Comments on: Lincoln-Douglas http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/09/21/lincoln-douglas/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:36:29 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: TH http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/09/21/lincoln-douglas/comment-page-1/#comment-20307 TH Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:51:22 +0000 http://www.explainxkcd.com/?p=149#comment-20307 To address a relatively old post, I would point out that Stephen A. Douglas was an American politician who engaged in a series of seven debates with Lincoln in 1858 (the Lincoln-Douglas debates) and then subsequently beat Lincoln in a bid to be elected to the US Senate. The two were apparently well noted for their excellent debates. Douglas ran for US President against Lincoln 2 years later, and lost. This comic jokes that after he lost the election, Douglas's previously excellent debate skills diminished to the point where his best come-back was a non-common lazy comeback of adding "your mom" to whatever the other person said. This started out originally done as a comeback to an insult, but has since come to be used as a comeback to anything (sometimes ironically) whether insulting or not. Eg: "I don't have time to eat now"Oh yeah? Well, YOUR MOM doesn't have time to eat now!" or "I don't think I like Bacon" "I don't think YOUR MOM likes bacon". On an unrelated note, I find that John Bell, who also ran in the same 1860 presidential election, bears a spitting image to Colm Meaney, an Irish-American actor perhaps best known as chief O'Brien on Star Trek DS9. To address a relatively old post, I would point out that Stephen A. Douglas was an American politician who engaged in a series of seven debates with Lincoln in 1858 (the Lincoln-Douglas debates) and then subsequently beat Lincoln in a bid to be elected to the US Senate. The two were apparently well noted for their excellent debates.

Douglas ran for US President against Lincoln 2 years later, and lost.

This comic jokes that after he lost the election, Douglas’s previously excellent debate skills diminished to the point where his best come-back was a non-common lazy comeback of adding “your mom” to whatever the other person said. This started out originally done as a comeback to an insult, but has since come to be used as a comeback to anything (sometimes ironically) whether insulting or not.

Eg: “I don’t have time to eat now”Oh yeah? Well, YOUR MOM doesn’t have time to eat now!”
or “I don’t think I like Bacon” “I don’t think YOUR MOM likes bacon”.

On an unrelated note, I find that John Bell, who also ran in the same 1860 presidential election, bears a spitting image to Colm Meaney, an Irish-American actor perhaps best known as chief O’Brien on Star Trek DS9.

]]> By: Rory http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/09/21/lincoln-douglas/comment-page-1/#comment-906 Rory Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:43:27 +0000 http://www.explainxkcd.com/?p=149#comment-906 I don't know. The best I can come up with - which sort of makes sense to me - I gleaned from looking up Kurt Gödel and M. C. Escher on Wikipedia. It seems to allude to the intractable and circular reality of life - there is nothing new under the sun, and it all goes on and on. Take a look at Escher's artwork. It will be familiar. In the end, "what do you do?" Have each other. If the Kurt Halsey is this guy - http://www.kurthalsey.com/category/work/ - then it seems his artwork is quite affectionate and romantic. Love is everything - who cares about all the rest. That's all I can come up with - but, I like it. I don’t know. The best I can come up with – which sort of makes sense to me – I gleaned from looking up Kurt Gödel and M. C. Escher on Wikipedia. It seems to allude to the intractable and circular reality of life – there is nothing new under the sun, and it all goes on and on. Take a look at Escher’s artwork. It will be familiar.

In the end, “what do you do?” Have each other. If the Kurt Halsey is this guy – http://www.kurthalsey.com/category/work/ – then it seems his artwork is quite affectionate and romantic. Love is everything – who cares about all the rest.

That’s all I can come up with – but, I like it.

]]> By: Jeff http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/09/21/lincoln-douglas/comment-page-1/#comment-86 Jeff Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:13:58 +0000 http://www.explainxkcd.com/?p=149#comment-86 It is a "yo mama" joke. Which is the laugh because that's the limit of Stephen Douglas's debating skills. It is a “yo mama” joke. Which is the laugh because that’s the limit of Stephen Douglas’s debating skills.

]]> By: c45 http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/09/21/lincoln-douglas/comment-page-1/#comment-84 c45 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:36:32 +0000 http://www.explainxkcd.com/?p=149#comment-84 can you explain this one? http://xkcd.com/24/ can you explain this one? http://xkcd.com/24/

]]> By: Rory http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/09/21/lincoln-douglas/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Rory Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:26:09 +0000 http://www.explainxkcd.com/?p=149#comment-83 So...is this one of those "Yo Momma" jokes? I wasn't entirely sure where the laugh was supposed to be had in this one. So…is this one of those “Yo Momma” jokes? I wasn’t entirely sure where the laugh was supposed to be had in this one.

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