2654: Chemtrails

2022-08-03T17:07:07Z

162.158.62.47:

{{comic
| number = 2654
| date = August 3, 2022
| title = Chemtrails
| image = chemtrails.png
| titletext = Ants have reverse chemtrails--regular citizens spraying chemicals everywhere they go to control the government.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a REVERSE AIRPLANE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Ants are known to leave trails of {{w|pheromones}}, natural chemicals that they emit, along the trail to food sources. These act as guides to other ants in the colony to return to the food.

Cueball is confusing these with {{w|chemtrails}}, the subject of a conspiracy theory that the government is poisoning the population by spraying toxic chemicals from high-flying aircraft. He knows that Ponytail studies ants, so she objects strongly when he says she studies chemtrails rather than pheromone trails.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

1460: SMFW

2020-12-03T04:10:11Z

162.158.62.47:

{{comic
| number = 1460
| date = December 15, 2014
| title = SMFW
| image = smfw.png
| titletext = wtfw it's like smho tbfh, imdb.
}}

==Explanation==
Randall gives some examples of confusing acronyms that closely resemble more commonly-used acronyms. He depicts [[Cueball]] apparently puzzling over the meaning of one such acronym.

"SMFW", the title of the comic and an acronym used as the caption, is very close to a number of other common acronyms, including:

*"MFW", meaning "my face when..." used in similar sentence constructions to this comic's caption, to indicate that the image represents one's face when the specified thing happens
*"SFW", meaning "safe/suitable for work", denoting that something does not have suggestive content
*"SMH", meaning "shaking my head" or "so much hate", used to indicate dismay
*"SMF", meaning "so much fun"
*"NSFW", meaning "not safe for work", the opposite of "SFW"

The title text contains more examples of imaginary acronyms of a similar nature:

*"WTFW" is a combination of "WTF" ("What the fuck") and "TFW" ("That feel when..." or "That face when...", used in a similar nature to "MFW"), and possibly "FTW" ("For The Win") and "FWIW" ("For What It's Worth")
*"SMHO" is a combination of "SMH" ("shake my head") and "IMHO" ("In my humble/honest opinion...")
*"TBFH" is a combination of "TBF" ("to be fair") and "TBH" ("to be honest")
*"IMDB" is, of course, [http://www.imdb.com/ the Internet Movie Database], but also resembles "IMHO"

Below are possible examples of potential (already existing, albeit rare) representations for each acronym, according to the {{w|Urban Dictionary}}:

*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/SMFW SMFW] is listed as an acronym for "Smoke more fucking weed".
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/WTFW WTFW] is listed as an acronym for "What the fuck, what?".
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/SMHO SMHO] is listed as an acronym for "Shaking my head off".
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/TBFH TBFH] is listed as an acronym for "To be fucking honest".

Knowing Randall, the sentences given in the comic proper and title text were probably made without an actual meaning in mind. Nevertheless, the sentence in the comic has a very plausible interpretation: "So Much Frustration When an acronym ''almost'' makes sense." Other plausible interpretations of the acronym could be "So Much Fun When" or "See My Face When". Even the absurdly cryptic title text has a plausible translation: "What The Fuck, World? (WTFW) it's like Some Moron's Horrible Opinion (SMHO) To Be Fucking Honest (TBFH), I'm Done, Bye. (IMDB)"

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk, crouched over a laptop.]
:[Caption below the panel:]
:SMFW an acronym ''almost'' makes sense

==Trivia==

The name of the comic "xkcd" is itself a false acronym – From the [http://www.xkcd.com/about xkcd about page]:
"It's not actually an acronym. It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation -- a treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2654: Chemtrails

1460: SMFW