# Slug baffles us (again) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 24, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311 "2003-10-24T13:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/1 "2003-10-24T13:22:42Z")
In the [Cold and Herpes column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_281b.html), Slug has a three-panel illustration. What’s the deal with the third panel? What is that thing half-way in that guy’s butt? Looks like a T-bone steak to me, or maybe it’s the world’s most sadistic rectal thermometer. Thoughts, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/2 "2003-10-24T23:03:37Z")
I’ve read the question and the column several times and I cannot figure out anything. I have to agree it looks like a steak. I have to wonder if the column was edited after the cartoon was already done. Maybe there was something that would have made sense. It is obviously a neaked butt eith something hanging out of it. ---
**Author:** ![rhettbutler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rhettbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhettbutler)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/3 "2003-10-26T05:27:41Z")
It looks to me like the right buttock has been detached and Cecil is pointing to the resulting cavity. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/4 "2003-10-26T19:45:54Z")
> [@](#): > > What is that thing half-way in that guy’s butt? Looks like a T-bone steak to me, Nope. Methinks it’s pork. Probably a steak cut from a “butt roast.” ---
**Author:** ![Greyson3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/258eb7/32.png) [@Greyson3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greyson3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/5 "2003-10-26T20:58:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rhettbutler \* > \*\*It looks to me like the right buttock has been detached and Cecil is pointing to the resulting cavity. \*\* Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/6 "2003-10-27T13:44:58Z")
Well, yes. But what in the text refers to the buttocks? I find nothing there, so the mystery is still why Slug chose to illustrate a dissected buttocks. Oh well, I guess we mortals just cannot understand genius when we see it … ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/7 "2003-10-27T14:12:58Z")
It’s pretty obvious to me … Cecil says _“we’re dealing with the demon Virus here, which makes for strange bedfellows”_ And what stranger bedfellow than one with a half-dissected butt? Ya just gotta get _into_ the mind of the Great Artist. 😉 Julie ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/8 "2003-10-28T20:06:08Z")
The column discusses several things, including subclinical infections and tissue culturing, in a rather cursory fashion. The illustration might refer to a gross sort of biopsy, or it might suggest that subclinical infections (or the column itself) are “half-assed.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/9 "2003-10-28T21:27:55Z")
The column looks to be a bit on the short side… Was this paired with some other question? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slug-baffles-us-again/209311/10 "2003-10-29T00:27:41Z")
I think it has to do with the virus lying in its dormant state. Herpes lives in your body, typically the nervous tissue (i.e. the spinal column). Why he dissected the buttocks to represent the spinal column would be a mystery.