Difference between revisions of "1837: Rental Car"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Explanation)
m (Transcript)
Line 41: Line 41:
 
:GPS: Recalculating
 
:GPS: Recalculating
  
:[Megan and Cueball walk back into the the guy behind his desk. Megan holds out the car keys in one hand.]
+
:[Megan and Cueball walks back into the the guy behind his desk. Megan holds out the car keys in one hand.]
 
:Guy: Back already?
 
:Guy: Back already?
 
:Megan: We'll take the murder car.
 
:Megan: We'll take the murder car.

Revision as of 11:57, 15 May 2017

Rental Car
Technically, both cars are haunted, but the murder ghosts can't stand listening to the broken GPS for more than a few minutes.
Title text: Technically, both cars are haunted, but the murder ghosts can't stand listening to the broken GPS for more than a few minutes.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Work in progress
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

In this comic the couple Megan and Cueball wants to rent a car. The Cueball-like guy from the car rental agency tells them they only have two vehicles available:

  • One cat that puts its occupants into mortal danger, so much that it is called The Murder Car. The danger, however, is abstract - it is haunted by a ghost, and actual death befalls only "maybe one in six". (That is like taking one go at Russian Roulette, not something you should ever try at home or anywhere else!).
  • The other car, a regular Sedan, has a defective GPS that incessantly gives instructions to go specifically to Seattle, in spite that the driver would usually not want to go there. And it cannot be turned off!

Megan believes she can ignore this and accepts the least lethal car. But the comic suggests that driving with a GPS on that tries to guide you towards a different destination that what you wish to do, so it is always recalculating and asking you to do U-turns is so annoying, that given the choice between the persistent low-level annoyance of the GPS on one hand, and the ("low") probability of being murdered on the other, most people will choose the latter option because, after all, they might survive murderous ghosts but they feel they will not survive long having to listen to the broken GPS.

According to the title text, the murderous ghosts haunts both cars, but as soon as the car starts driving and the GPS begins to drone on, then even the ghost cannot stand listening to the broken GPS for long, and returns to The Murder Car.

Apart from the joke about GPS, there is also a joke on the horrible cars one might get at a car rental service...

Transcript

[A Cueball-like guy standing behind a desk looking at a computer screen services Megan and Cueball on the other side of the desk.]
Guy: We have two rental cars left.
Guy: One is the murder car. But don't let the name scare you!
Guy: It's definitely haunted. But most drivers don't get murdered.
Guy: Maybe one in six.
[The guy lifts his hand and looks at Megan and Cueball.]
Guy: The other is a regular Sedan.
Guy: But is has a GPS that's stuck trying to navigate to Seattle.
Megan: ...I can ignore it, right? That's fine.
[In a frame-less panel Megan and Cueball drives in the Sedan.]
GPS: Turn left
GPS: Recalculating
GPS: Make a U-Turn
GPS: Recalculating
GPS: Turn right
GPS: Make a U-Turn
GPS: Recalculating
[Megan and Cueball walks back into the the guy behind his desk. Megan holds out the car keys in one hand.]
Guy: Back already?
Megan: We'll take the murder car.
Guy: Popular Choice.


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

Discussion

Started with a bare-bones explanation. Please elaborate further. Nialpxe (talk) 09:28, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

It looks like the "one in six" figure might be a reference to 795: Conditional Risk? 108.162.229.244 09:34, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Added a transcript (that ip is mine, was not logged in)PMR GO (talk) 10:01, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Maybe the murder car is a reference to Christine? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_(1983_film) 162.158.88.128 14:45, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Seems like a stretch. Christine killed like 6 out of 8, for starters, and wasn't a rental... 162.158.74.51 20:38, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Is the Trivia section meant to be a joke? Otherwise, the paragraph "That equates to a reduction in risk..." should be deleted, as it is totally meaningless. Comparing two entirely different figures (number of deaths per vehicle sold worldwide one year, number of deaths per vehicle on the roads in the US the next year) makes no sense. If it's a joke, it should be made clearer. Zetfr 08:19, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

Could this joke be about how a broken GPS has higher odds of getting you killed than playing Russian Roulette?

Don't tell me the odds. 141.101.107.30

Doesn't it actually say only 1 in 6 drivers DON'T get murdered? 162.158.90.223 04:49, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

It is stated that "most drivers don't get murdered", which means that it is surely an elided "one in six ((are the ones that actually) do)" rather than "one in six ((enumerates those aforementioned that) don't)". O r a huge error of statistical understanding (by the in-universe character, at least) that doesn't understand/convey odds correctly that I can't really see being the case - even if that could also be funny. 172.71.242.185 16:58, 24 December 2023 (UTC)