2134: Too Much Talking

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Too Much Talking

Title text: Next time I go, I'm going to prepare a whole bunch of opinions that I'm sure are good, and make everyone sit quietly while I run through them.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a TALKATIVE PARTYGOER. Explanation needs to be expanded. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Cueball has recently returned from a party, and appears to be intoxicated to some degree. Different from most after-party regrets, he appears to have "talked too much." Likely, he expressed opinions that might be rejected or seen as embarrassing by his social circle or society as a whole, and is now remorseful and embarrassed he said such things. In his shame, he recedes under his bed, but evidently he finds new opinions to feel strongly about, and quickly returns to society.

The title text presents a suggestion that will likely not go over well, as forcing those at a party to quietly listen to you is a great way to kill it.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[Cueball is walking into the panel from the right]

Off-screen: How was the party?

Cueball: Taaalkiiiiiiing

Cueball: Blablablabla

Cueball: I talked so much. Too much? Probably.

Cueball: My face is tired.

[Cueball moving to retreat under a bed]

Cueball: So many conversations.

Cueball: I'm worried that all my opinions are bad. Why did I talk so much?

Cueball: Time to hide under my bed and never speak to another human again.

[The bed is shown, presumably with Cueball under it.]

Five minutes later...

[Cueball crawling out from under the bed]

Cueball: I have some new opinions.

Off-screen: That didn't take long.

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Discussion

I'd put something here, but I'm tired of typing. -boB (talk) 19:25, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

This feels very different from how Randall usually portrays his characters (being too afraid to speak at all at parties or so stressed about introducing themselves right that they miss the other person's name). I wonder if this is the effect of the alcohol or just a different person altogether. --Maple42 (talk) 19:28, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Could also be that character over-correcting, a la xkcd 1796. 162.158.106.48 20:45, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Friendly reminder to link your comments. PoolloverNathan^[talk]U•T•S•c 03:28, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Possibly just my flawed interpretation, but it seems like this is possibly a depiction of Randall having arguments online. It doesn't seem like his normal irl-party-characterization (this actually reads a little Beret-Guy-esque; also reminds me a bit of Politifact). Cueball has gotten into a few online debates and left the platform, only to return very soon. The title text is referring to Cueball coming up with "good opinions" and then making his own post for them out of nowhere. What do you guys think? 162.158.107.97 21:50, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

I get absolutely no sense that Cueball is intoxicated at all. I'm not sure where that would come from, other than being at a party; of course, not every party has alcohol and not everybody drinks when they do. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 22:04, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Removed from the explanation. Seems more like the other Social interactions comics, rather than Cueball being drunk. Herobrine (talk) 06:25, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

At least from my personal experience, it’s hard to get me talking, a la the rest of xkcd, and when I do, this comic happens. “That Guy from the Netherlands” (talk) 12:31, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

This is definitely how I interpreted this. Cueball seems much more likely to be experiencing social anxiety than drunkenness. -- FroggerUnderrated (talk) 16:40, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

I would write something, but I'm afraid that it would be wrong and I'd be judged. 162.158.150.120 13:03, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

Randall often writes characters with some traits of autism, although they might not be diagnosable (see XKCD 602, for example). The impulse to "hide under [the] bed" could be interpreted as a shutdown. 172.68.211.124 17:46, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

I read the comic as a typical depiction of someone coming home from a party after drinking too much, but he's talking about opinions. The commentary is that opinions are like alcohol: people often have too many, they make us say things in conversation (arguments) that we end up regretting, and people never seem to know when to stop. Replace talking with alcohol and basically we have someone coming home after drinking too much (the title), talking about how much they drank, regretting the things they did or say while drinking, going to bed vowing never to drink again, and then clearly not learning their lesson they're ready to drink again all too soon. 162.158.78.196 18:08, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

I think his is more about social anxiety. Someone with social anxiety would, after coming home from a party (why would he even be at a party to begin with? Who knows?) would start thinking about everything he said and start second guessing everything, perhaps even going as far as to assume that everything he said was bad/wrong/impolite somehow. Or at least that's what happens to me. 141.101.69.105 13:45, 10 April 2019 (UTC)Alex

Seems to me this is overthinking it. Talking a lot at a party has been the subject in other comics. And saying something that your regret based on this is not strange. The problem and punch line is that everyone likes to express their opinions. And cannot stop just because they got rejected and had a bad time last time they expressed their opinion. And then of course that he formed new opinions, and think he can make some (title text) that every one would agree to. --Kynde (talk) 18:03, 10 April 2019 (UTC)