Editing 30: Donner

{{comic
| number    = 30
| date      = November 7, 2005
| title     = Donner
| image     = donner.jpg
| imagesize = 
| titletext = Some people haven&#39;t heard of the Donner Party.  They were pioneers who got stranded and likely resorted to cannibalism.
}}

==Explanation==
It appears that in the early days of [[xkcd]] (and days when Wikipedia was not quite in the mainstream consciousness), [[Randall Munroe|Munroe]] didn't trust people to understand his comics or his references; or else he didn't expect many people to read the title-text.

As the title-text says, the {{w|Donner party}} was a group of pioneers who set out west along a new route that was supposed to be easier to travel, but ultimately proved slow and treacherous. They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains and many died.

Low on food, it is believed that many of the pioneers resorted to cannibalism, eating the bodies of party members who had already died. In this one-frame comic, Donner party members arrive at Joe's (a restaurant, apparently) only to decide that they are full. The fact that the maitre d’ calls for a party of four and only three people are present suggests that they have eaten the fourth member of their party. Of course they are not in a survival situation in this strip, making cannibalism completely unnecessary.

==Transcript==
[Three people stand in the foyer of a restaurant. A sign above the entryway reads "JOE'S" and there is a menu next to it. In front of the entryway, there's a host behind a podium. A sign on the podium reads "EAT IN".]

Host: Donner, party of four?

Man: Actually, never mind.

Woman: We're full.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | date      = November 7, 2005
 | title     = Donner
-| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Monday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Donner Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing - Donner'''</big></big>
 | image     = donner.jpg
-| titletext = Some people haven't heard of the Donner Party. They were pioneers who got stranded and likely resorted to cannibalism.
+| imagesize =
+| titletext = Some people haven&#39;t heard of the Donner Party.  They were pioneers who got stranded and likely resorted to cannibalism.
 }}
 ==Explanation==
-This was the twenty-ninth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[27: Meat Cereals]], and the next one was [[34: Flowers]].
+It appears that in the early days of [[xkcd]] (and days when Wikipedia was not quite in the mainstream consciousness), [[Randall Munroe|Munroe]] didn't trust people to understand his comics or his references; or else he didn't expect many people to read the title-text.
-The {{w|Donner party}} was a group of pioneers who set out west along a new route that was supposed to be easier to travel, but ultimately proved slow and treacherous. They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and many died. It is believed that many of the pioneers, low on food, resorted to cannibalism, eating the bodies of party members who had already died. In this comic, three Donner party members arrive at Joe's restaurant, where they have ordered a table for four, as given by the fact that the {{w|Maître d'hôtel|maître d'}} knows they are the Donner party and calls for a party of four. The three decline the table since they are already full. This suggests that they just have eaten the fourth member (unknown to us) of their party after they placed the order for a table at the restaurant, but before they strolled over to it anyway. Of course, since they are not in a survival situation in this comic, cannibalism would be completely unnecessary. However, it may be possible that they are suffering from {{w|Wendigo|Wendigo Psychosis}}. Alternatively, the Donner Dinner Party may have resorted to cannibalism because it took so long to be seated at the restaurant.
+As the title-text says, the {{w|Donner party}} was a group of pioneers who set out west along a new route that was supposed to be easier to travel, but ultimately proved slow and treacherous. They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains and many died.
-As with many of the earlier comics, the title text explains the joke rather than adding to it.
+Low on food, it is believed that many of the pioneers resorted to cannibalism, eating the bodies of party members who had already died. In this one-frame comic, Donner party members arrive at Joe's (a restaurant, apparently) only to decide that they are full. The fact that the maitre d’ calls for a party of four and only three people are present suggests that they have eaten the fourth member of their party. Of course they are not in a survival situation in this strip, making cannibalism completely unnecessary.
 ==Transcript==
-:[Three people stand outside a restaurant; Megan, a man with some hair and another shorter person, probably a woman. There is a sign above the door which says "Joe's" (presumably the name of the restaurant) and a menu next to it. Outside the door, there is a maître d' with a cap behind a lectern. There is a sign on the lectern which says "Eat in".]
+[Three people stand in the foyer of a restaurant. A sign above the entryway reads "JOE'S" and there is a menu next to it. In front of the entryway, there's a host behind a podium. A sign on the podium reads "EAT IN".]
-:maître d': Donner, party of four?
-:Man: Actually, never mind.
+Host: Donner, party of four?
-:Megan: We're full.
+Man: Actually, never mind.
+Woman: We're full.
 {{comic discussion}}
+[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
-[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 29]]
-[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
-[[Category:Checkered paper]]
-[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
-[[Category:Food]]
-[[Category:Characters with hats]]
-[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]