2036: Edgelord

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Edgelord

Title text: If you study graphs in which edges can link more than two nodes, you're more properly called a hyperedgelord.

Explanation

"Edgelord" is modern slang describing a brash provocateur on social media; often in a satirical way that if taken literally would be found disturbing or insensitive. The term derives from the word "edgy", which is used to describe things which are designed to be provocative. "Edgy" and "edgelord" are quite derogatory, carrying further implications of being style over substance, or only having appeal with rambunctious teenagers.

In mathematics, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures made up of nodes (points) which are connected by edges (or lines).

This comic plays on the fact that graphs have edges. Calling someone with a Graph Theory Ph.D. an 'edgelord' (a master of edges) is somewhat analogous to calling an engineering student a 'forcelord', an astronomy PhD a 'starlord', or a pharmacologist a 'druglord'.

In reply, White Hat shouts "No", and is also clenching his fists in anger, which is ironic, because he seems to be on edge. Because "edgelord" is perceived as an insult by socially aware adults, Cueball is actually provoking White Hat, making Cueball an edgelord in this interaction. Similar situational humor is also found in 2008: Irony Definition.

The title text makes the same joke, except that the title would be hyperedgelord instead of edgelord. A hypergraph is a generalization of a graph in which each edge may have more than two endpoints. The term "hyper edge" could easily be considered stereotypically "edgy."

Transcript

[Cueball is talking to White Hat, who is balling his fist and has small lines above his head to indicate annoyance.]

Cueball: So, I hear you're a real edgelord.

White Hat: No!

[Caption below the frame:]

How to annoy a graph theory Ph.D.

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Discussion

Presumably has something to do with https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=edgelord 173.245.48.129 04:37, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

What is up with the wolverine? Am I missing a joke here? Possibly a reference somewhere else? 172.68.34.106 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

That is a reference to Wolverine, the Marvel Comics character, who has retractable "claws" stowed in his forearms and come out the back of his hands. The claws of an actual wolverine, like others in the family Mustelidae, are permanently extended. Nutster (talk) 12:41, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

It seems to me like the Wolverine thing is almost a non sequitur. I think a better comparison would be "like calling an engineering student a 'forcelord'" or "calling an astronomy PhD a 'Starlord'", or a pharmacologist a 'Druglord'. -- Angel (talk) 13:02, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Agree. Update made.172.68.65.90 13:19, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Aww... You guys made a better comparison than me. I put in the wolverine thing just to make a point that it was silly yet technically (by the loosest definition) accurate. I'm sorry it confused you. V (talk) 22:25, 23 August 2018 (UTC) ~

And someone studying military theory would be a Warlord? Or Lord of War? Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 06:53, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

There is an academic title called Master of War https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/master-war-studies-8571 172.68.51.160 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

If you are actually an "edgelord", wouldn't you answer "no" anyway to provoke once again? Fabian42 (talk) 08:40, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

I feel like there should be some discussion of what an edge (or hyper-edge) is in graph theory. 162.158.165.22 10:20, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Good that he doesn't call his plumber a shitlord. Might need one again. 172.69.54.75 11:54, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

So... is the joke just a half-working pun on "edge", or am I missing something? 172.69.226.119 14:28, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Yes <162.158.167.120 15:29, 22 August 2018 (UTC)>

So… Does this mean that white hat has a PhD in Graph Theory? 108.162.219.214 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It seems so. But please sign your comments. --Dgbrt (talk) 18:54, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Well, the White Hat in this comic has one. Doesn't necessarily imply the same thing about White Hats in any other comics. 162.158.238.154 08:19, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Nothing to do with the Doctor who is a Time Lord? --172.68.34.94 20:16, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

That's where my mind went as well, but I have no way to make that connection. (P.S. I love Alton Brown's description of himself on Twitter as a "Thyme Lord". I almost wanted to add that as a "calling a chef" example above!) 162.158.63.124 14:41, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Hehe "Starlord"--173.245.48.123 03:52, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

About a week before this comic, SlackWyrm posted this one: http://www.joshuawright.net/slack-wyrm-329.html Does that help? 108.162.249.244 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Nice comics and the edgelord theme runs until #335. Not sure if Randall knows this because he mentions many others at xkcd but not Joshua Wright. Nevertheless it's funny and maybe worth for a trivia section. Opinions? --Dgbrt (talk) 15:18, 25 August 2018 (UTC)

I trolled my friends with this comic, saying that they are a hyper-edgelord. I had a lot of giggles from that.Boeing-787lover 07:28, 6 October 2018 (UTC) -- Xkcdreader52 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

In Russian, word "graph" is also used to mean count's title. 141.101.104.221 11:52, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

So they borrowed the German word? Nitpicking (talk) 00:52, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

It looked as if someone "reverted" a future edit that mentioned "Time Lord". ConlangGuide (talk) 07:21, 3 March 2023 (UTC)