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| Husband and Wife |
 Title text: Borat came out twenty years ago this year--closer to the breakup of the Soviet Union than to today--but it honestly feels like it's been even longer, somehow. |
Explanation
Megan and Cueball are discussing the phrases that married couples use to refer to each other, traditionally "my husband" and "my wife". Megan thinks this sounds too traditional, comparing it to a "Victorian gossip" (a subject that was previously referenced in 2660: Gen Z), though it isn't clear whether this is because of referring to a spouse possessively or using the term "husband", which can sound fancy due to its 17th-century meanings of "master of the house" or "husbandman" (farmer).
Cueball, on the other hand, isn't bothered as much by this implication as by the association with 2006 film Borat. Borat, a fictional character from Kazakhstan, had a distinct, cringy way of saying "my wife", which Cueball can't get out of his head when he uses the phrase.
On the other hand, Cueball has a serious problem -- it's hard to forget that earworm. The title text points out that the 20 years from the movie's release to the publication of this comic is longer than the 15 years from the dissolution of the Soviet Union to the movie (Kazakhstan was briefly the last-remaining member of the USSR). In contrast to Randall's usual attempts to make people feel old, the title text claims that Borat actually seems older than it really is, in part because of how annoying
Transcript
- Megan: I still feel a little weird saying the phrase "my husband".
- Megan: It makes me feel so traditional, like a Victorian gossip.
- [Megan and Cueball still standing next to each other]
- Cueball: Yeah, well, my plight isn’t much better.
- Megan: What do you mean?
- Cueball: What’s the most salient cultural reference for the phrase "my wife"?
- [In the 3rd panel, Cueball has his hands raised]
- Megan: Ughhhh, true.
- Cueball: Even now, after two decades, when I speak of you I hear his voice, echoing through the halls of memory like a cringey ghost.
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