20: Ferret

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Ferret
My brother had a ferret he loved which died since I drew this strip. RIP.
Title text: My brother had a ferret he loved which died since I drew this strip. RIP.

Explanation

The fact that Cueball lies about his goal could be a commentary on abandoning dreams to avoid confronting societal expectations.

The other stick figure makes fun of Cueball's imagination that involves a ferret flying, and then suggests to go play video games. This shows the irony of his definition of "imagination." He makes fun of Cueball's creative fantasy while instead opting for a mass-produced fantasy.

"RIP" in the title text stands for "Rest In Peace", from the original Latin "Requiescat in pace" as derived from a traditional Catholic burial service. The initialism or phrase was commonly placed on gravestones to indicate the hope that, in whatever existence the deceased now finds him- or herself, he or she may have peace. It has become a frequent motif in cartoons to indicate the death of an individual or character, which has likely contributed to its widespread use to denote the passing of a person, pet, or even abstract concept in popular culture, outside of Catholicism.

The ferret returns in 31: Barrel - Part 5.

Transcript

[A ferret with airplane wings on it.]
Friend: Why on earth did you make those wings? You don't seriously think they could let your ferret fly, right?
Cueball: I... of course not.
Cueball: That would be pretty dumb. It's just, uh... ...a Halloween costume.
Friend: oh, okay.
Friend: Besides, who would want a pet to fly anyway?
Cueball: Yeah. Pretty lame, huh?
Friend: Anyway, let's go play video games.
[Friend leaves.]
[Friend is gone, and Cueball is looking at ferret.]
[Cueball imagines ferret flying over the ocean near the beach using his makeshift wings.]

Trivia

  • Randall's original comment: "My brother has a ferret. He holds it like that and generally adores it. I have to concede that it's pretty cute, if smelly."
  • This is the nineteenth comic originally posted to livejournal. The previous was 19: George Clinton. The next was 21: Kepler.


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Discussion

The wings are gonna have to be waay bigger if that plane is gonna fly. Davidy22[talk] 04:23, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

I wonder if the flying ferret has anything to do with Richard Bach, a noted aviation author who published a series of flying books called "The Ferret Chronicles" in 2002-2003? --144.92.241.6 21:58, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

This is the saddest strip of all! -- Saijm4444 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Jonathan Livingston Ferret. -- anonymous (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Could this comic be where the FlyingFerret IRC bot in #xkcd on foonetic.net was originally conceived? 108.162.219.246 23:55, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Cueball could have let the matter drop with, "of course not." Instead, he deprecates both himself and his efforts while aligning himself with his friend's more pedestrian opinion. He makes a deliberate and public show of conformity. However, the last two panels show that, privately, he hasn't given up on the dream of wings for his ferret. Flight, especially in imagination or dreams, often represents freedom. Also, pets can sometimes be seen as extensions or representations of their owners. The dream of flight for the ferret could represent Cueball's desire for freedom from social strictures that he feels confine him. --DP9000 (talk) 09:23, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

I think it would be a nice irony if the video game they went off to play involved a pet which flies e.g. dragon. Pet dragons seem to feature in multiple games.EditorGonk (talk) 09:50, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

Every time I see someone saying that first few hundred xkcd comics were the worst it hurts, mostly because of this one. 141.101.77.84 12:12, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

It's Kiki from "Sluggy Freelance"! https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=13#1999-06-24