Editing 1682: Bun

{{comic
| number    = 1682
| date      = May 18, 2016
| title     = Bun
| image     = bun.png
| titletext = If a wild bun is sighted, a nice gesture of respect is to send a 'BUN ALERT' message to friends and family, with photographs documenting the bun's location and rank. If no photographs are possible, emoji may be substituted.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Ponytail]] is teaching a class about an animal referred to as a "bun". The word "bun" is short for {{w|bunny}}, which is in turn an informal term used for a {{w|rabbit}}. The comic depicts a childish response to seeing a cute animal, but coming from an adult. The humor in the comic comes from a tone of absurdity in a classroom situation where lectures are expected to be serious.

The lecture opens with the statement that smaller buns are superior in rank, which is only false in nature, but is very much true in the perceptions of bun-loving humans.{{Citation needed}} Instead, the teacher clearly thinks that smaller bunnies are just cuter. She mentions that "king buns" may be seen around this time of year, which refers to rabbit kittens being born in the spring. Kittens would be smaller and cuter than any other rabbits because of their age. There is no mention of a "queen bun", but the gender of the bun can be difficult to determine without a close examination. A prime example of a king bun can be seen [https://imgur.com/gallery/HicMr/ here].

[[Megan]], who attends this biology class, expected to learn about rabbits and hares which are both {{w|Lagomorpha|lagomorphs}}, a mammalian {{w|Order (biology)|order}} that also includes {{w|pika}}s. Megan thus clearly has the correct understanding of what a "bun" is. Ponytail then claims that the word ''bun'' is the scientific term, and states that rabbit, hare, and lagomorph are informal ways to describe these animals, again being completely wrong as in reality ''bun'' is the most contracted and informal name for a rabbit.

Two students are then legitimately doubting that they're in the correct class and decide to check online (either the crude theories that Ponytail expressed, or their course schedule). A third student however appears to believe the lecturer uncritically, reminding the fellow students that they're looking upon the image of a king (i.e. a cute bunny).

The title text refers to photographing a rabbit and, for example, posting it on social media — something which would typically be done today if someone sees a cute rabbit in the wild. If the poster had failed to photograph the rabbit before it ran away, they may typically post a message saying something like "I saw a really cute bunny today!" with an {{w|emoji}} depiction of a rabbit (probably 🐇 or 🐰). This is especially common in the area where [[Randall]] lives, as the urban rabbit population in the Cambridge/Somerville area has exploded, putting a large human population with relatively little previous experience with rabbit-sightings suddenly in the position of encountering them very frequently.{{Citation needed}} Emoji have become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurrent theme]] on xkcd. A "bun alert" system was actually created by [[Beret Guy]] in [[1871: Bun Alert]].

Ponytail tells that buns have a hierarchy in which the smaller the bun, the higher its ranking is — a rank-size distribution. A "king bun" can be seen as an instance of the king effect, the phenomenon where the top one or two members of a ranked set show up as outliers. An interesting linguistic note is that in several languages (including Czech and Polish), the word for rabbit literally means "little king".

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is a teacher and she holds a pointer to a picture of a rabbit on a board behind her.]
:Ponytail: Good morning class! Today, we will be learning about the bun.

:[Two rabbits are shown, the one from above and a slightly larger one to its right. A greater-than symbol indicates that the smaller one is "greater than" the larger one. Ponytail is talking off panel to the left.]
:Ponytail (off panel): Buns have a hierarchy.
:Ponytail (off panel): A bun's rank is determined by its size. Smaller buns are higher-ranking.

:[The two normal sized rabbits from above are now shown sitting left and right of a very small rabbit. The smaller rabbit appears to give off a radiant light indicated with gray and white alternating rays going through the image. It is indicated that it shines on the larger rabbits as they are gray on the side turned away from the smaller rabbit and white on the front turned towards it. Ponytail narrates above the frame of this half sized panel:]
:Ponytail (narrating): Most buns you see are relatively low-ranking.
:Ponytail (narrating): But this time of year, a lucky few may catch a glimpse of a ''king bun''.

:[A student represented by Megan is sitting at a desk with a few books on it, pencil in hand.]
:Megan: OK, hang on.
:Megan: We're talking about rabbits and hares, right? Lagomorphs?

:[Ponytail is holding her finger up on her left hand, and is holding her pointer at her side with the other. Students reply to her off panel to the right.]
:Ponytail: Informally, yes. But in this course, we use the ''scientific'' term, "bun".
:Student #1 (off-panel): Are we sure this is the right room for ''introductory mammalogy?''
:Student #2 (off-panel): I'll check online.
:Student #3 (off-panel): ''Shh!'' Show respect! We look upon the image of a king!

==Trivia==
*In the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/2/2c/20160518175345!bun.png original version] the word "hierarchy" in the 2nd panel was misspelled as "h'''ei'''rarchy". This led to speculation regarding the near-homonyms "heir" and "hare", but the spelling was later corrected.
*In [[1663: Garden]], a rabbit image had the file name ''important-bun'' and looked like this: [[File:Garden Important bun.png]]
*[[2916: Machine]] has a similar one that looks like this: [[File:2916_rabbit.png]]
*[[231: Cat Proximity]] also shows an adult human reacting childishly to cute animals, though in a casual setting.
*A teacher teaching complete nonsense is depicted in [[1519: Venus]], though intentionally false.
*Another educator who is excited about their field is in [[1644: Stargazing]], but there the facts are true while being presented absurdly.
*Additionally, the concept of a ''Bun Alert'' was later used in [[1871: Bun Alert]] and in [[1903: Bun Trend]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Buns]]