Editing 636: Brontosaurus

[[Megan]] describes her relationship to [[Cueball]] with the simile "our love is like a turtle," a comparison often made when referring to a shy and slowly developing yet steady sort of romance. However, Cueball thinks that the ''{{w|Brontosaurus}}'' is a better comparison. His explanation refers to the fact that remains of ''{{w|Apatosaurus}}'' were by mistake believed to be a different genus, which the paleontologist {{w|Othniel Charles Marsh|O.C. Marsh}} named ''Brontosaurus''. It was later discovered that the two genera should be classified as one, with the older name prevailing according to convention [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatosaurus#Classification_and_species]. The term ''Brontosaurus'' therefore became a scientific redundancy.

Applied to the scenario in the comic, Cueball apparently considers the relationship without any emotional foundation and only continues it out of nostalgic motives. This conclusion counteracts the initial romantic tone adopted by the turtle simile, as comparing a romance with a falsely classified fossil is one of the least charming statements imaginable.

The title text aims at [[Randall|Randall's]] well-known enthusiasm for ''{{w|Velociraptor}}''s. Megan retorts by comparing any future sex between the two of them to be as likely as finding a ''Velociraptor'' in his house. The insult has a second barb: painting Cueball as being obsessed with movies involving ''Velociraptor''s.

However the status of "Brontosaurus" remains under discussion, with a [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brontosaurus-is-back1/ 2015 study of diplodocids] reporting that the more gracile fossils should be classified in a separate genus, which would then be ''Brontosaurus''.