2089: Christmas Eve Eve

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Christmas Eve Eve

Title text: It turns out that saying "Oh, so THAT'S why they call it Boxing Day" is a good way to get punched a second time.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by SANTA. There appears to be no explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This comic was posted on December 24, 2018.

The day before a holiday, is often referred to as the "eve" of the holiday. Thus December 24 is Christmas Eve. Some people (presumably including Randall) extend this and call December 23 "Christmas Eve Eve". We add one "eve" for each night before Christmas morning.

Cueball notes this, and Megan acknowledges this. Cueball follows by naming December 24 as Christmas Eve, December 25 as Christmas, and then mentions that the following day is his favorite. Megan's "Oh no" implies that she knows what Cueball will say next.

Since December 26 is the 364th day before Christmas, it follows that December 26 is "Christmas eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve".

Cueball's friend Megan finds this fact unacceptable; as such, she announces that she will not give Cueball gifts.

The title text refers to the “Boxing Day” holiday celebrated the day after Christmas in the UK and many parts of the former British Empire. In this comic we can presume Cueball is speaking, after he was punched for his litany of 364 “eves” and then punched a second time for saying, “Oh, that’s why they call it Boxing Day.”

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[Cueball, White Hat, and Megan stand in frame.]

Cueball: Today is Christmas Eve. Yesterday was Christmas eve day.

Megan: Uh huh...

Cuball: Of course, tomorrow is Christmas. And then, my favourite...

Megan: Oh no.

Cueball: ...Christmas eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve!

[The "eve"s get smaller over time.]

Megan: I'm returning the presents I got for you.

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Discussion

The "eve" count might be off by one or two. I used 365. Blacksilver (talk) 05:40, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Correct would be 364. Except in leap years. 162.158.90.90 09:23, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Anyone ACTUALLY count to make sure Randall got it right? 108.162.246.29 02:22, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

I have no life so I did count, and Randall has 364. Why would we doubt him? 162.158.75.178 14:15, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

In Germany, Christmas happens on Christmas Eve, so Cueball would be saying "eve" forever and just refer to the same date every time. "Heiligabend abends" is occasionally used to say the evening of 24th (the time of presents) and in northern Germany you sometimes say "Heiligtag", meaning "holy day" instead of "holy evening". 162.158.90.90 09:23, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

The presents are given on Christmas Eve. This doesn't mean that Christmas is on Christmas Eve. --188.114.102.34 09:22, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

As another german, in my experience the 24th, Heiligabend, is way more important than what we call the first Christmas Holiday and the second Christmas Holiday, which are the 25th and the 26th. It's the day when people do the elaborate, traditional dinners that are different for each family, when the "Christkind" comes at the evening after the family went to church (if very christian, if not, it's probably just santa and the church going isn't obligatory either) and presents are unboxed. The days after that are mainly just to play with or try out the presents, and depending on how christian the family is maybe one or two more church goings happen, also it is when you call relatives to either wish Merry Christmas^TM or thank them for the nice presents. Also because you likely made too much food for the Christmas Dinner^TM you finish the leftovers on those days. -- 256.256.256.256 (talk) 07:16, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

"The day after Christmas" - isn't that just 2nd Christmas day? --Zom-B (talk) 10:55, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Not in USA. They only have one day of Christmas. 198.41.242.82 12:58, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

In Denmark we are not so Christen so they never got us to call the party for Christmas, but we kept to the Yule time, and still calls Christmas for "Jul". In the Viking tradition we always celebrate when the day starts, and in their custom the new day begins when the sun sets and ends the current day. Thus we always celebrate the night before the day, that is actually celebrated. So we have the Jule dinner and presents on Christmas Eve (called Jule aften = Jule Eve). The 25th is then called Jule dag (Christmas day). And the "eve eve" we call "Lille Juleaften" = "Small Christmas Eve". We call the 26th "Anden Juledag" = "Second Christmas Day". Then someone use 3rd and 4th etc. up till New year. But that is not official. But The 25-26 is national holiday, and most people also have the 24th as a holiday. But not the 23rd (But this year it was a Sunday). Continuing to count the day before Lille Juleaften could be called 363 Christmas Day, then Small xmas evening, and xmas eve. Of course we could also call the 22nd Lille Lille Juleaften, and then add 363 for the 26th :-) --Kynde (talk) 16:00, 28 December 2018 (UTC)

Interestingly the rather amazing "Nancy" did a similar gag yesterday. https://www.gocomics.com/nancy/2018/12/23 --141.101.77.62 14:09, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

I don't see where anybody actually reported counting the number of times Randall wrote "eve", so I counted each of the 18 rows separately and then added them together. I got 11, 14, 14, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, and 27 - a grand total of 364 times, as expected. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 14:13, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Hat tip. 108.162.246.29 02:23, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

I added a trivia with the same count, before I saw yours, so now three have reported that it is 364 (and next year is not a leap year, so no mistake there either). --Kynde (talk) 15:53, 28 December 2018 (UTC)

My kids call the day before Christmas Eve "Christmas Adam". --WhiteDragon (talk) 18:33, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

I wonder if this explanation is the page on this wiki with the most occurrences of the letter 'v'. 108.162.241.106 19:21, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

The perl script to find the explanation with he most “v”s would not be particularly hard to write, but I might have to read documentation on the LWP module so I’m not going to bother (unless Christmas dinner at my brother-in-law’s goes particularly badly, in which case some mindless coding might be fun). Perhaps the guy who counted all the “eve”s will be more motivated than I 😀162.158.79.89

Hoverboard has over 4 times as many v's as this comic. April Fool's Day > Christmas confirmed? 162.158.214.82 23:01, 29 December 2019 (UTC)

> Most Americans don't know this and make jokes about how it refers to the sport of boxing. Since when do Americans know about Boxing Day to begin with, lol 172.69.62.243 15:41, 9 May 2021 (UTC)