explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

174: That's What SHE Said

2018-07-28T05:25:58Z

172.68.78.58: Changed "usually" to "often"

{{comic
| number = 174
| date = October 23, 2006
| title = That's What SHE Said
| image = thats_what_she_said.png
| titletext = Yes, I mean she said that during sex. Yes, it was a little weird.
}}

==Explanation==
"{{w|Said the actress to the bishop|That's what ''she'' said!}}" is a phrase used in the US in response to an unintended sexual innuendo, similar to the UK phrase "said the actress to the bishop." An example usage might look like the following:

:'''A:''' (while putting together some furniture) I think this is too small.
:'''B:''' That's what ''she'' said!

In this example, the innuendo is that A was referring to a furniture component (say, a bolt too large to fit into the hole that was drilled in the factory), but the phrase might also refer to a human penis. While popular for a while, the phrase is considered puerile and cliché nowadays, so it isn't often used except in mockery.

In this case, no sexual innuendo is intended; instead, the phrase is used to maximize the ambiguity of the statement. {{w|Ambiguity}} is when a statement could mean more than one thing. In English, it is often created as a result of pronouns like "he" and "they," which might potentially refer to many different things in context. Here, "that's what ''she'' said!" could mean several things, because "that" and "she" could refer to multiple parts of the sentence:

*Some female said the entire statement.
*Some female said "I could've done what they claimed I did."
*Some female is part of the "they" that claimed something about some other female.
*Some female reported that some unknown male doubts than another female did something that other people claimed that the other female (or yet another female) did.

Another explanation would be that the intense grammatical ambiguity of the situation allows for any type of interpretation of the situation... even a more "perverted" interpretation. Taken more literally, the "she" in "that's what ''she'' said!" could be a hypothetical woman who is known for saying crazy things, thus the grammatically ambiguous statement reminds the speaker of this hypothetical woman.

The title text turns this back around, saying that there ''is'' actually a sexual innuendo in the statement: apparently the girl in question said this during sex. Since all of these possibilities are highly unusual things to say during sex, the observation in the second sentence is accurate.

One of Randall's many [[My Hobby|hobbies]].

==Transcript==
:My Hobby: Using "that's what ''she'' said" only in the most grammatically ambiguous situations.
:Friend: He doubts she could've done what they claimed she did.
:Cueball: That's what ''she'' said!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

169: Words that End in GRY

2018-07-28T05:06:50Z

172.68.78.58: Changed "everyday" to "every day" in the correct telling of the joke.

{{comic
| number = 169
| date = October 11, 2006
| title = Words that End in GRY
| image = words_that_end_in_gry.png
| titletext = The fifth panel also applies to postmodernists.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a reference to a famous {{w|-gry#Alternate versions|joke}} (see the first of the meta versions under the wiki link), mistold in the above comic.

The original, correct telling of the joke is:
:''Think of words ending in "-gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? Hint: The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.''
Phrased this way, the answer is "language" because "There are only three words in (the phrase)'' 'the English language' ''."

Cueball tells this joke, unfortunately by poorly phrasing the original riddle. By instead saying, "There are three words in the English language that end in '-gry,'" the teller of the joke has actually removed any chance of determining the correct answer. As such, when [[Cueball]] attempts to say the answer is "language" and act smugly about it, [[Black Hat]] is unimpressed and cuts off Cueball's hand, explaining that cleverness is not the same as communicating badly.

Black Hat's point about bad communication may be directed at Cueball's botching of the joke, but he could also be talking about the riddle in general, properly told or not. The riddle's "cleverness" depends on misleadingly implying that "three words" refers to words ending in "-gry," rather than the phrase "the English language." Black Hat does not seem to agree that this riddle is clever.

In any case, no matter how annoying Cueball's smugness, Black Hat's response, cutting off Cueball's hand, is a comical overreaction (while his calm demeanor in doing so is a comical underreaction). Additionally, his calmly-made point about the riddle is likely not to be understood by Cueball, who can only focus on his debilitating injury. Black Hat has, ironically, failed to communicate his point about proper communication, although given Black Hat's personality he likely doesn't care, and may even have intended the irony.

As Black Hat mentioned in the comic, if you count obscure and archaic words, there are additional English words that ends with "-gry." Some are listed [http://www.snopes.com/language/puzzlers/gry.asp here].

The title text refers to {{w|postmodernism}}, a philosophy and corresponding art movement. Postmodern music is often {{w|minimalist}}, as exemplified by the weird sounds of {{w|Philip Glass}} and {{w|Steve Reich}}, and {{w|Postmodern art#Movements in postmodern art|postmodern visual art}} saw trends such as lowbrow and installation art gain attention. Apart from a rejection of modernism, however, it is difficult to outline postmodernism to justify the strange works of art. {{w|Deconstruction}} is another important concept, but it is difficult to describe the process. In short, postmodernists make art that no one understands and may act smugly about it, but they do not adequately explain what their art means, or it doesn't really mean anything. In other words, there is nothing to understand. Thus, Black Hat's statement, ''that such practice is not "cleverness,"'' applies to them as well.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other.]
:Cueball: There are three words in the English language that end in "gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two. What's the third?

:Black Hat: I don't think there is one, unless you count really obscure words.
:Cueball: Ha! It's "language"! I said there are three words in "the English--" Hey!
:''GRAB''
:[Black Hat grabs Cueball's hand, with a knife in hand.]

:Cueball: What th--AAAAAAAAAA
:''SLICE''
:[Black Hat slices off Cueball's hand with the knife.]

:[Cueball is bleeding profusely.]
:Black Hat: Ok, listen carefully.
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

:Black Hat: Communicating badly and then acting smug when you're misunderstood is not cleverness.
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

:Black Hat: I hope we've learned something today.
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

==Trivia==
Around the time this comic was posted, Randall also posted [[Blue Eyes]]: The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World. He apparently took his own advice to heart as he explicitly states he has gone over the wording of the puzzle several times before publishing it to make it as unambiguous as possible.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

169: Words that End in GRY

2018-07-28T05:05:34Z

172.68.78.58: Added "SLICE"

{{comic
| number = 169
| date = October 11, 2006
| title = Words that End in GRY
| image = words_that_end_in_gry.png
| titletext = The fifth panel also applies to postmodernists.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a reference to a famous {{w|-gry#Alternate versions|joke}} (see the first of the meta versions under the wiki link), mistold in the above comic.

The original, correct telling of the joke is:
:''Think of words ending in "-gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? Hint: The word is something that everyone uses everyday. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.''
Phrased this way, the answer is "language" because "There are only three words in (the phrase)'' 'the English language' ''."

Cueball tells this joke, unfortunately by poorly phrasing the original riddle. By instead saying, "There are three words in the English language that end in '-gry,'" the teller of the joke has actually removed any chance of determining the correct answer. As such, when [[Cueball]] attempts to say the answer is "language" and act smugly about it, [[Black Hat]] is unimpressed and cuts off Cueball's hand, explaining that cleverness is not the same as communicating badly.

Black Hat's point about bad communication may be directed at Cueball's botching of the joke, but he could also be talking about the riddle in general, properly told or not. The riddle's "cleverness" depends on misleadingly implying that "three words" refers to words ending in "-gry," rather than the phrase "the English language." Black Hat does not seem to agree that this riddle is clever.

In any case, no matter how annoying Cueball's smugness, Black Hat's response, cutting off Cueball's hand, is a comical overreaction (while his calm demeanor in doing so is a comical underreaction). Additionally, his calmly-made point about the riddle is likely not to be understood by Cueball, who can only focus on his debilitating injury. Black Hat has, ironically, failed to communicate his point about proper communication, although given Black Hat's personality he likely doesn't care, and may even have intended the irony.

As Black Hat mentioned in the comic, if you count obscure and archaic words, there are additional English words that ends with "-gry." Some are listed [http://www.snopes.com/language/puzzlers/gry.asp here].

The title text refers to {{w|postmodernism}}, a philosophy and corresponding art movement. Postmodern music is often {{w|minimalist}}, as exemplified by the weird sounds of {{w|Philip Glass}} and {{w|Steve Reich}}, and {{w|Postmodern art#Movements in postmodern art|postmodern visual art}} saw trends such as lowbrow and installation art gain attention. Apart from a rejection of modernism, however, it is difficult to outline postmodernism to justify the strange works of art. {{w|Deconstruction}} is another important concept, but it is difficult to describe the process. In short, postmodernists make art that no one understands and may act smugly about it, but they do not adequately explain what their art means, or it doesn't really mean anything. In other words, there is nothing to understand. Thus, Black Hat's statement, ''that such practice is not "cleverness,"'' applies to them as well.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other.]
:Cueball: There are three words in the English language that end in "gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two. What's the third?

:Black Hat: I don't think there is one, unless you count really obscure words.
:Cueball: Ha! It's "language"! I said there are three words in "the English--" Hey!
:''GRAB''
:[Black Hat grabs Cueball's hand, with a knife in hand.]

:Cueball: What th--AAAAAAAAAA
:''SLICE''
:[Black Hat slices off Cueball's hand with the knife.]

:[Cueball is bleeding profusely.]
:Black Hat: Ok, listen carefully.
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

:Black Hat: Communicating badly and then acting smug when you're misunderstood is not cleverness.
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

:Black Hat: I hope we've learned something today.
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

==Trivia==
Around the time this comic was posted, Randall also posted [[Blue Eyes]]: The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World. He apparently took his own advice to heart as he explicitly states he has gone over the wording of the puzzle several times before publishing it to make it as unambiguous as possible.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:1856: Existence Proof

2017-06-29T16:55:19Z

172.68.78.58:

Whoever added the citation needed got more of a laugh out of me then Randall did this morning. Well done. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.29|172.68.142.29]] 17:32, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
: I hope you enjoy the joke just as much the second time. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the sixth. And the... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 00:56, 29 June 2017 (UTC)
:: I don't re-read old pages of explain xkcd so often it would stop being funny. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:11, 29 June 2017 (UTC)
: <AOL>Me too!</AOL> [[User:RoyT|RoyT]] ([[User talk:RoyT|talk]]) 07:10, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Does the function have any special hidden meaning, or is it just some random function?
[[User:Thawn|Thawn]] ([[User talk:Thawn|talk]]) 20:23, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

: Yeah - I wondered that too. But I'm not sure if there is enough information to know. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 21:28, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

: Without knowing what the functions are, there's no way to tell. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 23:52, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

:: Unless I'm way off-base, There are an infinite number of solutions. For example, let's assume f(x)=2x and G(x)=x+1. X can, in this example, be literally any number because G(f(0)) = G(2*0) = G(0) = 0+1 = 1. As long as G(x) takes the result of f(0) and makes it equal to 1, it doesn't matter what f(x) is. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.225|162.158.62.225]] 13:25, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

: Mitchell Feigenbaum's study of the universality of period-doubling ratios involved a function that solved f(0)=1 and af(x)=f(x/a) (IIRC). The equation in the comic reminded me of this, though it's not quite right. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.58|172.68.78.58]] 16:55, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

"I'm finally in the right one," made me laugh more than usual. It added character to Offscreen Student #2, something that the comic usually lacks [[User:HisHighestMinion|HisHighestMinion]] ([[User talk:HisHighestMinion|talk]]) 03:56, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_proof "existence proof" means a non-constructive proof. Such proofs are annoying to some mathematicians as they claim existence of something but do not show how to find it. So I fully understand the teacher that she wants to grab a sword and finally find it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.76|162.158.202.76]] 08:54, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Jokes on her. The number is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-standard_model_of_arithmetic | nonstandard integer]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.28|172.68.78.28]] 10:12, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

To me, the comic reads (especially with the title text) with the implication that the teacher is encouraging the students to help her actually fight real numbers in real life, as if the platonic idea of numbers was "realer" than we think. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.215.98|172.68.215.98]] 10:42, 29 June 2017 (UTC)