67: Nerd Girls
Nerd Girls |
Title text: Nothing personal, high schoolers. |
Explanation
The stereotypical nerd is socially inept and has an obsession with a non-mainstream hobby such as Dungeons and Dragons. Nerd males are also typically represented as treating all women (including female nerds) with reverence and awkward fawning due to their supposed inexperience and lack of female company in comparison to other males. In the comic, the nerd girl uses this as an excuse for her social ineptitude.
The T-shirt the girl is wearing contains the text "Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons," which is an actual text used for T-shirts, continuing with "for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!" This text is a modified version of a quote from Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring: "Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."
To all the high schoolers who are at the stage when they begin to find dates, Randall is saying that it is nothing personal, i.e. he is not trying to insult them by pointing this situation out.
Transcript
- [Girl with shoulder length brown hair and glasses, wearing a shirt which says "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons".]
- Girl: At least, thanks to your constant fawning, we have an excuse for our social ineptness. What's yours?
Discussion
On the off chance that there is an XKCD reader that isn't already familiar with it, the full text of the shirt that is only partially visible in the comic is, "Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!"mwburden (talk) 19:20, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
- Which is itself a parody of a quote "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." (from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) 108.162.236.85 00:59, 7 January 2016 (UTC)