explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2067: Challengers

2018-11-02T19:10:53Z

162.158.90.114: Wikipedia note

{{comic
| number = 2067
| date = November 2, 2018
| title = Challengers
| image = challengers.png
| titletext = Use your mouse or fingers to pan + zoom. To edit the map, submit your ballot on November 6.
}}
To see the full zoomable picture go to the [https://xkcd.com/2067/ original] comic page.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Would be good to add how some of the subcomics tie to the election (St Louis), and add potential explanation on why they are put to the location they are in (Attack Ads, Carlymandering). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[File:challengers_loading_screen.png|thumb|200px|Loading screen]]
This comic shows all challengers (people running in an election who are "challenging" the current office-holder, as well as those running in open seats where a change of party from the previous election would occur) to the {{w|United States elections, 2018|midterm elections}} hold on November 6, 2018. Many larger names provide a link to the homepage of the specific person, or an article about the election that candidate is participating in.

The landmarks shown in gray are essentially links to Wikipedia pages containing coordinates. If they contain more than one coordinate then the first one is used, for example the {{w|List of the major 3000-meter summits of the United States}} page is shown in Alaska, and the [[xkcd]] page is linked near Boston, Massachussets.

Since the map is large there's also a [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/challengers.png loading screen] present that can be seen while the map is loading.

There are also a total of nine comics embedded into the map at various locations. They are all loaded when you zoom in enough into the map to the appropriate section.

===Attack Ads===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_abernathy_texas.png|thumb|200px|Attack Ads]]

Location: '''Abernathy, Texas'''
: [Black Hat and Cueball are talking.]
: Black Hat: Starting on November 7th, we're going to blanket the airwaves with attack ads.
: Cueball: Isn't the election on November 6th?
: Black Hat: Yeah, the advertising rates go way down after that.
{{w|Attack ads}} are campaign advertising that usually attack the opponents' campaign instead of promoting one's own. The comic also refers to the fact that media outlets usually spike their advertising prices during the campaign, and it becomes cheaper afterwards. However there's usually no point in advertising afterwards for a campaign as the polling has already taken place. This may also be a callback to [[1130: Poll Watching]].
 

===Ballot Measures===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_weed_california.png|thumb|200px|Ballot Measures]]

Location: '''Weed, California'''
: [Cueball is holding a piece of paper and talking to Megan.]
: Cueball: Question #1 voids all 2018 ballot measures except itself.
: Cueball: Question #2 retroactively lowers the threshold for passing ballot measures to 5%.
: Cueball: Question #3 requires a re-vote on all failed ballot measures a day later.
: Cueball: Question #4 requires a re-vote on all passed ballot measures a day later.
: Cueball: Question #5 bans those annoying phone scammers, but also says that if an odd number of ballot measures pass, Christmas is canceled.
: Cueball: Question #6 makes a "yes" count as a "no" on odd-numbered ballot measures.
: Cueball: Question #7 does nothing but counts as a ballot measure passing.
: Cueball: Question #8 says that-
: Megan: I'm leaving these all blank and voting against whoever approves ballot measures.

In California during this election apart from the nationwide election there will be also be [https://ballotpedia.org/California_2018_ballot_propositions 12 extra propositions] for the voters to vote on. Sometimes propositions also include changing how voting should be done in subsequent elections. [https://www.vox.com/2016/6/23/11979522/brexit-ballot There are people] who believe proposals on US ballots are asked in a very convoluted way, and could be made simpler.

In this comic a lot of the proposals sound complex and self-referential as well, therefore Megan just says that she doesn't wish to vote to any of them, and would actually like to ban people creating ballot papers like this. Not voting might also refer to the scenario where people believe none of the choices during an election are good, and instead vote to no-one or deface their ballot papers in protest.
 

===Carlymandering===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_seattle_washington.png|thumb|200px|Carlymandering]]

Location: '''Bellingham, Washington'''
: [Cueball holds a presentation to a group of people including White Hat and Hairbun sitting at an office desk. The presentation shows a map of a district.]
: Cueball: Under my new Carlymandering plan, we'll create five red districts, five blue districts, and one district which contains only Carly Rae Jepsen.
: Hairbun: That seems fair.

This refers to {{w|Gerrymandering}}, a tactic used to re-shape voting district boundaries to make sure one candidate prevails over the other. The name is conflated with {{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}, a Canadian singer, whose latest single released only a day before the comic was published is called "{{w|Party for One}}". Although the song is about partying (e.g. going out) alone, the joke is that it can also mean a one person political party, and she'll have a full Gerrymandered district where she is the only person.
 

===House===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_washington_dc.png|thumb|200px|House]]

Location: '''Washington, DC'''
: [Cueball is standing in the middle of Washington, DC]
: Cueball: I can see my house from here!

Comic is probably referencing the {{w|White House}}, the residence of the President, located in Washington, DC.
 

===Polls===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_primm_nevada.png|thumb|200px|Polls]]

Location: '''Primm, Nevada'''
: [A group of five people are standing]
: Blondie: Remember: The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. And the ones that help campaigns allocate resources. And the ones that drive media coverage and the ones that inform us all about what our fellow members of the public believe. And the ones that...

During campaign there are usually polling done by survey companies to determine each candidate's chances of winning. This comic refers to the fact that usually the candidate that is behind in the polls usually tells their electorate that these polls don't matter, as they are just surveys and not the actual final result. This is usually to encourage their voter base that it's still worth voting for them. The joke here is that Blondie doesn't finish here but tells the electorate that other polls are actually also important.

Nevada is one of the states where there is [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/414083-poll-dems-hold-slim-leads-in-arizona-and-nevada-senate-races only a slim difference] between the candidates based on polls hence the need for each candidate to rally their supporters and make sure everyone is voting.
 

===Punish===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_chadron_nebraska.png|thumb|200px|Punish]]

Location: '''Chadron, Nebraska'''
: [Megan is standing at a podium with her arm raised]
: Megan: If elected, I vow to find and punish the voters responsible.

Often candidates make promises of things they will do when they are elected. Vowing to find and punishing people responsible for a certain action, oftentimes criminals, is also common. However, these two things are conflated here to ludicrous effect.

Putting this comic into Nebraska might refer to the fact that in [https://ballotpedia.org/Nebraska_Death_Penalty_Repeal,_Referendum_426_(2016) 2016 Nebraska voted to repeal the death penalty ban], allowing the reinstatement of the death penalty in the state.
 

===Scholten===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_storm_lake_iowa.png|thumb|200px|Scholten]]

Location: '''Storm Lake, Iowa'''
: Cueball: The midterms are so stressful.
: Megan: I just hope J.D. Scholten wins.
: Cueball: Why?
: Megan: Google Steve King.
: [Cueball looking at his phone]
: Cueball: Yikes.

J.D. Scholten is a Democratic candidate for Iowa's 4th Congressional District. {{w|Steve King}} is a Republican representative who has stirred controversy due his endorsement of candidates, in other countries, who were members of parties with white supremacist ties.
 

===Spanberger===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_richmond_virginia.png|thumb|200px|Spanberger]]

Location: '''Richmond, Virginia'''
: [Cueball is holding a sign that says: Abigail Spanberger for Congress]

Abigail Spanberger is a candidate running for Congress in Virginia's 7th district, which includes Richmond. Based on polls she has a chance to beat her opponent, and could be the first Democrat in her district after 50 years of Republican control. Cueball probably tries to encourage people to vote for her on election day.
 

===St Louis===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_saint_louis_missouri.png|thumb|200px|St Louis]]

Location: '''Saint Louis, Missouri'''
: [Two people next to the Gateway Arch are talking]
: Cueball: Ah, Saint Louis. Home of America's largest... Whatever that thing is.

Saint Louis, Missouri is the location of the {{w|Gateway Arch}}, the largest arch in the United States. (It's also one of the most recognizable arches in Saint Louis, according to [[1368: One Of The]].) Since in this comic they are next to the side of the arch, it is possible its sheer size stops them from determining what it is, although they should probably know.
 

===Title text===
The title text shows the hint that the reader can zoom in and move over all US-States revealing many details can't be seen at the overall view. Furthermore [[Randall]] does a call to vote: he requests people to take an active part in the elections to change that picture.

==Transcript==
:[A loading screen appears shortly before the large picture has rendered. We can see an American flag in an oval badge with the text:]
:I voted
:[And beneath a text saying:]
:Loading...

:2018 Midterm
:'''Challengers'''
:The bigger the candidate's name, the higher the office and the better their chances of success.

:[In a frame a zoomable map shows all US-States (Alaska and Hawaii are shown in the left lower corner.) The candidates are shown colored mainly in red and blue at different sizes. Each state has many landmarks shown in gray. There are also many comics embedded into the picture.]

:By Randall Monroe, Kelsey Harris, and Max Goodman

:Landmarks from Wikipedia. Success odds estimated from district voting history, special election
:results, and seat ratings. Thank you to Dailykos Elections for their spreadsheets, shaplefiles election
:ratings, and advice, and to @davidshor, @charlotteeffect, and @thedlcc for additional candidate data.

==Trivia==
*The comic [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header]] had changed to:
:''Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ Vote.org]''
:''See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]''
:This happened on the day this comic came out, as it up till [http://web.archive.org/web/20181101081612/https://xkcd.com/ the day before], had been a different reminder of the election only with the vote.org link.
*The interactive picture did not work in many browsers when using the link ''[https://www.xkcd.com www.xkcd.com]'', only the short ''[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'' worked properly because the page used an absolute link to a file ''[https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json]'' at the domain ''<nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki>'' which is not allowed from ''<nowiki>www.xkcd.com</nowiki>'' according to {{w|Cross-origin resource sharing}}. This was later fixed by using a relative link only working inside the called domain.
* The internal comics have a kind of "comic" inside the [https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json] file that contains all of the details shown on the map. All other locations, including politicians and landmarks inside the map-data.json have a kind of "label"
* There are a total of
** 9 subcomics
** 17,643 labels, including:
*** 13,339 landmarks (gray)
*** 2,845 Democratic candidates (blue)
*** 1,456 Republican candidates (red)
*** 3 independent candidates (green)
* The three independent candidates are:
** Alaska Congress candidate Alyse Galvin
** Texas State House District 101 candidate James Allen
** Alabama State Senate District 10 candidate Craig Ford
* The largest names on the map (based on font size) are:
** Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor candidate for New Mexico (7.187)
** Beto O'Rourke, Texan US Senate candidate (6.773)
** Matt Rosendale, Montanan US Senate candidate (6.773)
** Gretchen Whitmer, Governor candidate for Michigan (6.48)
* There's a landmark label called "xkcd" near Boston, Massachusetts
* Randall seems to have collected the Wikipedia links from an older copy of Wikipedia, as some links are to old article titles. For example, in Cupertino, California, "Apple Campus 2" is shown instead of "Apple Park", even though that article was moved to its current title in February 2017.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]

2067: Challengers

2018-11-02T09:46:04Z

162.158.90.114: /* Trivia */ I found a Cueball in Washington. There might be more hidden around, but I found it worth noting.

2065: Who Sends the First Text?

2018-10-31T19:14:33Z

162.158.90.114: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2065
| date = October 29, 2018
| title = Who Sends the First Text?
| image = who_sends_the_first_text.png
| titletext = I sort of wish my texting app showed the percentage next to each person, but also sort of don't want to know.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Text messaging}} is a back-and-forth communication via SMS between two users. In this comic, Randall shows a line graph of "who sends the first text more often?" This is meant to show who Randall initiates conversations with, and who initiates conversations with him.

Maintaining a friendship or relationship (whether intimate, friendship, casual, or business) typically requires communication; often that communication takes place when two individuals are not in the same location by means of an exchange of text messages. A normal balanced relationship typically involves both parties involved to have an approximately equal interest in making conversations happen, as measured in this case by "who sends the first text". The person who desires that a particular communication take place typically will send a text message, and once the other person responds the conversation happens, and the relationship progresses. If neither person initiates, the relationship will likely suffer.

While this graph shows the majority of his relationships involve friends whereby both sides are prone to initiating conversations, the graph also shows some groups that are a little more at the extremes, some where Randall texts a lot but they typically don't initiate text conversations to him, and some where others text him a lot but he rarely initiates text conversations with them.

On the left side of the graph are people with whom Randall initiates conversations with "100% of the time". On the right side of the graph are those who initiate conversations with Randall.

The chart is separated into 5 blocks. The two blocks on the left are those who may be, or definitely are, "just politely putting up with [Randall]". This is implied that they may not be close friends with Randall, but Randall still wants to be friends with them. Their reluctance to initiate conversation with Randall is shown by the fact that Randall usually sends the first text to them.

The largest block, in the middle, is "friends". These friends range from Randall initiating a lot, to them initiating a lot. There is a healthy range of who initiates first.

The next block to the right is for "that really nice friend who keeps inviting me to things even though I flake consistently". This means that Randall promises to go to events that this friend invites him to, but does not always follow through. This friend is still persistent in inviting Randall. Additionally, Randall could be less close to this person, based on him not categorizing this person under "friends".

The final block is "automated alerts and political campaigns". Randall would certainly not be likely to initiate "conversation" with automated systems, and would be very unlikely to initiate conversations with political campaigns, though the fact that the bar is not purely 100% suggests that he has on rare occasion initiated such a conversation, perhaps for a campaign he believes in, or perhaps to request to be added to an automated alert system (i.e. opt-in).

In the title text, Randall wishes that he would know the percentage of "who sends the first text more often", for each person that he texts. But he is also wary of the potential implications of finding out this information.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:'''Who sends the first text more often?'''
:[A line graph with a segmented bar underneath shows a 50/50 marker in the middle while the left end is labeled "I text first 100% of the time" whereas the right end is labeled "They text first 100% of the time".]

:[The bar below is divided into five sections:]

:[A small part at the left, and a next, slightly larger part. The text below points to the second part:]
:People who I think of as friends but secretly worry that they're just politely putting up with me

:[Below this a text is shown for the first part:]
:...'''''definitely''''' just politely putting up with me

:[In the middle is a big part:]
:Friends

:[To the right the parts are symmetric, the first is larger:]
:That really nice friend who keeps inviting me to things even though I flake constantly

:[The last small bar at the right:]
:Automated alerts and political campaigns

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:2064: I'm a Car

2018-10-26T11:35:32Z

162.158.90.114: re×

Is that a Chevy Volt? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.196|172.69.62.196]] 04:30, 26 October 2018 (UTC)
:Using google image search I could find various different taillight configurations on Chevrolet Volt's, but non where the lights extend to the trunk, and also downward on the site of the trunk. They are either above each other, or extending to the trunk. The one in the comic has both.--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:51, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

Cars are getting more intelligent and the voters seem to get dumber. This comic states that some cars are more intelligent than the average voters. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.209|141.101.104.209]] 06:48, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

No matter how smart the car is it would need to meet eligibility requirements to vote. Cars are typically registered in a jurisdiction but are generally not recognized as citizens or residents for voting purposes. Only some cars meet the age requirements, e.g. in the United States the median age of an automobile was [https://news.ihsmarkit.com/press-release/automotive/average-age-vehicles-road-remains-steady-114-years-according-ihs-automotive 11.4 years] in 2014 while a voter must be at least 18 years of age to vote in US Federal elections. As for the title text, cars are generally incapable of reproduction [citation needed], ineligible for adoption [citation needed], and generally do not attend school [citation needed], making this scenario multiply implausible [[User:ChronoCronut|ChronoCronut]] ([[User talk:ChronoCronut|talk]]) 09:00, 26 October 2018 (UTC)
: "Only some cars meet the age requirements" Right, but they are very mature for their age. xD [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.114|162.158.90.114]] 11:35, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:206: Reno Rhymes

2018-10-05T16:06:07Z

162.158.90.114:

my Lai may also be a reference to Lai's definition, " a lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance." Can anyone tell if the poem in the comic fits the Lai's definition? If so, then Black Hat might also be saying "I shot a man in Reno, and a bunch more in my poem", referencing the poem they're saying. ---- {{unsigned|‎Bluewin}}
:Interesting idea, but unfortunately the rhymes are not octosyallbic, which means to contain eight syllables. [[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 17:06, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

The "Now, I don't mean to pry" is a reference to "The Princess Bride" (Inigo says that to Westley). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.56|108.162.231.56]] 21:44, 15 February 2015 (UTC) {{unsigned|‎Idanbhk}}

Reno: where poets go to satisfy their homocidal urges. The murder rate is through the roof. {{unsigned ip|RedHatGuy68}}

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't My Lai pronounced similar to melee? Would that not prevent it from rhyming in the comic? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.24|173.245.54.24]] 07:42, 22 July 2016 (UTC)
:{{w|My Lai Massacre|Wikipedia}} gives three pronunciations: /ˌmiːˈlaɪ/ (me-LIE), /ˌmiːˈleɪ/, (me-LAY) and /ˌmaɪˈlaɪ/ (my-LIE). I guess Randall was using the last one. [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 12:02, 23 July 2016 (UTC)
:Melee is pronounced as (MAY-lay), which does not rhyme with the poem, so that would prevent the rhyming scheme from continuing.

Finally. Finished the table. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 11:10, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Why is the table bad? - Welp [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.173|172.68.46.173]] 17:13, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
:A table is not bad, it's bad layout in this case. Try to read it on a smartphone, try it to read sequentially, use a screen with small resolution. And check this: [[explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ#In_which_cases_are_tables_meaningful.2C_and_when_are_they_not_.3F|Editor FAQ - In which cases are tables meaningful, and when are they not ?]]. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:51, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

Am I the only one who sees a connection between the line with the cacti and the potted plant of Leon - The professional played by Jean RENO?--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.114|162.158.90.114]] 16:06, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

1932: The True Meaning of Christmas

2017-12-26T12:06:35Z

162.158.90.114: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1932
| date = December 22, 2017
| title = The True Meaning of Christmas
| image = the_true_meaning_of_christmas.png
| titletext = They all made fun of Autometalogolex, but someday there will be a problem with Christmas that can only be solved if Santa somehow gets a serious headache, and then they'll see.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a REINDEER. Anything missing?. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is making fun of the common trope in popular media that the {{tvtropes|TrueMeaningOfChristmas|true meaning of Christmas}} is about family, friends, and sharing the Christmas Spirit. It subverts the trope by suggesting that once the stories of the "True Meaning of Christmas" become sufficiently common, the real true meaning becomes to spread those stories. Thus the search for the "True Meaning of Christmas" is itself the meaning of Christmas, in a sort of "the journey is the reward" discovery.

In the last panel and title text, "Autometalogolex" can be broken down to its various prefixes and the root:
:"Auto-" - Greek meaning "self."
:"Meta-" - Greek meaning "after," "beyond," or "in reference to."
:"Logo-" - Greek meaning "word" or "speech."
:"Lex" - "lexis" is another Greek word meaning "word"; but in this case it is more likely to be a shortening of "lexicon" (another word for dictionary), or perhaps a reference to the process of "lexing" (lexical analysis), part of the process of computer analysis of text.
Thus, "Autometalogolex" literally means "A word that refers to itself in the dictionary." Or more precise it is "the act of looking up the definition of autometalogolex" which leads to a recursion as all ''meaning of Christmas'' stories do.

The term Autometalogolex might also refer to autological words, words that refer to a property of the word itself. ("noun" is a noun, "pentasyllabic" is pentasyllabic [has 5 syllables]). "Autometalogolex" is a a 'meta' version of the looking up (lex) of an autological word.

[[Cueball]] finally states that Autometalogolex is his least favorite {{w|Santa Claus's reindeer}} in addition to the common eight names ''Dasher'', ''Dancer'', ''Prancer'', ''Vixen'', ''Comet'', ''Cupid'', ''Donner'', and ''Blitzen''.

As the title text reveals this ninth reindeer could be a reference to {{w|Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer}} which was not accepted by the others until Santa had problems and asked it to lead the other reindeer pulling the sleigh.

The title text may also imply the only effective outcome of Autometalogolex (or the newly defined Christmas) is giving headaches as with many self-referential concepts. As headaches generally are bad, Autometalogolex is not accepted, but - as in a typical Christmas story, here driven into the absurd realm - Santa needed a headache, and Autometalogolex was there to save the day.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a person wearing a Santa hat are standing together.]
:Cueball: You're looking festive.
:Santa Hat: I love Christmas!
:Cueball: Really? Doesn't seem like your kind of thing.
:Santa Hat: It's our most meta holiday!

:Cueball: How so?
:Santa Hat: All our Christmas stories now are about discovering the "true meaning of Christmas."

:Cueball: Huh, yeah. And then sharing it with others.
:[Santa Hat shrugs.]
:Santa Hat: At some point, that quest itself '''''became''''' the true meaning.

:Cueball: Like a word who's definition is "the act of looking up the definition of this word."
:[Santa Hat thinks.]
:Santa Hat: "Autometalogolex"?
:Cueball: My least favorite of Santa's reindeer.

==Trivia==
*At the time this comic was released the expression ''Autometalogolex'' did not exist. But only a few hours later at {{w|Urban Dictionary}} this phrase got its first entries: [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Autometalogolex Urbandictionary Autometalogolex].
*Some believe that the Santa Hat character is actually [[Black Hat]], owing to the Santa hat in question being black (the character's behavior, and [[Cueball]]'s comment that Santa Hat doesn't seem to be the type to enjoy Christmas match Black Hat's personality perfectly). However, the Santa hat may actually be meant to be red but rendered as black because the comic is in black-and-white (although it's worth nothing that in [[361: Christmas Back Home]] and [[838: Incident]], Christmas clothing was shown as red, not black). Santa Hat's identity is therefore unclear.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

1932: The True Meaning of Christmas

2017-12-26T12:04:46Z

162.158.90.114: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1932
| date = December 22, 2017
| title = The True Meaning of Christmas
| image = the_true_meaning_of_christmas.png
| titletext = They all made fun of Autometalogolex, but someday there will be a problem with Christmas that can only be solved if Santa somehow gets a serious headache, and then they'll see.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a REINDEER. Anything missing?. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is making fun of the common trope in popular media that the {{tvtropes|TrueMeaningOfChristmas|true meaning of Christmas}} is about family, friends, and sharing the Christmas Spirit. It subverts the trope by suggesting that once the stories of the "True Meaning of Christmas" become sufficiently common, the real true meaning becomes to spread those stories. Thus the search for the "True Meaning of Christmas" is itself the meaning of Christmas, in a sort of "the journey is the reward" discovery.

In the last panel and title text, "Autometalogolex" can be broken down to its various prefixes and the root:
:"Auto-" - Greek meaning "self."
:"Meta-" - Greek meaning "after," "beyond," or "in reference to."
:"Logo-" - Greek meaning "word" or "speech."
:"Lex" - "lexis" is another Greek word meaning "word"; but in this case it is more likely to be a shortening of "lexicon" (another word for dictionary), or perhaps a reference to the process of "lexing" (lexical analysis), part of the process of computer analysis of text.
Thus, "Autometalogolex" literally means "A word that refers to itself in the dictionary." Or more precise it is "the act of looking up the definition of autometalogolex" which leads to a recursion as all ''meaning of Christmas'' stories do.

The term Autometalogolex might also refer to autological words, words that refer to a property of the word itself. ("noun" is a noun, "pentasyllabic" is pentasyllabic [has 5 syllables]). "Autometalogolex" is a a 'meta' version of the looking up (lex) of an autological word.

[[Cueball]] finally states that Autometalogolex is his least favorite {{w|Santa Claus's reindeer}} in addition to the common eight names ''Dasher'', ''Dancer'', ''Prancer'', ''Vixen'', ''Comet'', ''Cupid'', ''Donner'', and ''Blitzen''.

As the title text reveals this ninth reindeer could be a reference to {{w|Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer}} which was not accepted by the others until Santa had problems and asked it to lead the other reindeer pulling the sleigh.

The title text may also imply the only effective outcome of Autometalogolex (or the newly defined Christmas) is giving headaches as with many self-referential concepts. As headaches generally are bad, Autometalogolex is not accepted, but - as in a typical Christmas story, here driven into the absurd realm - Santa needed a headache, and Autometalogolex was there to save the day.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a person wearing a Santa hat are standing together.]
:Cueball: You're looking festive.
:Santa Hat: I love Christmas!
:Cueball: Really? Doesn't seem like your kind of thing.
:Santa Hat: It's our most meta holiday!

:Cueball: How so?
:Santa Hat: All our Christmas stories now are about discovering the "true meaning of Christmas."

:Cueball: Huh, yeah. And then sharing it with others.
:[Santa Hat shrugs.]
:Santa Hat: At some point, that quest itself '''''became''''' the true meaning.

:Cueball: Like a word who's definition is "the act of looking up the definition of this word."
:[Santa Hat thinks.]
:Santa Hat: "Autometalogolex"?
:Cueball: My least favorite of Santa's reindeer.

==Trivia==
*At the time this comic was released the expression ''Autometalogolex'' did not exist. But only a few hours later at {{w|Urban Dictionary}} this phrase got its first entries: [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Autometalogolex Urbandictionary Autometalogolex].
*Some believe that the Santa Hat character is actually [[Black Hat]], owing to the Santa hat in question being black (the character's behavior, and [[Cueball]]'s comment that Santa Hat doesn't seem to be the type to enjoy Christmas match Black Hat's personality perfectly). However, the Santa hat may actually be meant to be red but rendered as black because the comic is in black-and-white. Santa Hat's identity is therefore unclear.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

1933: Santa Facts

2017-12-26T11:51:27Z

162.158.90.114: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1933
| date = December 25, 2017
| title = Santa Facts
| image = santa_facts.png
| titletext = We've gotten him up to 20% milk and cookies through an aggressive public campaign, but that seems to be his dietary limit. Anything above that and he starts developing nutritional deficiencies.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic provides some dubious "Facts" and "Figures" of the creature known as "Santa." We can see from the drawing this is obviously meant to either be {{w|Santa Claus}} or a parody of Santa Claus.

This comic is reminiscent of the xkcd Phone series.

{| class="wikitable"
!Fact/Figure
!Explanation
|-
|Type: Flying/Psychic
|A reference to {{w|Pokémon}}. The {{w|Gameplay_of_Pokémon#Pok%C3%A9mon_types|type}} of a Pokémon describes and determines its abilities (including attacks), affinities, and general nature. In most stories Santa Claus rides a sled pulled by flying reindeer (all other [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Flying_(type) Flying-type] Pokémon fly under their own power) and some kind of magical power. Psychic possibly refers to his ability to know a child's activities and behavior, including when they are {{w|Santa_Claus_Is_Comin%27_to_Town| sleeping or awake}}, implying a Psychic ability to read minds.
|-
|Plural: "Santa"
|The plural form of 'Santa' conveniently parallels that of 'reindeer' (as well as those of several ''Pokemon'' creatures).

In real life, "santa" means "saint" in most {{w|Romance languages}}. However "santa" is not plural in any of these languages (for example, in Portugese the proper plural would be "santos"). Under the usual rules for making a plural noun, Santa would have a plural of "Santas". Taking "Santa Claus" as a separate noun, the plural would be "Santa Clauses".
|-
|Active warrants: 5
|There is an active warrant for Santa's arrest in 5 jurisdictions, presumably for breaking and entering or for operating a flying sleigh without the proper licensing, while drunk, or over the speed limit.
|-
|Lubricated for easy passage down chimneys
|The diagram indicates that Santa's attire is lubricated to ease his traditional method of ingress and egress. This explanation is incomplete, however, as a great many chimneys have cross-sectional area substantially smaller than that of a normal human body, let alone a portly one, as commonly described. The common presence of chimney caps, fireplace dampers, and the like would also impede Santa's passage down a great many chimneys. That said, if we take the classic poem "{{w|A Visit from St. Nicholas}}" into account, the statement is technically true, just "lubricated" with magic rather than physical lubrication.

The entire "lubrication" section may be a reference to lubricated condoms, or at least draw additional humor from the comparison.
|-
|Vertical Leap: 14 Miles
|A vertical leap of 14 miles (~23 km), ''ignoring air resistance'' would require an initial launch velocity of slightly more than 2180 feet per second (665 m/s), somewhat over twice the speed of sound. Achieving this velocity by means of bending then straightening the legs would require an acceleration of roughly 25,000 G, placing extraordinarily high demands on the strength of the legs. As Santa does not have a particularly aerodynamic shape, air resistance would increase the launch velocity and launch acceleration requirements substantially.
|-
|Sleigh Flag of Convenience: Panama
|The {{w|Flag_of_convenience|Flag of Convenience}} identifies the country in which an ocean-going vessel has its registration information. Panama maintains one of the top three open registries. Owners of a vessel may choose to use an open registry to avoid labor or safety regulations of the owner's country. They may also choose such a registry to help obscure ownership of the vessel. Which concern applies in the case of Santa's sleigh is not stated, or (more likely) not known. It may also be the only type of registration available, since the north pole is not in any country, so there is no "owner's country".

However, a ship's flag state exercises regulatory control over the vessel and is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. One suspect that this does in fact '''not''' happen regularly with Santa's sleigh. Also, as a ''flying'' sleigh, the registry for ''ocean-going'' vessels is not applicable. Instead, it would be registered as an aircraft, with the FAA (in the U.S.), EASA (in Europe), or the equivalent in another country. Civilian aircraft have their registration number painted on their tails, but are not required to display a "flag". (However, U.S. Airways used a stylized version of a U.S. flag as a corporate logo prior to its merger with American Airlines.)
|-
|9th in Presidential Line of Succession
|The {{w|United_States_presidential_line_of_succession|Presidential Line of Succession}} specifies the order in which persons may become or act as {{w|President of the United States}} if the incumbent President becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office. Having Santa as the 9th in that order would place him above the {{w|United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture}}. An alternative interpretation would hold that Santa '''is''' the present Secretary of Agriculture, {{w|Sonny Perdue}}.

Assuming Sonny Perdue is not Santa Claus (citation not needed), Santa is likely ineligible for the Presidency, as most origin stories of Santa have him a natural-born citizen of a European country (or of Turkey) rather than the United States. Alternately, Santa might be old enough to qualify under the "citizen at the time of the adoption of this constitution" clause, although in light of the information that Santa is actually an arthropod and/or a vampire makes his status as an American citizen dubious.
|-
|Not technically an insect — actually an arthropod
|A somewhat common statement about ticks and other arthropods. Santa is apparently not human, but some sort of human-sized and human-mimicking arthropod. A common mistake is the identification of some organism as an insect when it is not. Most such organisms do tend to be arthropods (a slightly more general supertaxon of insects). So, correcting such errors will typically lead to the assertion that the organism in question is a non-insect arthropod. The wording here, though, is awkward in that "actually" implies a contradiction or contrast, but the word "arthropod" on its own does not preclude the possibility of the referent being, more specifically, an insect as well. In any case, such classification is humorous in the case of Santa, since he is traditionally depicted as being a human or elf with magical powers, and does not traditionally display any of the characteristics of an arthropod (such as an exoskeleton). However, because he does indeed seem to lack six appendages, instead seemingly having exactly four, he cannot be an insect - so the assertion is (probably) true in its first half.
|-
|Only known vampire able to enter house without being invited
|Vampires cannot enter dwellings without the occupant of the dwelling inviting them in. Santa must enter houses uninvited to do his job, so if he is a vampire he is the exception to that rule. In traditional vampire folklore, a vampire cannot enter an abode without an invitation from the owner of the same. Santa, however, seems to be able to enter houses even without explicit invitation (although plenty of children do welcome him either via written notes or by their general sentiments). This juxtaposes interestingly with the previous point about his arthropod nature.

His being a vampire is perhaps related to his dressing all in read, and alleged immortality.
|-
|Works with Alexa
|May mean that Alexa (Amazon's virtual assistant) is Santa's colleague, that Santa uses Alexa in his work, or Santa is functionally compatible with Alexa. A common advertisement states that a product is compatible with Amazon's smart device, Alexa. But it could also be a play on the idea or fear that Alexa may be used to spy on people from the privacy of their own homes, much like what is claimed of Santa ("he sees you when you're sleeping, [...]").
|-
|Ribbed
| A reference to condoms, which have ridges or ribbing in order to promote pleasurable stimulation during coitus. Of course, this also puns on the fact that, as a humanoid, Santa presumably has a rib cage. (This might directly contradict the claims about his being an arthropod).
|-
|IUCN Red List: Critically endangered
| The [https://www.iucn.org/about International Union for Conservation of Nature] (IUCN) monitors the size and viability of populations of organisms; 'critically endangered' marks a population as being highly susceptible to extinction. Santa, being one (or possibly two, if we include his wife) of a kind and lacking any offspring (and, indeed, likely being incapable of effectively producing any), will most likely be the last member of his population; thus extinction will arrive with his or his wife's death. Note, however, that the presence on the Red List implies that "Santa" is a biological species, not a fantasy, robot, or other non-biological entity. This is consistent with Santa being an arthropod and/or vampire, but would suggest that there are many specimens of Santa, while other 'Facts' (such as having a definite ranking in the Presidential Line of Succession) suggest Santa to be a single individual.
|-
|Diet: 80% Reindeer
|A mocking allusion to Santa Claus's sleigh, usually pulled by reindeer. Usual folklore depict Santa Claus being extremely fond of his reindeer, thus making it a humorous contrast to suggest he'd be ''eating'' reindeer meat on a daily basis.

The Title Text states that prior as a result of intervention that the diet is now 20% milk & cookies, implying that previously it was 100% Reindeer.

If he is indeed a vampire, it is odd that Santa could survive on a diet of reindeer and milk & cookies, being that vampires supposedly need human blood to survive. Of course, his entering without being invited already shows Santa to be a highly unusual vampire. Additionally, it is possible that he consumes ''reindeer'' blood as part of his reindeer diet (vampires living off animal blood is not unheard of in modern fantasy).
|-
|Liability Insurance: None
|As a result of his diet (see above), alleged criminal activity (ditto), species ambiguity, and occupation, Santa would find the cost of liability insurance quite high. He instead chooses to 'go bare' and operate without any.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An annotated picture of Santa]
:'''Santa'''
:Facts and Figures

:Type: Flying/Psychic
:Plural: "Santa"
:Active Warrants: 5
:Lubricated for easy passage down chimneys
:Vertical leap: 14 Miles
:Sleigh flag of convenience: Panama
:9th in presidential line of succession
:Not technically an insect—actually an arthropod
:Only known vampire able to enter house without being invited
:Works with Alexa
:Ribbed
:IUCN red list: Critically endangered
:Diet: 80% Reindeer
:Liability Insurance: None

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]