Editing 245: Floor Tiles

{{comic
| number    = 245
| date      = April 6, 2007
| title     = Floor Tiles
| image     = floor_tiles.png
| titletext = The worst part is when sidewalk cracks are out-of-sync with your natural stride.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is walking according to a certain pattern of floor tiles, which makes sense to him in his head (the same pattern was first introduced in [[207: What xkcd Means]]). But as his friend asks him why he is walking funny, he realizes that the algorithm he is using for walking on floor tiles would be so tedious and time-consuming to explain to his friend that he decides instead to simply defend himself and say that he isn't walking funny, this being far simpler than trying to show his friend exactly how his logic works.  Alternatively, he is too embarrassed to explain his algorithm. 

Cueball has imagined a complex diagram in his head. However, the diagram does not accurately reflect the floor, as the two main rows with black tiles in the foreground are only separated by one row of white tiles instead of two. This could possibly be an error on Randall's part, as the tiles in the background follow the pattern shown in the imagined diagram.

Cueball's rule appears to be that he can step on any black tiles, as well as any white tiles that are horizontally or vertically aligned with them. This forces him to take an abnormal, right-angle path while turning corners rather than rounding them or taking them at diagonals.

The title text refers to a common compulsion often associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that leads people to place their feet either exactly between sidewalk cracks or directly on top of them while walking. Indeed, if the cracks are out of sync with one's natural stride, this will cause some people to "walk funny" as they stumble to correct their foot placement.

As the title text suggests, Cueball's compulsion alludes to an {{w|Old wives' tale}} that says "if you step on a crack you will break your mother's back".

==Transcript==
:[Two characters walk on a floor tiled in black and white.]
:Friend: Why are you walking funny?
:[Second panel consists of Cueball's thought cloud in which he points to an easel mounted diagram of the floor tile pattern.]
:Cueball, thinking: Well, my instinct is to step only on black tiles, but they're too far apart. So I'm letting myself walk on the tiles directly in line with the black ones, but that means that when we walk diagonally, I have to step in a pattern where...
:[Returns to situation in first panel.]
:Cueball: I'm not walking funny.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]