Editing 1677: Contrails

{{comic
| number    = 1677
| date      = May 6, 2016
| title     = Contrails
| image     = contrails.png
| titletext = Astronomy (or "astrology" in British English) is the study of...
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Contrail}}s (short for "condensation trails") are trails of vapor produced by aircraft exhaust, trailing the airplane. They are formed from water condensing on jet fuel exhaust particles, some impurities of which provide bases for ice crystals to accumulate on. Some can dissipate in minutes, but others can last for hours or even longer, depending on the temperature, relative humidity and wind conditions at that particular altitude. Long-lasting contrails is a sign of high relative humidity and may sometimes predict the formation of clouds and rain. The {{rw|chemtrail|chemtrail conspiracy theory}} claims that contrails lasting unusually long are actually chemical or biological agents sprayed into the air for more ''nefarious'' purposes, although there is no evidence for the same.

Here, [[White Hat]] notices that there are a lot of contrails in the air. [[Cueball]] (falsely) corrects him, saying that in {{w|American English}}, contrails are called chemtrails, which is incorrect. This might be a reference to the stereotype of Americans being especially likely to buy into conspiracy theories.

This is a comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series. Some of these comics involve [[Cueball]] giving misleading information about pedantic terms, such as [[1405: Meteor]]. Another of these comics, [[966: Jet Fuel]], even mentions chemtrails, saying that they are made of mind-control agents carried on board the planes that make them. Later they were again mentioned in [1803: Location Reviews]].

The title text includes a similar situation, implying that {{w|astronomy}} and {{rw|astrology}} are synonymous, with astrology being the term used in British English. However, this is incorrect. Astronomy is the scientific study of things in outer space, like stars, planets, and galaxies, whereas astrology is an asinine system that infers a person's personality and characteristics from those same things in outer space. Though both involve studying celestial objects, astrology is considered a {{rw|pseudoscience}} rather than empirical science.

The joke is that {{w|British English}} and American English use different terms to refer to the same object, and one can often learn new words for a simple thing. This, however is not the case in this comic; contrail and chemtrail do not refer to the same thing, the latter being only a conspiracy theory.

This newfound hobby is developing to another hobby about spreading misinformation that was released less than two month after this: [[1697: Intervocalic Fortition]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a White Hat are walking. White Hat is looking up to the sky while Cueball, walking in front holds out one arm towards him.]
:White Hat: Lots of contrails today.
:Cueball: Oh, you must be from the UK. In American English it's "Chemtrail".

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My hobby: Spreading linguistic misinformation

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Aviation]]