https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Jim 2026-05-19T20:56:23Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1322:_Winter&diff=58812 2014-01-28T14:44:18Z

<p>Jim: &quot;plant eggs&quot; feels as much like berries as seeds to me, particularly since it's winter</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1322<br /> | date = January 27, 2014<br /> | title = Winter<br /> | image = winter.png<br /> | titletext = Stay warm, little flappers, and find lots of plant eggs!<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> Beret Guy and Cueball (or White Hat?) are walking. Beret Guy is making several remarks about the situation. The sky is blue or the air is cold, there is ice to walk on, and the birds are chirping in the trees. When making these observations, however, he does not use the conventional terms. Instead he uses word compounds, similar to &quot;[[1133: Up Goer Five|Up Goer Five]]&quot;. When Cueball brings up Beret Guy's choice of vocabulary, he retorts by declaring that the name does not matter, as long as the things themselves are what they should be. This is the same concept that is communicated in the line from the Shakespearean play, &quot;Romeo and Juliet&quot;: &quot;What's in a name? That which we call {{w|A rose by any other name would smell as sweet|a rose/by any other name would smell as sweet}}.&quot;<br /> <br /> The title text further builds upon this idea.<br /> <br /> ;Dictionary<br /> <br /> *The sky is cold: The sky is blue (a cold hue) or the air is cold <br /> *floor water: puddle<br /> *too hard to drink: frozen<br /> *handcoats: mittens ''or'' gloves<br /> *spacelight: sunlight<br /> *flappy planes: birds<br /> *beeping: chirping<br /> *stick towers: trees<br /> *little flappers: baby birds ''or'' small birds (as there are no baby birds in mid winter)<br /> *plant eggs: seeds / berries<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Beret Guy talking with Cueball, walking through a cold forest with ice on the ground]<br /> :Beret Guy: The sky is cold and the floor water is too hard to drink.<br /> <br /> :Beret Guy: But I have my handcoats and the spacelight is warm.<br /> <br /> :[Birds chirp overhead.]<br /> :Beret Guy: Listen–the flappy planes are beeping in the stick towers.<br /> <br /> :[Cueball stops. Beret Guy walks off-panel]<br /> :Cueball: Those are all the wrong words for those things.<br /> :Beret Guy: Maybe.<br /> :Beret Guy: But the things themselves are all right. So who cares?<br /> <br /> :[Birds chirp overhead. Cueball resumes walking]<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Language]]</div>

Jim