https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Amfun 2026-04-23T21:07:02Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2403:_Wrapping_Paper&diff=203729 2020-12-26T01:14:40Z

<p>Amfun: /* Transcript */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2403<br /> | date = December 25, 2020<br /> | title = Wrapping Paper<br /> | image = wrapping_paper.png<br /> | titletext = Wow, rude of you to regift literally every gift that you or anyone else has ever received.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> This comic was published on Christmas Day, 2020. On this day many people open presents.{{Citation needed}}<br /> <br /> In this comic, Megan is unwrapping a present while Cueball looks on (perhaps it's the present he gave her). The premise is that the definition of a present is not what's inside the box, but what's inside the region of space that the blank side of the wrapping paper faces. So if you wrap the box with the printed side towards the box, everything in the universe outside the box is the gift. Apparently the box contains a pair of headphones, which would be a nice present, but not nearly as impressive as nearly ''everything'' in the universe. And since the rest of the universe contains millions of headphones, many of which are probably nicer than the ones in this box, she still gets headphones as well.<br /> <br /> The title text extends this to [[wikipedia:Regift|regifting]], which is the practice of using a received present (usually unwanted and hopefully unused) as a present for someone else. This is often considered rude because you don't have to spend much effort or any money on the regift. But if you wrap an ordinary present inside out, all the gifts you've ever received in the past are part of the entire universe except for that present, so you're actually doing an enormous amount of regifting ''including stuff belonging to other people'', which is as rude as regifting can get.<br /> <br /> {{w|Douglas Adams}}' novel ''{{w|So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish}}'', the fourth in the {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}} series, contains a similar joke. A man living in an inside-out room in a desert treats the rest of Earth as an insane asylum, with himself living outside of it as the only sane man.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> [Cueball is standing at the left of a decorated Christmas tree, with present boxes underneath it. The presents are wrapped with the undecorated side of the wrapping paper facing out. Megan is kneeling at the right side, unwrapping a gift.]<br /> <br /> Megan: Cool! I got the entire universe and every object within it except for a pair of headphones!<br /> <br /> Caption: Presents get a lot more impressive if you turn the wrapping paper inside out<br /> <br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Christmas]]<br /> [[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]</div>

Amfun