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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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This comic is a reference to the six-word short story ''{{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}'', which has been commonly attributed to famous author {{w|Ernest Hemingway}} (the disputed authorship of the story is referenced several times in the comic).
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{{Incomplete|Finished with Edit Conflict assimilation, but prior author(s) invited to rejig}}
  
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The comic plays on the fact that the original story takes the form of a short advertisement that might have been seen in a newspaper, and makes up alternate versions that use various modern 'standards' that did not exist in Hemingway's time. In keeping with the original, each example remains six words long. The title text obeys this rule, too. Many of the drafts poke fun at the tragedy that the original story suggests. With the original ("For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn"), readers could infer that the baby who would have worn the shoes must have died. Randall tries to make the reader infer other, more absurd things instead.
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This comic is a reference to the six-word short story ''{{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}'', which has been commonly attributed to famous author {{w|Ernest Hemingway}}; however, [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] explicitly states that this might not be the case at all. The comic plays on the fact that the original story takes the form of a short advertisement that might have been seen in a newspaper, and for these examples uses various modern 'standards' that did not exist in Hemingway's time. In keeping with the original, each example remains six words long. The title text obeys this rule, too.
  
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The comic also alludes to Hemingway's practice of repeatedly re-working drafts of his novels before publication. For example, he is [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/books/a-farewell-to-arms-with-hemingways-alternate-endings.html reported] to have rewritten the final passage of [https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=A_Farewell_to_Arms A Farewell To Arms] 39 times. Later editions of his works include these rough drafts, allowing the devoted reader to understand how the work developed.
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In short:  It is urban legend that Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and allegedly called it his best work.
  
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The following are the various drafts offered in the comic.
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The various drafts offered in the comic are:
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{| class="wikitable"
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*"For Sale: This gullible baby's shoes": This suggests the seller somehow tricked the baby out of its shoes.  This pokes fun at the tragedy that the original story suggests. With the original (For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn), readers could infer that the baby who would have worn the shoes must have died. Randall tries to make the reader infer other, more absurd things instead.
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|-
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*"Baby shoes for sale by owner": This suggests that a very intelligent baby is somehow selling its own shoes, or that someone is selling an old pair of shoes they had as a baby.
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! width="305" | Draft
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*"Free shoes, provided you overpower baby": This suggests the person posting the ad doesn't in fact own the shoes, but rather is asking people to forcibly steal shoes from a baby wearing them.
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! Explanation
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*"For Sale: Weird baby's toe shoes: This might be a reference to [[1065: Shoes]], where shoes with toes were considered "creepy".
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|-
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*"For Sale: Baby shoes / Prime eligible": This is a reference to Amazon, which offers Prime as a paid service to expedite shipping of items ordered on its website.
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| For Sale: This gullible baby's shoes
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*"This weird trick covers baby feet!": This is modeled after common 'click bait' wording designed to get users to visit web pages, typically using words such as "This weird trick" or "secrets they don't want you to know" to artificially increase its apparent appeal.
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| This suggests the seller somehow tricked the baby out of its shoes.
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*"For Sale: Baby shoes, just hatched": This plays on the meaning of the phrase "baby shoes", reframing it to mean a newly-born shoe (similar to "baby bird"), rather than its typical meaning of shoes designed for babies.
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|-
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*"Sale: Seven-league boots (expedited shipping)": {{w|Seven-league boots}} are mythical boots that allow their user to move seven leagues (about 25 miles) per step. The "expedited shipping" part suggests that the boots will be shipped to the customer on the feet of a walking person, thus allowing the boots to be shipped much faster than if by airplane (except, of course, if the boots had to be shipped overseas).
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| Baby shoes for sale by owner
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*"Complete this survey for free shoes": This is another reference to common internet marketing campaigns, where users are incentivized to take surveys in exchange for small compensation such as free samples or coupons.
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| This suggests that a very intelligent baby is somehow selling its own shoes, or that someone is selling an old pair of shoes they had as a baby. This style represents the typical automobile or house sales ads, differentiating the sale by owner from the sale by a professional middleman (a car dealer or a realtor) and thus bypassing the extra expense of middleman's fee.
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*"''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway [Citation needed]": This is a reference to Wikipedia. "Citation needed" is used to mark claims that require additional evidence to justify as true. In this case, Randal is using this to question whether the short story was really written by Hemingway.
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|-
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*"This is my greatest short story": This is a completely different style that could also have been used to write a short story in six words. Rather than telling a story about shoes, this is more "meta" by referencing itself and being a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy. (The sequel was titled "Don't read my other short stories").
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| <strike>Actually, there’s no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike>
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*"For Sale: Baby shoes (-1) [Cursed]": This is written like a description of a virtual item typically found in Roguelike games or MMOs. "-1" and "Cursed" are attributes of the item, which usually produce negative consequences that reduce its wearer's stats or abilities.
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| A fragment of a preemptive rebuttal to the comic’s premise (or at least its title). This sentence was stopped at the sixth word, in keeping with the premise.
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*"<Blink><Marquee>Baby shoes!</Marquee></Blink>": This is reminiscent of the style of HTML widely used in the 1990s.  Both the <Blink> and <Marquee> tags make the text content ("Baby shoes!") appear more prominent and attention-grabbing. The normally invisible-and-rendered tag elements can be seen and are part of the six words count.  This could have been due to 'sanitising' of uploaded text where HTML tags (other than any that are specifically allowed, like it appears Strikethrough formatting might be) are deliberately deactivated by the server. An interesting note: When this comic was first posted to xkcd.com, the '/' in the </Blink> tag was missing. This was fixed between the 19th and 20th of June, 2015, showing that this was, indeed, unintentional.
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|-
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*"For Sale: Baby-sized saddle, bobcat": This is a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]] in which [[Cueball]] says: 'Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat'.
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| Free shoes, provided you overpower baby
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*"Hemingway busted for Craigslist shoe scam": This is written like a news headline where Hemingway supposedly wrote about shoes in order to perpetrate a scam. {{w|Craigslist}} is a website where users can advertise and seek goods and services.
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| This suggests the person posting the ad is asking people to forcibly steal shoes from a baby. This alludes to the common expression "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/like_taking_candy_from_a_baby like taking candy from a baby]", meaning a task is extremely simple and effortless. One doesn't necessarily need to overpower a baby to steal its shoes either; there are other methods such as annoying the baby until it throws its shoes or tricking the baby (see the first example above).
 
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|-
 
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| For Sale: Weird baby's toe shoes
 
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| Randall once again displays his distaste for [[1065: Shoes|weird toe shoes]], that is, shoes with individual toes.  Rather than the tragedy implied by the original story, this instead implies that the baby has odd taste in shoes, and perhaps the parents would rather their child wear regular shoes.
 
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|-
 
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| For Sale: Baby shoes <span style="color: #f8991d;">&#10003;</span><span style="color: #48a3c6; font-weight: 600; font-style: italic;">Prime</span> <span style="color: #727272;">Eligible</span>
 
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| This is a reference to {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, which offers Prime as a paid service to expedite shipping of items ordered on its website.
 
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|-
 
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| <strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike>
 
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| Another fragment of a rebuttal, written in an encyclopedic style, and also stopped at the sixth word.
 
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|-
 
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| This weird trick covers baby feet!
 
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| This is modeled after common 'click bait' wording designed to get users to visit web pages, typically using words such as "this weird trick" or "secrets they don't want you to know" to artificially increase its apparent appeal. xkcd has previously parodied click bait in [[1283: Headlines]], [[1307: Buzzfeed Christmas]] and [[1426: Reduce Your Payments]].
 
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|-
 
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| For Sale: Baby shoes, just hatched
 
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| This plays on the meaning of the phrase "baby shoes", reframing it to mean a newly-born shoe (similar to "baby bird"), rather than its typical meaning of footwear designed for babies.
 
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|-
 
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| Sale: Seven-league boots (expedited shipping)
 
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| {{w|Seven-league boots}} are mythical boots that allow their user to move seven leagues (21 miles) per step. The "expedited shipping" part suggests that the people delivering these boots may be wearing seven-league boots themselves, allowing them to reach the customer much faster than if by airplane (except, of course, if the boots had to be shipped overseas).
 
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|-
 
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| Complete this survey for free shoes
 
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| This is another reference to common internet marketing campaigns, where users are incentivized to take surveys in exchange for small compensation such as free samples or coupons. Possibly a [[Phishing License|phishing scam]].
 
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|-
 
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| ''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway {{Citation needed}}
 
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| This is a reference to Wikipedia. "{{w|Citation needed}}" is used to mark claims that require additional evidence to justify as true. In this case, Randall is using this to question whether the short story was really written by Hemingway.
 
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|-
 
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| This is my greatest short story
 
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| This is a completely different style that could also have been used to write a short story in six words. Rather than telling a story about shoes, this is more "meta" by referencing itself and being a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy. (The sequel was titled "Don't bother reading my other stories").
 
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|-
 
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| For Sale: Baby shoes (-1) [Cursed]
 
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| This is written like a description of a virtual item typically found in Roguelike games or MMOs. "-1" typically means the item will reduce its wearer's stats (such as defense or speed rating) by one point. "Cursed" usually means the item cannot be taken off the wearer's body once it is put on. It might also reference the fact the original story suggests the baby died, perhaps because of the cursed shoes.
 
  
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"-1" in this context is usually read aloud as "minus one"; this would break the six word pattern.
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The title text continues the reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]], but inverts the situation.  Rather than unexpectedly receiving a bobcat by package, this time the package contains a regular item instead of the expected bobcat.
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|-
 
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| <span style="color: #727272;">&lt;blink&gt;&lt;marquee&gt;</span>Baby shoes!<span style="color: #727272;">&lt;/marquee&gt;&lt;/blink&gt;</span>
 
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| This is reminiscent of the style of HTML widely used in the 1990s.  Both the <span style="color: #727272;">&lt;blink&gt;</span> and <span style="color: #727272;">&lt;marquee&gt;</span> tags make the text content ("Baby shoes!") appear more prominent and attention-grabbing. The blink tag makes a blinking effect in Netscape, whereas the marquee tag makes a scroll effect in Internet Explorer. On a normal web page, these tags only affect how the text content is displayed on screen and aren't directly shown to visitors. However they are shown here to make the six words count, albeit in a lighter shade of gray to reinforce the fact that they're not part of the text content. An interesting note: When this comic was first posted to xkcd.com, the '/' in the <span style="color: #727272;">&lt;/blink&gt;</span> tag was missing. This was fixed between the 19th and 20th of June, 2015, showing that the omission was, indeed, unintentional.
 
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Blink has since been deprecated as of HTML 4.0, and, should this be implemented in an HTML page today, it would appear like this: [[File:babyshoesblinkmarquee.gif|frameless]]
 
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|-
 
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| For Sale: Baby-sized saddle, bobcat
 
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| This is a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]] in which [[Cueball]] says: 'Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat'. A 'baby-sized saddle' is presumably a very small saddle that's only usable if the user was a baby and was trying to ride a small animal such as a bobcat.
 
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|-
 
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| Hemingway busted for Craigslist shoe scam
 
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| This is written like a news headline where Hemingway supposedly wrote about shoes in order to perpetrate a scam. {{w|Craigslist}} is a website where users can advertise and seek goods and services.
 
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|}
 
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The title text continues the reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]], but inverts the situation.  Rather than unexpectedly receiving a bobcat by package, this time the package contains a regular item instead of the expected bobcat. In keeping with the theme of the comic, the review is written in only six words.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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:[Caption above comic]
 
:Hemingway's Rough Drafts
 
:Hemingway's Rough Drafts
  
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:[A list of rough draft stories.]
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:[A list of rough draft stories]
 
:For sale: This Gullible Baby's Shoes
 
:For sale: This Gullible Baby's Shoes
 
:Baby Shoes For Sale By Owner
 
:Baby Shoes For Sale By Owner
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:<strike>Actually, there's no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike>
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:<strike>Actually, There's no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike>
 
:Free Shoes, Provided You Overpower Baby
 
:Free Shoes, Provided You Overpower Baby
 
:For Sale: Weird Baby's Toe Shoes
 
:For Sale: Weird Baby's Toe Shoes
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:For Sale: Baby Shoes <span style='color: #FF9900; font-style: italic;'>✓</span> <span style='color: #4DA3C5; font-style: italic;'>Prime</span> <span style='color: #727272;'>eligible</span>
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:For Sale: Baby Shoes <span style='color: #FF9900; font-style: italic;'>✓</span> <span style='color: #4DA3C5; font-style: italic;'>Prime</span> eligible
 
:<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike>
 
:<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike>
 
:This Weird Trick Covers Baby Feet!
 
:This Weird Trick Covers Baby Feet!
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:This is my greatest short story.
 
:This is my greatest short story.
 
:For sale: Baby shoes (-1) [cursed]
 
:For sale: Baby shoes (-1) [cursed]
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:<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;blink&gt;&lt;marquee&gt;</span>Baby Shoes!<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;/marquee&gt;&lt;/blink&gt;</span>
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:<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;blink&gt;&lt;marquee&gt;</span>Baby Shoes!<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;/marquee&gt;&lt;blink&gt;</span>
 
:For Sale: Baby-sized Saddle, Bobcat
 
:For Sale: Baby-sized Saddle, Bobcat
 
:Hemingway Busted for Craigslist Shoe Scam
 
:Hemingway Busted for Craigslist Shoe Scam
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category:Comics|Color]]
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[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
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[[Category:Bobcats]]
 
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[[Category:Comics with cursed items]] <!-- Baby shoes, reportedly -->
 

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