Latest revision as of 09:33, 16 March 2026

Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki!
We have an explanation for all 3278 xkcd comics, and only 42 (1.3%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!

Go to this explanation

Latest comic[edit]

Airport Meeting

Title text: Although it was a setback for physics, I'm glad the particle naming rights issue led to the cancelation of Pizza Hut's Superconducting Super Collider in the early 90s, so the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Topping Quark ended up just being named 'top quark.'

Explanation[edit]

This is incomplete:
This page was created by a charmed quark. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Michelin is a company that manufacture tires for cars and heavy machinery. However, they have also created the Michelin Guide, originally a guide for motorists in France that eventually branched out into dining and travel and spread across the world.

Red Bull is a company that manufactures the eponymous energy drink. However, they have also invested heavily in motorsport events, competing as a team in NASCAR and Formula One. "Red Bull Supercar" might refer to upcoming Red Bull RB17.

This comic implies that this is because two employees, each working for one of the companies, accidentally swapped briefcases at an airport, suggesting that originally one had information that Michelin was using in support of the motorsport business and other possessed information that Red Bull was using to identify restaurants, which better fits with the companies' existing specialties. By leaving with each other's paperwork, and making use of it, both companies found themselves with departments pursuing opportunities that pivoted into the technically quite different fields more closely related to the other. It seems strange that they would both remain unaware of the switch, and keep going with the plan anyway, unless they were sent travelling to remote offices without themselves or anyone at the other end yet being privy to what confidential project material they were supposed to be carrying, and too much effort had been spent by the time any pre-briefed person became involved again. Possibly they actually intended to mutually conspire to take the other person's briefcase all along, in a version of the common spy bag swap trope, but this seems unlikely from the comic.

In reality, the Michelin Guide, which covers restaurants and hotels, originated as a way to encourage early automobile owners to drive more and therefore need replacement tires more often. The early guide included maps, automobile maintenance instructions, and listings of hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and auto repair mechanics across France - information which was not easily found elsewhere at the time. The popularity of the restaurant listings led to greater investment into the section, and the classification of two-star restaurants being 'worth a detour' and three-star being 'worth a special journey' to tempt motorists into driving to them.

Red Bull's motorsports sponsorships are part of a larger strategy of owning or sponsoring numerous sports teams and individual athletes as a means to advertise their brand, placing their logos on uniforms, in stadiums, or on race cars. Besides its racing teams, the company owns or has stakes in over a dozen soccer clubs, along with ice hockey, rugby, and bicycle racing teams, and regularly sponsors various extreme sport competitions. These sponsorships are less related to the company's energy drink business, but still make sense as advertising.

The title text introduces the concept of even stranger specialization-swapping between a fast-food franchise and particle physics. Quarks are a type of sub-atomic particle (which come in six 'flavors': up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom) but it is also the name of a type of cheese. The claim that the top quark was originally named the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Extra Topping quark, before being shortened to top quark, suggests it was used as a pizza topping. In reality, the top and bottom quarks were originally named truth and beauty quarks, and are still occasionally referred to as such. Nearly all pizza toppings are made out of quarks.^{[citation needed]} However, the flavor of quarks is highly dependent on their general configuration into particles, atoms, molecules, proteins, and such.

Transcript[edit]

This is one of 31 incomplete transcripts:
Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[Cueball and Ponytail are standing together and talking to each other. Cueball holds a black briefcase, while Ponytail has a grey briefcase in front of her.]

Cueball: I do restaurant analysis for a beverage company.

Ponytail: Neat! I work in the automotive industry, developing parts for specialized vehicles.

[Same as first panel, but Cueball has put down his briefcase next to Ponytail's (partly obscuring it from view) and is looking at something in his hand (could be either a boarding card or his cellphone, depending upon how many 'years earlier' than now this was).]

Cueball: Oh, my flight is boarding. It was nice to meet you!

Ponytail: You too!

[Ponytail and Cueball walk off in opposite directions, carrying each other's original briefcase.]

[Header:] Years later:

[A book with a star on it that reads:]

Michelin Tire Company

Star Restaurant Guide

[A fancy sports car, facing to the right. On the body of the car, it says:]

Red Bull Supercar

Add comment

Create topic (use sparingly)

Refresh

Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.

This is a test. PoolloverNathan^{[stalk the blue seas]} 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

^furhhfghure _{guyrburgryhuyvfr} "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

45px	Soup

yum yum ^{[citation needed]}

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

This is the leaderboard:

Last 7 days (Top 50)

Rank	Score	Pages	Changes	Username
1	15	12	14	TheusafBOT
2	13	8	14	YZ100
3	9	4	11	GSLikesCats307
4	9	7	8	Theusaf
5	7	3	7	John Hawkinson
6	7	1	10	7amithorn
7	7	3	7	SevenTheGamingKitty
8	6	3	5	Somefan
9	5	2	5	Capycapybara
10	3	1	2	Alcatraz ii
11	3	3	3	Barry Margolin
12	3	1	2	Citation 307
13	2	2	2	Staca77
14	2	2	2	FaviFake
15	2	2	2	Chronotix
16	2	2	2	Daniel Griscom
17	2	2	2	Victoria
18	1	1	1	Qwertyuiopfromdefly
19	1	1	1	Fephisto
20	1	1	1	mouse
21	1	1	1	Morpheus
22	1	1	1	Penguin Zero
23	1	1	1	Trimutius
24	1	1	1	Squishmallow fan
25	1	1	1	DollarStoreBa'al
26	1	1	1	NHG Mitchell
27	1	1	1	Jacob Thrall

<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello doesthiswork (yesitdoes) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

‮hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)‭

Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Add comment

View comic discussion

New here?[edit]

Last 30 days (Top 10)

Rank	Score	Pages	Changes	Username
1	72	62	86	TheusafBOT
2	47	34	79	YZ100
3	39	24	80	GSLikesCats307
4	25	22	24	Ally
5	21	17	22	FaviFake
6	21	14	25	DKMell
7	19	10	31	Barry Margolin
8	18	11	24	BunsenH
9	15	9	19	Capycapybara

Lots of people contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have just joined. You can do it too! Create your account here.

You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to create an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd comics, characters, What If? articles, and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd comic, it should be here.

If you're new to wiki editing, see the explain xkcd:Editor FAQ for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on how to edit wiki pages. There's also a handy wikicode cheatsheet.

Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the Community portal.

You can browse the comics from the list of all comics or by navigating the category tree at Category:Comics.

The incomplete explanations are listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!

Rules[edit]

Be a jerk!

There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.

If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t.

Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.

If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.

10 July 2026

		N 22:57	Talk:3269: Airport Meeting‎‎ (15 changes \| history) . . (+4,531)‎ . . [Somefan‎; Mouse‎; Capycapybara‎; TheusafBOT‎; Barmar‎; 82.132.236.148‎; 2601:40d:4283:28e0:2587:5b61:a9fe:1a87‎; 216.25.182.141‎; 2001:16b8:cc2e:500:9aaf:4351:6eb6:c918‎; SevenTheGamingKitty‎ (2×); Alcatraz ii‎ (2×); 159.224.64.162‎ (2×)]
			22:57 (cur \| prev) . . (+11)‎ . . 159.224.64.162 (talk)
			22:56 (cur \| prev) . . (+611)‎ . . 159.224.64.162 (talk)
			21:14 (cur \| prev) . . (+35)‎ . . Somefan (talk \| contribs) (divide comments into sections about the comic and wiki, respectively)
			21:09 (cur \| prev) . . (+452)‎ . . 2001:16b8:cc2e:500:9aaf:4351:6eb6:c918 (talk)
			17:16 (cur \| prev) . . (+208)‎ . . Capycapybara (talk \| contribs)
			15:52 (cur \| prev) . . (+685)‎ . . 2601:40d:4283:28e0:2587:5b61:a9fe:1a87 (talk) (Added comment about site instability maybe having another cause)
			13:25 (cur \| prev) . . (+181)‎ . . Mouse (talk \| contribs)
			11:38 (cur \| prev) . . (+1,024)‎ . . 82.132.236.148 (talk)
			03:46 (cur \| prev) . . (+92)‎ . . Alcatraz ii (talk \| contribs)
			03:46 (cur \| prev) . . (+237)‎ . . Alcatraz ii (talk \| contribs)
			03:31 (cur \| prev) . . (+173)‎ . . SevenTheGamingKitty (talk \| contribs) (reply to barmar)
			02:56 (cur \| prev) . . (+325)‎ . . Barmar (talk \| contribs)
			02:48 (cur \| prev) . . (+172)‎ . . 216.25.182.141 (talk)
			00:52 (cur \| prev) . . (+212)‎ . . SevenTheGamingKitty (talk \| contribs) (comment)
		N	00:46 (cur \| prev) . . (+113)‎ . . TheusafBOT (talk \| contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3269)

		N 18:34	Talk:3268: Offside‎‎ (4 changes \| history) . . (+1,278)‎ . . [Yorkshire Pudding‎; GSLikesCats307‎; 82.132.236.148‎; 198.73.70.136‎]
			18:34 (cur \| prev) . . (+569)‎ . . 198.73.70.136 (talk) (Noticed an unusual coincidence)
			14:22 (cur \| prev) . . (+442)‎ . . 82.132.236.148 (talk)
			12:12 (cur \| prev) . . (+142)‎ . . Yorkshire Pudding (talk \| contribs)
		N	09:36 (cur \| prev) . . (+125)‎ . . GSLikesCats307 (talk \| contribs) (Created page with "Finally the site's back! ~~~~")

		11:47	Talk:3267: Types of Tornado Alert‎‎ (3 changes \| history) . . (+250)‎ . . [Squishmallow fan‎; 82.13.184.33‎ (2×)]
			11:47 (cur \| prev) . . (+195)‎ . . Squishmallow fan (talk \| contribs)
			08:26 (cur \| prev) . . (+55)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			08:25 (cur \| prev) . . (0)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

09:55

Talk:3266: Holes‎ (diff | hist) . . (+463)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

		01:00	Talk:Main Page‎‎ (3 changes \| history) . . (0)‎ . . [SevenTheGamingKitty‎ (3×)]
			01:00 (cur \| prev) . . (-206)‎ . . SevenTheGamingKitty (talk \| contribs) (oh wait, this isn't even the right page (delete topic about comic 3268))
		m	00:59 (cur \| prev) . . (+116)‎ . . SevenTheGamingKitty (talk \| contribs) (→‎what happened to comic 3268?: forgot to sign whoops)
			00:58 (cur \| prev) . . (+90)‎ . . SevenTheGamingKitty (talk \| contribs) (→‎what happened to comic 3268?: new section)