943: Empirical

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Empirical
I'm as surprised as you!
Title text: I'm as surprised as you!

Explanation

When faced with the question "Will you marry me?", Cueball approaches the question in an empirical way. The word empirical denotes information gained by means of direct observation or experiments. In this comic, Cueball completes the "Will you marry me?" experiment, by actually getting married (as opposed to deciding on the spot or taking time to think) and the results are "yes".

The word "will" has two meanings: auxiliary verb of the future and disposition to do something. In the first sense Cueball cannot answer this question since he cannot know the future. Of course the question Will you marry me? uses the verb will in the second sense.

This comic is likely a reference to Randall's marriage around this time.

The title text states that Cueball is surprised by the results, suggesting that Cueball actually was not confident of his ability to marry, meaning that perhaps the marriage is not in good standing.

Transcript

[Two people are standing together, Megan and Cueball.]
Megan: Will you marry me?
[Cueball throws his hands in the air excitedly.]
Cueball: Let's find out!
[The couple are now standing in front of an altar. A flower arch stretches over the couple and a person is standing behind the altar. Megan is wearing a knee length white dress and a veil. Cueball is wearing a bow tie. They are holding hands.]
[The couple stand together, still dressed from the wedding and still holding hands.]
Cueball: Apparently, yes!


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Discussion

Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results, Cueball might not be willing to marry Megan next month. Empirical measurements of human behavior are naturally flawed due to the complexity of our decision making processes. Davidy²²[talk] 09:05, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Are you still happy that you wrote this comment? 108.162.219.223 19:21, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

We may never know 😔 108.162.241.131 (talk) 03:26, 16 March 2024‎ (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)