Talk:1339: When You Assume

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 02:59, 15 March 2014 by 173.245.54.8 (talk) (I always like to respond with "... Or you make A SUM out of M and E" just to be different.)
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This explanation is most certainly correct. A quick google search will prove as much. ImVeryAngryItsNotButter (talk) 15:19, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Tesshavon (talk) 09:11, 7 March 2014 (UTC) this is a direct reference to the popular saying 'When you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME'.

My donkey is behind a donkey, I am behind my donkey, my entire country is behind me! 141.101.99.7 05:20, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm not a native English speaker, and I'm just curious. Is there any popular saying about ass-ass-inating someone? 173.245.53.161 10:25, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, there is no such saying, but I'm sure it's a spelling mnemonic used by many. jameslucas (" " / +) 14:18, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
I have read of badly programed profanity filters that change "assassin" to "buttbuttin". It's a clbuttic mistake. 108.162.250.220 13:22, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
Funny that such profanity filters are the ones who gave me the idea of asking. I first heard about them in This Is True (search for "How Embarrbutting" in that page), who took it from The London Telegraph. 173.245.53.161 15:24, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Assert is also used in programming (c and such) 108.162.241.11 13:35, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

And Python, which I was hacking in yesterday, so that came to my mind. But Randall isn't distracting us with any assert + throw unhandled exception jokes today. — tbc (talk) 15:31, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Thank goodness for the 'ERT' explanation; I had terrible notions of a portmanteau involving 'insert'. jameslucas (" " / +) 14:16, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

If Megan was going to phrase it like "You know what happens when you assume something? You make an ass out of you and me.", then she wouldn't be assuming anything. Of course, in spoken English, you could determine which one it is through inflection. Maybe Randall could start making voice-overs for the comics. 103.22.200.80 18:33, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Strictly speaking, Megan is asking a rhetorical question; one that she intends to answer herself. However, I once had a dickhead manager try this one on me, so I fully support this comic. 108.162.215.56 20:32, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

This comic explain needs some enhancements!!!

xkcd is a webcomic "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." There is definitively no ASS here, or ERT... That could be mentioned at trivia, not more. This is all about language — assuming vs. asserting — not more or less. Everything more interpretations are like hearing a message by playing a song backwards. This explain isn't incomplete — it's incorrect! --Dgbrt (talk) 21:21, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Um, the explanation is fine. The cheesy "ass" + "u" + "me" pun is well-known, and the comic is quite specifically riffing on it. No pareidolia here. 199.27.128.72 23:20, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

I saw it as that Megan was on an ERT and that Cueball's assumption was about the emergency (e.g. "The building must be safe by now,") hence the comment about an ERT (although I now also see and agree with the explanation of the play on words). Z (talk) 23:32, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

WOW: Neil Armstrong was just a movie star (I will not talk about 911) or what??? Look at the picture, look at the comic; I'm pretty sure Randall is giggle about all the comments here. I'm pretty sure you can find a ERT at the bible many times; but this isn't that Randall talks about!!!--Dgbrt (talk) 00:36, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
Dgbrt, are you rejecting the simple ass-u-me explanation? — tbc (talk) 15:31, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
And this explain is still bad because: 1) A hint to use Google as a help is not a proper way. 2) There is also a real language issue on that both different words "assume" and "assert". The joke is about mixing this language issues and all that memes.--Dgbrt (talk) 23:00, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
I know I didn't user Google to search anything, but I knew the "ass out of u and me" joke immediately, same thing with the assert one. That's the comic's joke. 173.245.54.40 17:36, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

So... nobody else is going to mention that the proper phrase is, "When you assume, you make an ass IN FRONT OF 'u' and 'me'"? Not only is the "ass" in front of those two letters, but if somebody assumes, they're only making an ass out of theirself, not "you and me". Therefore, YOU are making an ass IN FRONT OF yourself and me. Though... are you truly doing so in front of yourself? Either way, more accurate than the innocent bystander being made an ass out of. Ferretwilliams (talk) 05:34, 13 March 2014 (UTC)

I always like to respond with "... Or you make A SUM out of M and E" just to be different.173.245.54.8mtndew99