Talk:997: Wait Wait

The 5th Row, 3rd paper, "Wait Wait ... don't speak its name" may refer to the Lovecraftian Eldetr God Hastur, also known as "He Who is Not to be Named." Eldritch was a favorite Lovecraft word used extensively in the Cthulhu Mythos. 74.120.13.132 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I think there is insufficient evidence that it's specifically Cthulhu as there are numerous supernatural beings supposedly woken by speaking their names. Just because Cthulhu is the most popular one of those doesn't mean there's sufficient indication that it's the subject of that panel. Explain xkcd: It's techbro QAnon (talk) 03:22, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

Row three, column three should be "Wait wait, dont taze me, bro" 173.245.63.146 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Is there a real kneed for this: (sic) in stories about Granny Weatherwax? I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 06:42, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

I guess it is impossible to find "may refer to" for all 20 headlines? because this comic pretends to be "fixed" thus not all have an explanation. -- 108.162.254.18 08:25, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

"Don't Dissect Me" reminds me of a Stephen King short story, Autopsy Room Four, from the collection Everything's Eventual. Boct1584 (talk) 14:47, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Can we have a table for this? 108.162.245.40 22:44, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

I think that the first one implies that he is the hostage, not the gunman. Anyone else think so? 172.68.174.64 16:48, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree, Sagal's the hostage.172.68.65.150 00:46, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

Anyone else feels that this explanation would deserve an incomplete tag? --Lupo (talk) 10:50, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

Could row 5 panel 2 be referencing the "You'll Be OK" comic (https://pbfcomics.com/comics/youll-be-ok/) by the Perry Bible Fellowship, which is one of the linked comic sites at the bottom of the xkcd page? Because the sub-heading coule read "Peter Sagal accidetanlly *OK*", if you read across to the little picture. 108.162.250.127 04:31, 21 January 2020 (UTC) Hadley

Row 3, panel 5 "cash-for-tote-bags" is almost certainly a reference to a classic Bloom County comic strip story arc in which the corrupt Senator Bedfellow is arrested for trading in black market "Bill the Cat" tote bags. I couldn't find a copy of that strip online, but it's referenced in this Bloom County wiki entry, including a picture very similar to these of a newspaper headline comic panel: https://bloomcounty.fandom.com/wiki/Senator_Bedfellow 162.158.154.151 15:43, 25 March 2023 (UTC)

This article seems complete. Okay to remove incomplete? Maxcodes (talk) 15:41, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

I've just reversed the change from "might be" to is (back to "might be") regarding whether Discworld inspired the "don't dissect me" headline. I'd go so far as to say it's probably not this, and I ve long been uncomfortable about the suggestion it couod be, and it's probably more just about the rare but mundane RL reported "waking up in the morgue" incidents (or even the old joke (hopefully only that!) of the death certificate having cause of death be listed only as "autopsy"), as Granny weatherwax was never threatened by any actual post-mortem dissection (had to do a "bare-handed blade catch", at least once, but refused to bleed until the main plot had basically ended, and seemed to defiantly tempt-fate in that direction (or was just using Headology to prevent it) in Wyrd Sisters). In her first book (Equal Rites), she is subject to the extreme concern of the children, when she is 'out of body', who then go fetch adults, who would still have done no more than bury her (if she hadn't 'returned' in time). That's what led to the running gag of the "I aten't dead" (then "I still aten't dead", until the final version of the sign which now said otherwise), and it wasn't the only time there were doubts about her vital state (including a potentially forced vampirism - but with a twist!), but autopsies/dissections never came into it. Or very much anywhere on Discworld (except perhaps with the Igors, and possibly Cheery, for clue-finding in some of the Watch cases where a deceased (or Death himself) isn't capable of being interviewed). Though the Quisition probably did do dissection of the living (and for a surprisinly long time) in various corners of their workplace, at least under Vorbis's tenure, I still don't think that's a very much better candidate for reference. 82.132.238.245 16:30, 5 March 2026 (UTC)