explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1418: Horse

2026-05-24T00:15:24Z

129.222.195.116:

*May the horse be with you Luke.
*The horse is strong with this one.
*I felt a tremor in the horse.
*Use The Horse Luke!!!!
Why did he forget SW. That is not like Randall ;) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:50, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
: I gotta think maybe Randall's making a subtle statement that Star Wars just ain't so relevant these days... [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:50, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
::They are all news headlines [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.61|141.101.70.61]] 17:54, 5 June 2016 (UTC)
: Yeah, I'm surprised that the mouseover-text wasn't "Use the horse, Luke." or something. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.183|162.158.69.183]] 14:05, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

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Following up on the title text... "Why was he suspended?" "Due to allegations of excessive horse."

[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.201|173.245.56.201]] 09:01, 8 September 2014 (UTC) Siuntio

So I linked it to the old substitutions page - gjgfuj [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.219|108.162.250.219]] 10:05, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

Like the "Clouds-to-butts" plugin for Chrome. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.231}}
:More information in Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/24odjt/cloud_to_butts_extension/]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 14:16, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

I added a modified version of Cloud-to-Butt plugin [https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mswga09c5uf9h4/cloud2butt2.xpi?dl=0 to my dropbox]. All credit for coding/programming goes to [https://github.com/DaveRandom/cloud-to-butt-mozilla Steven Frank], its creator - I just unpacked the XPI file, added the Force->Horse and force->horse text replacement (while of course still keeping "the cloud" going to "my butt" because that is awesome) and then repacked it. You can install it in Firefox like any other .XPI file. Enjoy! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.221|108.162.221.221]] 16:19, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

:I edited your comment. I suppose you meant "Force->Horse" but it was written "Horse->Horse", probably as a consequence of the plugin in action. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 05:21, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

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Would it be funny the other way?
*The force population has been in decline since the industrial revolution
*Rules of polo: You need a force.
*People do not like it when there is force in their beef.
*Cause I'm coming at you like a dark force (in {{w|Katy Perry}}'s song "Dark Force")
*A force is running at 9 meters per second and tries to catch up with a car (from physics textbook)
*It is always that Bole comes first, and then comes the thousand-mile force. The thousand-mile force is common, but Bole is not common. (Excerpt from a well-known article) [[User:ConlangGuide|ConlangGuide]] ([[User talk:ConlangGuide|talk]]) 06:25, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

I do ;) —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] ([[User talk:Artyer|talk]]) 18:33, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
:+1 for the reference to a certain beef production incident in europe [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.61|141.101.70.61]] 17:56, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

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Correctforcebatterystaple [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.163|173.245.56.163]] 22:18, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

I originally (earlier today) read it as "Iraqi Air [FH]orse grow'''l'''ing"... Which made less sense than I'd have expected, but I couldn't unread it until just now. Still surreal, but at least not outright Dada[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.233|141.101.98.233]] 00:21, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

"A police horse is a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enhorse the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. (...) Law enhorsement, however, constitutes only part of policing activity." --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.161|141.101.104.161]] 07:21, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

maybe the officer suspended from horse was a reference to the police officer who shot a black person? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.106|108.162.254.106]] 07:39, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

Aqua teen hunger horse. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.226|108.162.246.226]] 00:54, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

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I had previously posted a grumpy comment here (now removed) --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 07:38, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
:Sorry, but that's totally wrong. The discussion section is meant to replace what used to be the old blog's comments section, and is for any discussion relevant to the comic. If you're new here, there's a section on the main page titled "New Here?" which explains the basics of explainxkcd, and it's worth checking out. It also lists the handful of rules we have, including the fact that the discussion page is for talking about the comic. [[User:Az|Az]] ([[User talk:Az|talk]]) 06:59, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
::Sorry about that, and thanks for the pointer. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 07:38, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

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Explanation Quarks:
Sorry, could not resist... [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 11:39, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

How about the portion of the Police Horse who are on forceback? {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.170}}

Last time XKCD featured one of these text replacements, people started posting scripts for implementing the text replacement automatically in browsers. I'm surprised this hasn't happened yet. [[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 22:03, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

:A few comments back... [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 05:21, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

http://bitcoinshell.mooo.com/users/noiob/dev/horse.user.js Here you go. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.179|141.101.104.179]] 16:26, 13 September 2014 (UTC)

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Interestingly, a sound change from an initial /f/ to /h/ happened in the evolution of Spanish. Examples: fornax --> horno, ferrum --> hierro, factus --> hecho. Of course, all h's subsequently went silent. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.171}}

Cueball is using a desktop computer. Perhaps this will be the last desktop in xkcd? In the last 8 months its been all laptops. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.99}}

That first one certainly hits differently now. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.145|172.70.90.145]] 21:40, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
:Only by some order of magnitude or so. Without looking up the exact dates, the comic was likely topically soon after the initial Crimea-grab and initiation of the 'hot' Donbas internal conflict with the 'rebels'. Including a somewhat more covert presence of actual Russians, back then, but only to 'deniable' levels, and even then not convincingly so to anybody who cared.
:Maybe it makes it less funny, now, or should have been considered less funny then, but I'm not sure this makes it so that it is/was bad-humour. Doesn't change the reality, for better or worse, though.
:Future readers may be more shocked, or more bemused, of course. I can only wave to The Future (hiya!) and hope they properly understand our current and prior perspectives. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.137|162.158.159.137]] 23:21, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

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I'm no linguist, but "Force" rhymes with "horse". [[what if? (blog)|What If]] the word "force" as a ''verb'' get replaced by "horse"? Also there is "''horse''power" which measures power, not force. And, you know, the phoneme "f" and "h" sound very similar in some languages. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 08:43, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67406779 Air Horse] Plane Makes Emergency Landing... (...is how I ''wouldn't'' have to rewrite such a headline). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.233|172.69.43.233]] 21:40, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

Half Life: Opposing Horse
[[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 01:38, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

Category talk:Self-reference

2026-05-23T23:22:47Z

129.222.195.116:

This category seems to be under-used. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 03:06, 25 November 2024 (UTC)
:In what way? It's got more comics assigned to it than several other Cats I can mention. Or do you mean that there are obviously self-referential comics that aren't tagged as such? (If so, easy to correct.)
:Of course, the humorous answer{{Actual citation needed}} is probably that, ''ideally'', only this category would ever be made a member of itself... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.107|172.71.26.107]] 13:18, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

THIS ISNT SELF REFERENCE THIS IS RECURSION
THIS ISNT SELF REFERENCE THIS IS RECURSION
THIS ISNT SELF REFERENCE THIS IS RECURSION
THIS ISNT SELF REFERENCE THIS IS RECURSION
THIS ISNT SELF REFERENCE THIS IS RECURSION
(sorry for spamming

Talk:2600: Rejected Question Categories

2026-05-23T15:48:29Z

129.222.195.116:

I added the transcript, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to use an emoji for the paperclip symbol. Especially since the emoji paperclip leans to the left, but the icon in the comic leans to the right. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:07, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

I wonder why there's no question mark at the end of the unanswerable question. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:07, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
:I think that it is because the question likely continues on, beyond the bounds of the comic (hence why the text is partially cut off), so there's not a question mark there because it isn't actually the end of the question. --[[User:Carrera|Carrera]] ([[User talk:Carrera|talk]]) 20:12, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

I think that he was referring to the one that was labelled the unanswerable question. <-- Yes, and because the one Randall did has no question mark, the one in the explanation should have no question mark. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.201|108.162.216.201]] 09:36, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

I wonder if the spider thing is a reference to [[1688:_Map_Age_Guide]], more specifically, the part about Colorado becoming a radioactive exclusion zone by 2022, with the "spiders" being mentioned after 2023. It is currently 2022, after all... --[[User:Carrera|Carrera]] ([[User talk:Carrera|talk]]) 20:12, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
:Note to Randall: if you do a red spiders comic on Tuesday of next week, I will double my current Patreon level of support for you. (I love callbacks.) [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 01:34, 31 March 2022 (UTC)
:I figured it was a reference to the invasive Joro spider on the USA east coast[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.154|108.162.246.154]] 13:50, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall's going to include any more weird non-questions in this volume. You know, like that one about the chair. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 20:39, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

The ninth day of Jancember (or, in mortal human terms, the 9th of January 2023) will occur on Monday... a day before Tuesday! We may only have one day to enjoy the book before the spiders come! --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.225|141.101.98.225]] 21:31, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Sorry, does this mean that April 5th is the apocalypse? What's this about "last day of the last week ever?"
:The last day of the last week ... briefly. Because then there will be another week. It's a weird joke, but I think that's what the idea behind it is. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 01:34, 31 March 2022 (UTC)
::As I found it, someone had left it as "...of the last week." Which nearly prompted me to add an {{template|Actual citation needed}}. But I instead decided to add the "Briefly." for ''either'' the above reason ''or'' because we wouldn't have much time to appreciate it. We don't know which yet, but future readers (if any!) can make up their own minds.
::{{tvtropes|DontExplaintheJoke|...You're welcome!}} :P [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 02:48, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

The Volcano/Nuke question sounds a lot like Scientology (am I allowed to mention them?). Didn't they stack millions of aliens around Earth's ancient volcanos before blowing them all up, thereby creating alien ghosts who attached themselves to humans? [[User:Beechmere|Beechmere]] ([[User talk:Beechmere|talk]]) 23:36, 30 March 2022 (UTC)Beechmere

I realize this isn't the case in France (for example), but in the US, Tuesday is the THIRD day of the week. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 01:58, 31 March 2022 (UTC)
:This depends on when you "start" the week. I would consider Tuesday the 2nd day of the "work week", and others consider Monday the 1st day of the week to have the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) together. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.181|172.69.33.181]] 03:32, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

2^(2^(2+(2/2))+2+(2/2))+2^(2^(2+(2/2))+(2/2))+2^(2^2+(2/2))+2^(2+(2/2)) comics [[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 04:44, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

"Hundreds of the greatest scientific minds are unable to answer" the question about why I'm me. Really? To me that seems like one of those questions that just pretends to be very deep and complex while it's actually just a matter of linguistics. By the very definition of the words I can't be anyone but me. If I were to switch with my younger brother, I'd be a younger brother, but again I'd be me and now have an older brother. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 06:28, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

The spiders thing does in fact appear to be about Map Age Guide, which was published, if the date listed and the online calendar I used are correct, on a Wednesday, right after a Tuesday. You see where this is headed.

paperclip emoji looks like clippy to me [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 11:36, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
:oh god it does