Editing Talk:1860: Communicating

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Isn't this [[Science Girl]], and not necessarily "Alice"? Although they could be one and the same, in this comic and all comics? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 16:45, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
:I agree that this is [[Science Girl]], but she could be playing the role of Alice, or alternatively she could be merely visiting the Looking Glass world as Alice also did. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.94|108.162.216.94]] 17:13, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

I've heard that the nursery rhyme never makes explicit that Humpty is an egg.  [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.83|108.162.212.83]] 18:36, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
:It’s my understanding that the original nursery rhyme was a riddle where the question was “What is Humpty Dumpty?” and the answer is “an Egg.” [[User:Rylon|Rylon]] ([[User talk:Rylon|talk]]) 21:51, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
::If that is the case, then the riddle is nearly as bad as "Words that end in -gry." [[User:OriginalName|OriginalName]] ([[User talk:OriginalName|talk]]) 04:08, 8 July 2017 (UTC)

I took this to mean politicians stating false things then equivocating by saying the words they used mean something different from what the traditional meaning the listeners assumed they meant were.  Maybe I just watch too much late night TV tho. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:44, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
:Can't you children discuss in a nonpartisan matter instead of turning literally everything into politics? Maybe you should have voted instead of gathering in mass pro-illegal-immigrant protests. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.137|108.162.246.137]] 23:42, 9 July 2017 (UTC)
:The comic's subject matter is applicable to many things, but that doesn't mean it's about those things.  [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.83|108.162.212.83]] 04:33, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
::[[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]]'s comment ''was'' nonpartisan. ~ [[User:Quackslikeaduck|Quackslikeaduck]] ([[User talk:Quackslikeaduck|talk]]) 11:37, 10 July 2017 (UTC)
:::The comic is not meant to be nonpartisan (see #1756). The political context IS what surrounds Trump. Many Trump supporters agree with his claim that various establishment voices (NYT, CNN, certain US Courts) are "fake." I agree it's very hard to write an explanation about this that is neutral enough to not devolve into a political debate - which it should not be. But the explanation is incomplete if it doesn't mention the very pervasive political topic right now where the veracity of basic facts and words are called into question in a way that was not happening until the 2016 election.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.70|108.162.245.70]] 21:30, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/origins1-humpty-dumpty-and-the-fall-of-colchester.html {{unsigned ip|1441.101.98.250|09:42, 8 July 2017 (UTC)}}

I think this might be the first time I've seen Randall draw a facial expression in one of his comics. Surely this can't be the only one, right? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.22|108.162.241.22]] 18:03, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
: I wasn't able to finish, I got up to 1516. Here's a list of comics which include expressions by humans. 1, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 23, 24, 38, 39, 46, 53, 57, 67, 68, 78, 93, 109, 110, 119, 130, 133, 135, 142, 143, 160, 380, 463, 824, 902. Also 778 if a detailed skull is a facial expression, 1004 if that's Joker's face and not make up, 1256, 1393, if the ghostly afterlife is just a phase of being human and if ghosts have faces. I also have comics that include animals, didn't think that was in the spirit of the question but most of the animals in xkcd have faces.
: Time for a new list of comics with facial expressions! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.52|172.68.110.52]] 12:36, 9 July 2017 (UTC)
This reminds me of Samantha Bee's "Semantic Vortex" on the June 21 episode of ''Full Frontal''. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.22|172.68.78.22]] 18:02, 9 July 2017 (UTC)
::This is exactly the topic of this comic. Comedy relies on context. This comic is topical. While the Lewis Caroll angle is great literary context to add, the "post-truth" meme is more well known as an internet meme that this comic addresses. If we do not add that context it will be hard to understand this comic in a few years when people don't remember the political landscape right now. So, some mention of Trump needs to be added here. Though xkcd is generally not very political Comic #1756 makes it pretty clear that the context of the comics is not totally devoid of contemporary political context.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.70|108.162.245.70]] 21:23, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

I agree - this reminded me of how politicians especially Trump claim their meaning after people react. {{unsigned ip|162.158.106.30|04:21, 9 July 2017 (UTC)}}
: True, it is something Trump and right wing does a lot at the moment, but this isn't a Trumpism though. Bill Clinton did the same when he redefined "having sex with". {{unsigned ip|162.158.114.70|12:21, 10 July 2017 (UTC)}}
:: You've provided a good example of how the political debate right now is, where historical events are re-defined and re-examined. In the late 1990s it was universally agreed that Clinton tried to redefine a word "sex" and in doing so was being deceptive. That is not the same situation now. Right now Trump redefines words and many see that as deceptive but a large number agree with his redefinition and instead question basic facts from the NYT, CNN or other formerly not very controversial news sources. This comic is very much about the Trump era. However it doesn't take a specific side and pro- and anti- trump debaters could claim their own side in this comic. I think we need to put this political context into the explanation. But someone more neutral than me should do it because I'm not able to write the pro-trump view in any neutral kind of way because I just can't wrap my brain around it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.70|108.162.245.70]] 21:37, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

I took this to be a critique of deconstruction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction and other similarly ridiculous approaches to hermeneutics/semiotics. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.88|162.158.2.88]] 00:15, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

Joke's on Alice, Humpty Dumpty doesn't have any stuff!
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.136|162.158.165.136]] 12:01, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

Awwww.... I'm unfamiliar with Carroll's take on Humpty Dumpty, so I took this as Science Girl searching for hidden meaning where there is none, which people keep doing to me, LOL! I really identified with it, until I read here that Humpty is messing around and aggressively trying to be misunderstood. *sigh* [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:54, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

I got a strong, but unspecific political vibe out of this. Like there's something going on in the news that I hadn't heard about yet. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 13:23, 14 July 2017 (UTC)
: Well, I WAS strongly reminded of the whole "alternative facts" thing, at least once I knew about Carroll's take on Humpty Dumpty. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:07, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

As someone who got really annoyed at Humpty Dumpty in this story when I was younger, this is very vindicating for me[[Special:Contributions/172.69.248.147|172.69.248.147]] 15:58, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

I feel that this comic is laughing at me for coining the word "basinite". [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:58, 15 April 2025 (UTC)