https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=178.201.86.127explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-07-10T20:10:42ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1209:_Encoding&diff=366571209: Encoding2013-05-08T09:12:11Z<p>178.201.86.127: /* Transcript */ "Megan", not "Meagan".</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1209<br />
| date = May 8, 2013<br />
| title = Encoding<br />
| image = encoding.png<br />
| titletext = I don't see how; the C0 block is right there at the beginning.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] hired a skywriter to write a text provided in Unicode. {{w|Skywriting}} is using a airplane to write words in the sky with controlled releases of smoke. {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for encoding text which supports an incredible variety of characters and modifiers. An {{w|interrobang}} is a combination question mark and exclamation mark. A {{w|diacritic}} is any symbol added to a character, usually an accent mark being added to a letter. In Unicode, {{w|Combining character|combining diacritics}} are represented as separate characters, but are rendered graphically as modifications to the previous one.<br />
<br />
Apparently the skywriter got so confused about their instructions that he not just rendered the text incorrectly, but lost control of the plane. The skywriter's errors and the phrase "Unicode support" play off the common issue of {{w|Mojibake|softwares rendering Unicode symbols incorrectly}}.<br />
<br />
The tooltip refers to the {{w|C0 and C1 control codes|C0 Block}}, the name for the first 32 character codes in either the ASCII or UNICODE encodings, traditionally called "control characters". It is likely that Cueball is wondering how the plane could have lost control when the control characters are easily found.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball and Megan are holding two-way radios.<br />
:Cueball talking into radio: "No, the combining diacritics go ''over'' the interrobang!<br />
:Megan, with radio lowered: "Oh jeez, I think he's lost control."<br />
:The skywriter we hired has terrible Unicode support.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>178.201.86.127