1689: My Friend Catherine

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My Friend Catherine

Title text: I can't get any work done because my friend Catherine is sitting on my keyboard.

Explanation

This is another comic using substitutions to create the joke by replacing words or phrases, in this case "My cat", with a different word or phrase, in this case "My friend Catherine" (hence the title). The choice of the name is probably because "Cat" is a common nickname for "Catherine".

By doing so in a list of people discussing things their cat did, it makes it seem like they are discussing things their female human friend did. What is cute (sitting on keyboards), impressive (doing backflips to eat bugs), or at least normal behavior for a cat (vomiting hairballs) would be weird, disgusting or disturbing if an adult human were to do it, which is what makes the substitution humorous.

The comic depicts a feed on a page for people discussing their cat, similar to Twitter or Facebook, which would be the only kind of place where the substitution is really funny. Apart from known characters like two looking like Cueball, Megan and Ponytail, there is also a person with black hair, not looking particularly like any standard characters, and then a person with a knit cap, which could be the same knit cap wearing user that was also used in 1506: xkcloud (see the pictures of the users).

The original posts

• My cat just did a backflip and then ate a bug!
• I wish my cat wouldn't wake me up by chewing on my hair.
• Oh no, my cat has learned to open the refrigerator.
• My cat just walked in, threw up on the rug, and walked out.
• My cat is looking out the window making weird noises at the birds.
• I wish my cat wouldn't make eye contact with me while pooping.
• I can't get any work done because my cat is sitting on my keyboard. (title text)

Why are cats so *restrains to say stupid* interesting and silly?

Transcript

[Captions above the frame:]

New favorite substitution:

My Cat→My Friend Catherine

[A news feed with comments by six different people discussing their cat, but after the above substitution. Next to each post is a user image, and above the clear text of the substituted comment is a unreadable line of wiggles probably with information about the post time stamp.]

[A head shot of a person seen straight on with black hair:]

My friend Catherine just did a backflip and then ate a bug!

[A full view of Cueball:]

I wish my friend Catherine wouldn't wake me up by chewing on my hair.

[A head shot of Megan with unreadable text below the image:]

Oh no, my friend Catherine has learned to open the refrigerator.

[A head shot seen from the front of Knit Cap:]

My friend Catherine just walked in, threw up on the rug, and walked out.

[A head shot of Ponytail:]

My friend Catherine is looking out the window making weird noises at the birds.

[Cueball seen from the torso and up:]

I wish my friend Catherine wouldn't make eye contact with me while pooping.

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Discussion

I can't get any work done because My Friend Catherine is sitting on my leopard. Mikemk (talk) 15:07, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

I genuinely expected to see leopard in the alt text.162.158.214.230 18:03, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

I also came straight here to write a note on the leopard after seeing the title text, but Mikmek beat me too it ;-) --Kynde (talk) 19:32, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

I'm not so sure that it does conflict with car->cat. This is "my cat"->to " my friend Catherine", i.e. car->cat->my friend Catherine wouldn't happen. 108.162.237.137 15:15, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

You would have to make sure that "my cat" came before "cat" in the script, else it would first replace all cats with cars and thus never see the phrase "my cat".162.158.214.230 18:03, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

The substitution was the other way replacing car with cat, so it is the other way around that if there was some "my car" they would also become my friend Catherine in stead of my cat. --Kynde (talk) 19:32, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

I also don't see how the conflict exists. By that logic, Substitutions 2 would conflict with itself, since it completely swaps "minutes" and "years". Schiffy (Speak to me|What I've done) 14:20, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Agree. Also, it is possible to create a substitution algorithm clever enough not to chain its own replacements, I don't think that note is relevant, removing it for now. Jaalenja (talk) 14:27, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

This whole conversation confused me further than it needed to. I'm going to disable substitutions on this site from now on. Xseo (talk) 07:52, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Being a dog person, my dog-->my friend Doug would also be a fun substitution. Jake (talk) 15:43, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Is the cat-on-my-keyboard in the title text possibly a reference to that old Keyboard Cat video?[1] 108.162.221.80 20:06, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Don't think so—cats seem to have a tendency to sit on computer keyboards when their owners aren't using them. ~AgentMuffin

More often when the owners are using them. 162.158.2.138 10:54, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Especially if it is a laptop, because cats like the warmth. 141.101.70.61 17:39, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Of course. Cats don't have time to sit on keyboards while their owners are using them. 162.158.86.245 18:55, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Never heard about cats sitting on keyboards, but hearing a lot about cats sitting on tablets. -- Hkmaly (talk) 19:01, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

For an even creepier substitution, try "great aunt Catherine". 108.162.250.158 03:06, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

Oh great, I have to change the chrome extension again. 108.162.215.69 15:18, 4 June 2016 (UTC)--