Editing 231: Cat Proximity

{{comic
| number    =231
| date      =March 5, 2007
| title     =Cat Proximity
| image     =cat_proximity.png
| titletext =Yes you are! And you're sitting there! Hi, kitty!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic refers to the use of "{{w|baby talk}}" when speaking to pets, especially {{w|cats}}. A person's voice becomes {{w|falsetto}} and {{Wiktionary|cooing}}, vocabulary becomes simplified, and phrases are repeated, such as "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." The chart shows that a person's apparent intelligence decreases, and that the {{Wiktionary|inanity}} (i.e. uselessness or emptiness) of their statements increases, the closer they get to a cat. Most people act like this when they're playing with cats or trying to call them over to them.
Thankfully, being close to a cat doesn't actually cause any decrease of intelligence in normal circumstances.{{Citation needed}} In [[1535: Words for Pets]], [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] mentions again how people often talk strangely to their pets. Typing "cat" in [[UniXKCD]] will print "You're a kitty!", a reference to Cueball's line in the comic.

The title text continues [[Cueball|Cueball's]] obvious statement (and thus inane/useless point made) from below the graph.

==Transcript==
:[A graph with the x-axis labeled, and the scale indicated from left to right:]
:Far 
:Human proximity to cat
:Near
:[Two curves are  drawn and labeled, first the one starting on top, which then veers downwards and crosses the other as that curve veers upwards.]
:Intelligence 
:Inanity of statements

:[Below the graph, Cueball is seen standing at three distances from a cat that is drawn to the far right. The two first Cueballs are just standing, one below far, the other in the middle, and the last is standing close to the cat (below near) with his hands up, and he is speaking.]
:Cueball: You're a kitty!

==Trivia==
*This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
*This comic, along with its title text, is the image used for {{tvtropes|CutenessProximity|Cuteness Proximity}} on TV Tropes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]