131: Fans

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Fans
It's not going to break the fan, bouncing a rubber ball off the wall isn't going to dent it, and the roof can hold me just fine.  You LIED!
Title text: It's not going to break the fan, bouncing a rubber ball off the wall isn't going to dent it, and the roof can hold me just fine. You LIED!

Explanation

This comic is probably best recognized when you have (young) kids that still explore everything expensive you have in your household. And while they are not breaking the CD-tray off the DVD-player, putting gum in your shoes or flushing your mobile phone through the toilet, you always consider the possibility that they might. So you come up with various reasons along the lines of "You will break it, and pay for it" if they so much as touch these items. This can be frustrating to children, who feel they don't have the freedom to explore.

In the comic, Cueball lets go of these frustrations as he finally owns his own place. He buys an oscillating fan, and grabs its head, therefore locking the mechanism that rotates it. As it is safeguarded by a release stub, it will make a clicking sound. So, Cueball comes to the conclusion that his mother's constant yelling as he was near the fan wasn't necessary in the first place. Which, in turn, explains the title text.

Transcript

[Person holding fan in place]

<<click click>>

Narrator: Best thing about having my own apartment: Holding fans in place so they twitch helplessly and make that clicking sound without my mom yelling at me.


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Discussion

Also, sticking your fingers in a bird's nest won't drive them away.Classhole 20:54, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Kids need to realize that most parents are stupid. Anyone who takes issue with that has to address the fact that most human beings are stupid, and also become parents. And a lot of that stupidity is learned, passed on from the stupid parents, teachers, et cetera. Not only are most of the old warnings passed down wrong (you can put shoes on the couch without hurting or dirtying it significantly) but so are most of the new ones (the little bit of real science on the topic says that limiting "screen time" does more harm than good" — Kazvorpal (talk) 01:54, 21 September 2019 (UTC)

Why the " at the end of the comment tho 141.101.98.192 10:11, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
Kazvorpal is stupid. (Myself as well.) 162.158.255.45 00:50, 24 October 2021 (UTC)