420: Jealousy - Revision history

Duralumin-here: Clarified why Cueball's speech is inappropriate, the drama it may cause, and Cueball's likely role in this wedding.

2026-03-31T19:17:40Z

Clarified why Cueball's speech is inappropriate, the drama it may cause, and Cueball's likely role in this wedding.

Epicradman123 at 03:02, 25 August 2024

2024-08-25T03:02:55Z

FaviFake: /* Trivia */ Updated xkcd store link with Web archive link

2023-09-01T10:01:09Z

‎Trivia: Updated xkcd store link with Web archive link

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2022-05-21T02:14:38Z

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Explain xkcd server admin at 23:54, 20 May 2022

2022-05-20T23:54:22Z

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Jacky720: rv

2022-05-04T23:27:11Z

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Ex Kay Cee Dee at 23:27, 4 May 2022

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2022-05-04T21:48:59Z

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Ex Kay Cee Dee at 21:48, 4 May 2022

2022-05-04T21:48:47Z

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2022-05-04T21:17:49Z

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@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-In the first four stanzas of this soliloquy, [[Cueball]] reminisces fondly about his meeting of [[Megan]] at a party where they quickly had a romantic rapport and spent the night together. The next two stanzas are a lamentation that Megan is now married and can never have that same experience again.
+In the first four stanzas of this soliloquy, [[Cueball]] reminisces fondly about meeting [[Megan]] at a party where they quickly had a romantic rapport and spent the night together. The next two stanzas are a lamentation that Megan is now married and can never have that same experience again. The final stanza reveals that this is not merely Cueball waxing poetic about a previous love, but that he is actually making a toast at Megan's wedding reception.
-The final stanza reveals that this is not merely Cueball waxing poetic about a previous love, but that he is actually making a toast as the best man at Megan's wedding reception - certainly an occasion when it is wildly inappropriate to discuss the previous romantic involvements of the bride. In modern times, it is not unexpected that the bride at a wedding will have had previous relationships with someone other than the groom, but a wedding is no time to mention them.{{Citation needed}}
+The men serving in a wedding are known as the {{w|Groomsman|groomsmen}} and, in traditional weddings, are selected by the groom. Cueball may be the best man since he was asked to give a speech, so the groom likely considers Cueball a very close friend. At a wedding, toasts are short speeches given to celebrate those getting married and wish them well in their future together. Cueball's speech is entirely inappropriate for a wedding: he is clearly bitter about the marriage, and discussing a newlywed's previous romantic involvement may distract from focusing on their future.
-The title text implies that the groom had no prior knowledge of Cueball's and Megan's dalliance, and therefore the toast is even more inappropriate - going beyond discussing the previous romantic history of the bride, to actually revealing previously unknown such history to the groom.
+The title text implies that the groom had no prior knowledge of Cueball's and Megan's dalliance. This new information may cause the groom distress in various ways. He may be hurt by Megan not sharing this event with him and could start to worry that she is not honest or open about other things in her life. This effect could be amplified if Megan was already in a romantic relationship with the groom when this event happened, as he may consider it a form of cheating. He may also worry that Megan's previous love for Cueball didn't end, and that it will get in the way of the groom's relationship with Megan.
-Presumably, Cueball's having been selected to be best man indicates that he is a good friend of the groom (as the groom normally selects the best man). The title hints that Cueball is envious of the groom, since his previous encounter with Megan clearly did not result in a lasting relationship, while the groom's clearly did. This suggests that he may be intentionally (perhaps drunkenly) making an inappropriate toast to embarrass the couple as a result of his bitterness.
+The title suggests that Cueball is envious of the groom, since his previous encounter with Megan did not result in a lasting relationship while the groom's did. He may be intentionally making an inappropriate toast to embarrass the couple as a result of his bitterness, or he may simply be unable to act like he's pleased about the marriage. Either impulse could be amplified by the influence of alcohol, which is often enjoyed at weddings.
 This was only the third time the [[Megan#Name|name Megan]] was used in xkcd, the first time being in [[159: Boombox]].

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 In the first four stanzas of this soliloquy, [[Cueball]] reminisces fondly about his meeting of [[Megan]] at a party where they quickly had a romantic rapport and spent the night together. The next two stanzas are a lamentation that Megan is now married and can never have that same experience again.
-The final stanza reveals that this is not merely Cueball waxing poetic about a previous love, but that he is actually making a toast as the best man at Megan's wedding reception - certainly an occasion when it is wildly inappropriate to discuss the previous romantic involvements of the bride. In modern times, it is not unexpected that the bride at a wedding will have had previous relationships with someone other than the groom, but a wedding is no time to mention them.
+The final stanza reveals that this is not merely Cueball waxing poetic about a previous love, but that he is actually making a toast as the best man at Megan's wedding reception - certainly an occasion when it is wildly inappropriate to discuss the previous romantic involvements of the bride. In modern times, it is not unexpected that the bride at a wedding will have had previous relationships with someone other than the groom, but a wedding is no time to mention them.{{Citation needed}}
 The title text implies that the groom had no prior knowledge of Cueball's and Megan's dalliance, and therefore the toast is even more inappropriate - going beyond discussing the previous romantic history of the bride, to actually revealing previously unknown such history to the groom.

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 ==Trivia==
-*This comic is available as a signed print in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints xkcd store].
+This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
 {{comic discussion}}
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]