Difference between revisions of "2426: Animal Songs"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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(Add a citation about how the brain functions somewhat differently while speaking or singing)
(→‎Explanation: though interesting; not relevant to this comic)
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{{w|Dr. Anthony Fauci}} is the government medical science guy{{Citation needed}} (Director of the {{w|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases}}) who was largely responsible for informing the public in the United States on how to avoid spreading {{w|SARS-CoV-2}} in the beginning of the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. The comic shows him singing a made-up song to his pet fish in order to memorise his daily routine, which Randall notes is a bizarre habit for an adult presented to the public as professional and having a prosaic "grown-up" manner.
 
{{w|Dr. Anthony Fauci}} is the government medical science guy{{Citation needed}} (Director of the {{w|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases}}) who was largely responsible for informing the public in the United States on how to avoid spreading {{w|SARS-CoV-2}} in the beginning of the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. The comic shows him singing a made-up song to his pet fish in order to memorise his daily routine, which Randall notes is a bizarre habit for an adult presented to the public as professional and having a prosaic "grown-up" manner.
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Singing is reported to be a successful way of enhancing neural connectivity and engaging the mind's attention: there are several cases in medicine of speech-impaired patients being able to communicate by singing because the ability is controlled by a different section of the brain [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16546406/]. In other cases, music can reactivate dormant neurons (cf. Ilene Woods, the voice of Cinderella in the 1950 Disney film: as she suffered from dementia near the end of her life, her nurses realised that she would respond when her song "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" was played to her).
 
  
 
In [[231: Cat Proximity]], it's presented as 'normal' for people to make inane statements and use {{w|baby talk}} near cats, but here, Dr. Fauci is singing to his fish.  The title text explains that, as he is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he is forbidden from owning a pet cat, because petting the cat would be "giving aid and comfort" to an allergen, which is (a reference to) one definition of {{w|Treason laws in the United States|treason under the United States Constitution}}.
 
In [[231: Cat Proximity]], it's presented as 'normal' for people to make inane statements and use {{w|baby talk}} near cats, but here, Dr. Fauci is singing to his fish.  The title text explains that, as he is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he is forbidden from owning a pet cat, because petting the cat would be "giving aid and comfort" to an allergen, which is (a reference to) one definition of {{w|Treason laws in the United States|treason under the United States Constitution}}.

Revision as of 19:24, 18 February 2021

Animal Songs
Dr. Fauci is not permitted to have a cat, because as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, his petting one would be considered giving aid and comfort to an allergen.
Title text: Dr. Fauci is not permitted to have a cat, because as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, his petting one would be considered giving aid and comfort to an allergen.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by DR. FAUCI IN PRIVATE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Another joke about professionals not being so professional in private; e.g. 2401, 1463

Dr. Anthony Fauci is the government medical science guy[citation needed] (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) who was largely responsible for informing the public in the United States on how to avoid spreading SARS-CoV-2 in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The comic shows him singing a made-up song to his pet fish in order to memorise his daily routine, which Randall notes is a bizarre habit for an adult presented to the public as professional and having a prosaic "grown-up" manner.

In 231: Cat Proximity, it's presented as 'normal' for people to make inane statements and use baby talk near cats, but here, Dr. Fauci is singing to his fish. The title text explains that, as he is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he is forbidden from owning a pet cat, because petting the cat would be "giving aid and comfort" to an allergen, which is (a reference to) one definition of treason under the United States Constitution.

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.
[Dr. Fauci is putting on a white lab coat and dancing. A fish tank stands on an end table to the right. Inside, there is a fish looking at him as well as a seaweed-like plant and a small castle. Music notes are scattered about Fauci's speech.]
Dr. Fauci: ♫ Putting on my doctor coat ♫
[Dr. Fauci is buttoning the coat. He is now to the right of the fish tank.]
Dr. Fauci: ♫ It's the coat I wear ♫
[Dr. Fauci is back to the left of the fish tank, looking himself in a mirror, and touching his face.]
Dr. Fauci: ♫ so they know how good a doctor I am ♫
Off-panel voice: Dr. Fauci? The press conference is in five.
Dr. Fauci: Be right there!
[Caption below the panel:]
It's nice to think about how serious and important people probably also absentmindedly sing made-up songs to pets.


comment.png add a comment! ⋅ comment.png add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif refresh comments!

Discussion

Hi, I had a question about explain xkcd. On incomplete tags for the explanation, they most often say This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: created by ______ please mention here... On this comic, it says created by Dr Fauci in private. Or the MRNA one, thermal exhaust port. Who creates these names? Do people just make them up, or is there something else going on? RingTailedLemur (talk) 02:11, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Yep, you can add whatever ____ you want in there

108.162.215.50 02:30, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Yes, and Yes No, no, of course there's nothing diabolical going on behind the scenes.
(Check the progressive changes in the edit history for each comic page. It gets created/populated by the resident Bot, including the default Incomplete bit, and then (it has become customary) someone has a good idea for a topical rewording that they think is rather clever. And sometimes further people think they can be even cleverer, while editing or as sole purpose for an edit.)
...aaaand, of course I get edit-conflicted, but I thought this reply was clever enough to add anyway, so why not..? 172.69.55.134 02:38, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
Okay, thanks! I looked at the edit thingy and I saw it just says A BOT. RingTailedLemur (talk) 03:23, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
My all time favorite is the one I added on 2150: XKeyboarCD: “Created by a LEOPARD USING AN XKEYBOARCD” 172.68.132.157 03:50, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Is it known whether Dr. Fauci owns a cat?--Pere prlpz (talk) 08:57, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

I just did a quick image search and didn't find a single picture of Dr. Fauci wearing a lab coat during a press conference. Maybe we should mention that in the explanation. Bischoff (talk) 09:41, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

This comic uses lowercase text which makes it feel like some of the really old comics.172.69.34.52 23:22, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

I think it's intended to be sotto voce. Like, normally in text-format communications, switching to AllCaps can be taken as SHOUTING! Which is an interesting shift. But clearly he's singing 'to' his fish alone without any reason to broadcast the fact, and he only deliberately wishes his normally spoken words (in his response to the call) to be heard by anyone else. 108.162.229.18 00:50, 19 February 2021 (UTC)
Lowercase glyphs for the XKCD font, anyone?

"government medical science guy[citation needed]" is hilarious, please keep it. --Youforgotthisthing (talk) 20:05, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

"The comic shows him singing a made-up song to his pet fish in order to memorise his daily routine" … except that I don't find any indication that it's to help him memorize his daily routine. I considered it just like talking to our other pets (or infants), but with a tune applied. Talking gently, humming, singing, etc. is frequently used when working with animals or infants to keep them calm and reassured. But for this case, I think it is most likely to a form of self-talk, to get him mentally prepared to face the crowd. (or maybe singing is just something he likes to do, like all those people we see in musicals) 108.162.245.246 22:23, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Interesting how wear and there rhyme despite "there" not really being part of the song. bubblegum-talk|contribs 23:49, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Does anyone know why this is incomplete?

Without information, nobody knows which part needs fixing. If anyone knows why this is incomplete, please post the reason here. If nobody can provide a satisfactory answer, maybe we should consider removing the incomplete tag.--Quillathe Siannodel (talk) 14:27, 25 March 2021 (UTC) EDIT: I am posting this exact same text on other comics of questionable incompleteness. It's not spamming, it's a conscious attempt to clean this category up made by a real live human.--Quillathe Siannodel (talk) 14:35, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

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