Editing 2901: Geographic Qualifiers

{{comic
| number    = 2901
| date      = March 1, 2024
| title     = Geographic Qualifiers
| image     = geographic_qualifiers_2x.png
| imagesize = 435x386px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = 'Thank you for the loveliest evening I've ever had...' [normal] '...east of the Mississippi.' [instant intrigue!]
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is bragging to a [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|Cueball-like guy]] in front of a giant statue of a {{w|squirrel}} standing on a skateboard. Cueball states that this is the largest statue of that theme in “the {{w|Northern Hemisphere}}”. The other guy then becomes intrigued, as he realizes that this seems to imply the existence of a taller one in the {{w|Southern Hemisphere}}, not to mention the existence of additional smaller one(s) in the Northern Hemisphere. A skateboarding squirrel is a peculiar enough subject that to find one example of such a statue would be a surprise, and to learn that there is at least one other would be even more surprising.

He quickly considers several countries in that hemisphere, {{w|Brazil}}, {{w|South Africa}}, and {{w|Australia}}. Native squirrel species are found in both {{w|Sciurus ingrami|Brazil}} and {{w|Smith's bush squirrel|South Africa}}, and people there might plausibly choose to erect statues to them. Australia, however, has no native squirrels, and introduced populations of {{w|Eastern gray squirrel|gray}} and {{w|Northern palm squirrel|palm squirrels}} [https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/palm-squirrel reportedly] have been eradicated, at considerable expense of time and money. "Confused Cueball" wonders whether Australians would know or care enough about squirrels to erect statues to them. It so happens, though, that many animals (and many entirely fictional ones) are depicted as statues in countries where they are not native, Australia is known for its many {{w|Big things (Australia)|overly large statues}}, and 1.5 m (5 foot) tall [https://natureworks.com.au/products/animals/mammals/farm-forest-animals/giant-wirral-the-enormous-squirrel-statue/ squirrel statues] are already sold there. So the existence of squirrel statues in the Southern Hemisphere that are larger than the one Cueball is bragging about is not out of the question - but the comic doesn't permit "confused Cueball" the half hour he'd need to drag out his phone and look up all these facts. The question about whether, and how many, of these putative squirrel statues are mounted on a skateboard is separate, although there is nothing in the urban cultures of the places named to preclude this possibility.

It's entirely possible that this qualifier is unnecessary. If the statue were the largest of its kind in the world, or even the only one in the world (which is a distinct possibility, given the very specific nature of the statue), the description would still be true. Sometimes qualifiers are added simply due to incomplete information. They've exhaustively surveyed skateboarding squirrel statues in the Northern Hemisphere and determined that this one is the largest, but since they haven't searched the Southern Hemisphere, they don't want to commit to it being the largest in the world. On the other hand, it's possible that, paradoxically, he deliberately added a needless qualifier in an attempt to make the claim sound more impressive, even though technically it limits its scope, by implying intense competition for a title that, in reality, no one else is interested in claiming. [[Randall]] states, in the caption, that he loves the mystery that such qualifiers create. Doing so could thus have been one of Randall's [[:Category:My Hobby|hobbies]], but he doesn't make that explicit. 

Another example appears in the title text, where Randall uses the other example qualifier given in the caption. Here someone is expressing gratitude at the end of a date, saying that it's the loveliest evening they've ever had. This seems normal until they add the location qualifier of "east of the {{w|Mississippi River|Mississippi}}" (the river). This leaves the companion wondering what kind of great evening they had in some other location. In this case, it's unlikely that the speaker would have incomplete information about their own personal history.

The statue may be a reference to [https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/2022/06/worlds-largest-squirrel-sculpture-cedar-creek-texas-sets-world-record-422206 Ms. Pearl], the [https://www.google.com/maps/@30.1663034,-97.5110882,3a,75y,51.89h,82.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shmwK8_AhUxo4gnhMZmWG5w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 giant squirrel statue] in {{w|Cedar Creek, Texas}} which, at 14 ft (4 m), is indeed the largest squirrel statue in the Western Hemisphere. In 2018, the qualifier ''was'' necessary since a [https://www.new-east-archive.org/articles/show/10477/a-giant-squirrel-has-taken-over-almat|temporary 40 ft (12 m) squirrel statue] was erected in {{w|Kazakhstan}}. (It is no longer there.) But information for tourists in Cedar Creek, Texas, doesn't include this information that would create the mystique.{{Actual citation needed}}

It is perhaps thanks only to the specific phrasing "tallest statue of a skateboarding squirrel" that we need not consider tallest-statues-of-squirrels (temporarily) placed on skateboards, tallest statuesque skateboards with squirrels atop or even a rather modestly sized statuette representing a moment when [https://bigthings.vroomvroomvroom.com/listing/worlds-largest-skateboard/ a large skateboard] had sciurine visitors, in any or all hemispheres.

In [[1368: One Of The]], the use of the unnecessary qualifier "one of the" was portrayed as one of Randall's [[:Category:Pet Peeves|Pet Peeves]], with a reporter describing the {{w|Gateway Arch}} as "one of the most recognizable arches in St. Louis", when it could have been described as "the most recognizable arch" in the city.

==Transcript==
:[The scene in this comic is shown from afar and drawn in black silhouette on a white background. It depicts a huge statue of a squirrel standing on a skateboard, which is on a pedestal. Below and in front of the statue there are two Cueball-like guys. The Cueball on the left is pointing at the statue and speaking to his friend on the right who has a thought bubble above him.]
:Cueball: At over 40 feet, it's the tallest statue of a skateboarding squirrel in the Northern Hemisphere.
:Friend [thinking]: ...Wait, who in the heck...Brazil? South Africa? Australia? Squirrels aren't even native there...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I love the instant mystery created by qualifiers like "east of the Mississippi" or "in the Northern Hemisphere."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]