no example in the comic where it makes a prediction that we know is accurate - only comparing time spans we can look up - see below. An alternative interpretation of the last panel is that the ghost is going to kill Cueball and Megan soon.
+We do now, however, know how long the ghost has been haunting Megan. Also the "staaaaart of my haunting" may refer to the first time the ghost haunted anyone, not just Megan. This could be a long time ago and thus be true for anyone it meets today. Or it could mean since the start of this particular manifestation, meaning their deaths are imminent! It is also possible Timeghost is being deliberately ambiguous in an effort to frighten them even more. This is of course only scary if you believe the ghost can predict the future, which is not what it has been doing so far. There is no example in the comic where it makes a prediction that we know is accurate - only comparing time spans we can look up - see below. An alternative interpretation of the last panel is that the ghost is going to kill Cueball and Megan soon.
 One thing about the prediction is true - they will eventually '''die'''. And this is the scary part about realizing how old you are and that you are quickly getting older: You will die, and "[[Time Vulture|soon]]" (for some value thereof). The comic seems to be using "factoid" to mean a small fact. "{{w|Factoid}}" can also mean a "questionable or spurious statement presented as a fact", but this does not seem to be intended usage here. In this instance, some of the factoids are easily verifiable, while others are reasonable assumptions based on the number of years passed since the individual events. Several sources advocate the use of the word "factlet" to express a brief interesting fact, while using the word "factoid" for unverifiable or untrue statements passed as fact.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-{{incomplete|Clarify what the 3 horizontal separators in the table mean.}}[[Megan]] has been haunted by a ''Timeghost'' for some time. It is obviously not the first time the ghost arrives to let Megan know that "...ooOOOOOOOOooo... Tiiiime is passiiiing!" The ghost is dedicated to making people feel old by having them think about the passage of time. It is shown to reference time periods related to well-known people and events, such as famous actors and the release of movies and TV shows. Megan is just annoyed that it is back and wishes it to go away. However, when [[Cueball]] ask "How long has it been doing this?", the ghost suddenly predicts that Megan and Cueball will die in a shorter amount of time than the time that has passed since the ghost began its hauntings. This disturbs Megan who stops her complaining and asks "'''What!?'''" This is not the first time she has been haunted by the ghost but it has probably not been that long, so this is a very scary thought to her (and Cueball).
+[[Megan]] has been haunted by a ''Timeghost'' for some time. It is obviously not the first time the ghost arrives to let Megan know that "...ooOOOOOOOOooo... Tiiiime is passiiiing!" The ghost is dedicated to making people feel old by having them think about the passage of time. It is shown to reference time periods related to well-known people and events, such as famous actors and the release of movies and TV shows. Megan is just annoyed that it is back and wishes it to go away. However, when [[Cueball]] ask "How long has it been doing this?", the ghost suddenly predicts that Megan and Cueball will die in a shorter amount of time than the time that has passed since the ghost began its hauntings. This disturbs Megan who stops her complaining and asks "'''What!?'''" This is not the first time she has been haunted by the ghost but it has probably not been that long, so this is a very scary thought to her (and Cueball).
 We do, however, not know how long the ghost has been haunting Megan. Also the "staaaaart of my haunting" may refer to the first time the ghost haunted anyone, not just Megan. This could be a long time ago and thus be true for anyone it meets today. Or it could mean since the start of this particular manifestation, meaning their deaths are imminent! It is also possible Timeghost is being deliberately ambiguous in an effort to frighten them even more. This is of course only scary if you believe the ghost can predict the future, which is not what it has been doing so far. There is no example in the comic where it makes a prediction that we know is accurate - only comparing time spans we can look up - see below. An alternative interpretation of the last panel is that the ghost is going to kill Cueball and Megan soon.
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 {| class="wikitable"
 !Year||Event
 |-
 |1955-1975||{{w|Vietnam War}}
@@ Line 32: / Line 34: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |-
-!colspan="2"|
+!colspan="2"| Panel 2
 |-
 |1964||{{w|Keanu Reeves}} (Actor) born
@@ Line 44: / Line 46: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |-
-!colspan="2"|
+!colspan="2"| Panel 3
 |-
 |1990||[http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr051.pdf Today's new parents born] (Average age: 24 in the US)
@@ Line 64: / Line 66: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |-
-!colspan="2"|
+!colspan="2"| Title text
 |-
 |1984||{{w|Ghostbusters}}

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-[[Megan]] has been haunted by a ''Timeghost'' for some time. It is obviously not the first time the ghost arrives to let Megan know that "...ooOOOOOOOOooo... Tiiiime is passiiiing!" The ghost is dedicated to making people feel old by having them think about the passage of time. It is shown to reference time periods related to well-known people and events, such as famous actors and the release of movies and TV shows. Megan is just annoyed that it is back and wishes it to go away.
+{{incomplete|Need to improve the 3 separators in the table, they're too easy to miss.}}[[Megan]] has been haunted by a ''Timeghost'' for some time. It is obviously not the first time the ghost arrives to let Megan know that "...ooOOOOOOOOooo... Tiiiime is passiiiing!" The ghost is dedicated to making people feel old by having them think about the passage of time. It is shown to reference time periods related to well-known people and events, such as famous actors and the release of movies and TV shows. Megan is just annoyed that it is back and wishes it to go away.
 But then when [[Cueball]] ask "How long has it been doing this?" the ghost suddenly predicts that Megan and Cueball will die in a shorter amount of time than the time that has passed since the ghost began its hauntings. This disturbs Megan who stops her complaining and asks "'''What!?'''" This is not the first time she has been haunted by the ghost but it has probably not been that long, so this is a very scary thought to her (and Cueball).
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 "Timeghost" might be a literal interpretation of {{w|Zeitgeist}}, which is a German term for "spirit of time" and refers to the school of thought that influences or dominates the art and culture of a time period. All the events and people mentioned in this comic may be considered influences on present day art and culture.
-In the title text Megan calls {{w|Ghostbusters}} (from the 1984 movie) to help get rid of the Timeghost. This of course makes the ghost state that "people born years after that movie came out are having a second chiiiild right now" making her feel old once more.
+In the title text, Megan calls {{w|Ghostbusters}} (from the 1984 movie) to help get rid of the Timeghost. This of course makes the ghost state that "people born years after that movie came out are having a second chiiiild right now" making her feel old once more.
 [[Randall]] has covered making people feel old several times in [[647: Scary]], [[891: Movie Ages]], [[973: MTV Generation]] (in which White Hat utters Cueball's "That can't be right" line), and [[1477: Star Wars]]. Also see the blag post [http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/09/29/odd-temporal-milestones/ Odd Temporal Milestones]. This is, however, so far the only one that makes a prediction of anyone's death. A similar ghost with a much different agenda was seen in [[1108: Cautionary Ghost]]. Similarly annoying fact(oids) were given in [[1272: Shadowfacts]]. [[926: Time Vulture]]s make you feel old because the entire remainder of your life is only perceived as a few moments by them.
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |-
-|colspan="2"|
+!colspan="2"|
 |-
 |1964||{{w|Keanu Reeves}} (Actor) born
@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |-
-|colspan="2"|
+!colspan="2"|
 |-
 |1990||[http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr051.pdf Today's new parents born] (Average age: 24 in the US)
@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 |2014||Year of this comic
 |-
-|colspan="2"|
+!colspan="2"|
 |-
 |1984||{{w|Ghostbusters}}

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 We do, however, not know how long the ghost has been haunting Megan. Also the "staaaaart of my haunting" may refer to the first time the ghost haunted anyone, not just Megan. This could be a long time ago and thus be true for anyone it meets today. Or it could mean since the start of this particular manifestation, meaning their deaths are imminent! It is also possible Timeghost is being deliberately ambiguous in an effort to frighten them even more. This is of course only scary if you believe the ghost can predict the future, which is not what it has been doing so far. There is no example in the comic where it makes a prediction that we know is accurate - only comparing time spans we can look up - see below.
-But one thing about the prediction is true - they will eventually '''die'''. And this is the scary part about realizing how old you are and that you are quickly getting older: You will die, and "soon" (for some value thereof).
+But one thing about the prediction is true - they will eventually '''die'''. And this is the scary part about realizing how old you are and that you are quickly getting older: You will die, and "[[Time Vulture|soon]]" (for some value thereof).
 The comic seems to be using "factoid" to mean a small fact. "{{w|Factoid}}" can also mean a "questionable or spurious statement presented as a fact", but this does not seem to be intended usage here. In this instance, some of the factoids are easily verifiable, while others are reasonable assumptions based on the number of years passed since the individual events. Several sources advocate the use of the word "factlet" to express a brief interesting fact, while using the word "factoid" for unverifiable or untrue statements passed as fact.