28: Elefino

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Elefino
Original title: Monday's Drawing - Elefino
Hell if I know
Title text: Hell if I know

Explanation[edit]

This was the thirty-second comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 29: Hitler, and the next one was 31: Barrel - Part 5.

The answer for the riddle in this comic is given by the title text, "Hell if I know", which, when spoken out loud, sounds like the title of this comic, "Elefino". "Elephino" is a portmanteau of the words "elephant" and "rhino". In the comic itself, Randall unexpectedly says, "I haven't a goddamn clue", which still conveys the same meaning but ruins the joke instead of giving the punchline. As with many of the earlier comics, the title text explains the joke rather than adding to it.

This word play is reminiscent of the final scene in Buster Keaton's 1921 short (23 minute) film The Boat in which the titulular boat is named the Damfino, a word play on "Damned if I know." Keaton answers his wife's question "Where are we?" by mouthing the name of the boat in the final scene. The filmmakers relied on audiences to read Keaton's lips, as his answer was not intertitled.

Transcript[edit]

Q: What do you get when you cross an Elephant with a Rhino?
[Picture of elephant, mathematical addition symbol, picture of rhino, equals sign, large question mark.]
A: I haven't a goddamn clue.


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Discussion

I would say that you get something Relephant --Akres141.101.92.41 12:11, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

That's probably relevant 141.101.104.102 05:34, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

I feel like the comparison to Back to the Future is rather pointless, so I'm going to delete it. OriginalName (talk) 04:58, 4 August 2017 (UTC)

Elefino is the name of a restaurant in the animated series Bojack Horseman. They make the same pun as this comic. I wonder if the writers of the show had read this comic a decade earlier?