# Could someone explain his xkcd comic to me
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 2, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949 "2011-04-02T15:16:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/1 "2011-04-02T15:16:08Z")
[Link, 2009 called.](http://www.xkcd.com/875/)
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/2 "2011-04-02T15:21:21Z")
Cliché: “1979 called, they want their pants back.”
Joke: React as though full duplex communication channel with the past has actually been established.
---
### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/3 "2011-04-02T15:24:55Z")
(see above)
---
### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/4 "2011-04-02T15:48:04Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#):
>
> Cliché: “1979 called, they want their pants back.”
>
> Joke: React as though full duplex communication channel with the past has actually been established.
Ah, seems so clear when explained. Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@Daedelus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daedelus)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/5 "2011-04-02T15:55:42Z")
It’s also a reference to [this T-shirt](http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Three-Wolf-Short-Sleeve/product-reviews/B002HJ377A/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1) that was a brief phenomena in 2008-2009. Not sure if you knew that, but figured I’d share.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/6 "2011-04-02T18:07:32Z")
> [@Daedelus](#):
>
> a brief phenomena in 2008-2009.
Why? 😕
I mean, I’ve seen shirts like that; probably starting in the '90s. I’ve always associated them with the lower socio-economic strata and/or people who have no taste. In 2008-2009, were they being worn ironically?
---
### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/7 "2011-04-02T18:13:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Why? 😕
>
> I mean, I’ve seen shirts like that; probably starting in the '90s. I’ve always associated them with the lower socio-economic strata and/or people who have no taste. In 2008-2009, were they being worn ironically?
Dude, _nobody_ irons t-shirts.
---
### Author:  [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/8 "2011-04-02T18:43:16Z")
I don’t know if this is the genesis of the meme, but the [Amazon page](http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve-Black/dp/B000NZW3KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301769746&sr=8-1) and amusing reviews certainly helped popularize it.
---
### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/9 "2011-04-02T20:15:29Z")
> [@DarrenS](#):
>
> I don’t know if this is the genesis of the meme, but the [Amazon page](http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve-Black/dp/B000NZW3KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301769746&sr=8-1) and amusing reviews certainly helped popularize it.
Funny. Like **JLA** I think I remember them being popular way earlier.
---
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/10 "2011-04-02T20:23:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Why? 😕
>
> I mean, I’ve seen shirts like that; probably starting in the '90s. I’ve always associated them with the lower socio-economic strata and/or people who have no taste. In 2008-2009, were they being worn ironically?
For the definition that passes for irony these days, yes. Hipster fashion, don’t you just love it?
---
### Author:  [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/11 "2011-04-02T21:47:13Z")
Sorta related question: What, exactly, could Japan have done if they HAD known, even a decade before the earthquake, what day it was going to happen? Would everyone have fled the islands or what? They’re already leading edge in earthquake damage control.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/12 "2011-04-02T22:00:05Z")
They could have kept people away from the hardest-hit areas, evacuated any buildings that saw significant casualties, and shut down the nuclear reactors and other power plants in a controlled manner, for starters. And with years of warning, they probably _could_ have evacuated the entire island.
---
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/13 "2011-04-02T22:51:01Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> Cafe Society.
Strictly a geographical move, no time travel involved.
---
### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/14 "2011-04-02T22:54:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> They could have kept people away from the hardest-hit areas, evacuated any buildings that saw significant casualties, and shut down the nuclear reactors and other power plants in a controlled manner, for starters. And with years of warning, they probably _could_ have evacuated the entire island.
Plus they could have put the waste rods somewhere else and fixed a few of the shortcuts they’d made in building the reactors.
Or made the tsunami protection walls an additional 3 feet or so higher, since it was the earthquake dropping those walls 3 feet that seems to be why the wave was able to damage the generators.
Ah, well.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/15 "2011-04-03T02:50:46Z")
> [@Taomist](#):
>
> Sorta related question: What, exactly, could Japan have done if they HAD known, even a decade before the earthquake, what day it was going to happen? Would everyone have fled the islands or what? They’re already leading edge in earthquake damage control.
They could have worn their Three Wolf Moon Tees, and the power of them would have averted the crisis. Duh.
---
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/16 "2011-04-03T05:01:42Z")
If they’d known a decade ahead of time, they could have evacuated the population of NE Japan to a nice tropical island, like Haiti.
Now \*\*\*that \*\*\*would be irony.
---
### Author:  [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/17 "2011-04-03T06:01:42Z")
I thought the “\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ called, they want their \_\_\_\_\_\_ back.” bit came from one of those recurring, non-funny SNL sketches.
---
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/18 "2011-04-03T06:43:23Z")
No, I know the sketch you’re talking about, and the phrase was known long before that. It was used in the 1985 movie _The Breakfast Club_, for instance, and I remember it as being old even then.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/19 "2011-04-03T16:43:14Z")
So in other words, 1985 called and they want their cliche back?
---
### Author:  [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949/20 "2011-04-03T17:13:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> So in other words, 1985 called and they want their cliche back?
What d’you mean, Do Notte Buye Betamacks?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-his-xkcd-comic-to-me/576949.md?page=2)