# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 290
**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:** [April 17, 2026, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5783 "2026-04-17T00:40:39Z")
What was that making? Source? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5784 "2026-04-17T01:03:00Z")
A pair of wedding rings, on _Parks and Recreation._ ---
**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:** [April 18, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5785 "2026-04-18T00:30:25Z")
> **[Europa Missions](https://xkcd.com/3234/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/europa_missions.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/europa_missions.png) > [@](#): > > “Before resurfacing, they promise to inspect the ice for any evidence of hockey-playing life.” ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5786 "2026-04-18T17:22:55Z")
I thought the third was going to be a returning spacecraft bound to land in Europe, but then realized the joke wouldn’t work in English (In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese for example, the name for the continent and the moon is the same: Europa) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5787 "2026-04-21T04:45:09Z")
> **[Types of Board Game](https://xkcd.com/3235/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/types_of_board_game.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/types_of_board_game.png) “I can’t believe Candles of Vienna caved to commercial pressure and added the Goku expansion.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5788 "2026-04-21T13:07:56Z")
Whenever I see one of his multi-panel multi-column drawings I never know whether to read across or down. Sometimes that matters more than others. I suppose we could make a game of deciding which. Or perhaps roll a die. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5789 "2026-04-21T14:54:28Z")
Huh, i always read across. Fwiw, they have always made sense that way. The direction doesn’t really matter for this one, but i laughed out loud at a few of those panels. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5790 "2026-04-21T15:35:48Z")
I guess Diplomacy is an “Abstract” masquerading as a “Hyperspecific Theme.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5791 "2026-04-21T16:49:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Whenever I see one of his multi-panel multi-column drawings I never know whether to read across or down. Comic book order is “left to right takes precedence over top to bottom” … so: 1)Top Left … … … 2)Top Right 3)Middle Left … 4)Middle Right 5)Bottom Left .. 6)Bottom Right Unless the artist is being needlessly creative. In which case, they need to clearly signal the viewing order (I have some '70s comics that actually used large arrows). ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5792 "2026-04-21T17:03:32Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Comic book order is “left to right takes precedence over top to bottom” Manga: [![](https://en.meming.world/images/en/d/dc/Am_I_a_Joke_To_You%3F.jpg) ](https://en.meming.world/images/en/d/dc/Am_I_a_Joke_To_You%3F.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5793 "2026-04-21T22:01:17Z")
A comic book being a joke? Not if it’s manga… Sorry for my chauvanism! Let me amend my comment with a disclaimer: > Comic Book Order… and by that I mean the Marvel and DC comic books of the '70s that I grew up with in my white-bread suburb where the only Asian reading material was a take-out menu and so my ninja-wannabe friends ended up with tattoos that actually spelled out “Moo Shu Pork Comes With Plum Sauce”. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5794 "2026-04-23T02:46:21Z")
> **[Border Message](https://xkcd.com/3236/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/border_message.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/border_message.png) “Thanks to differences in logging regulations, the messages actually turned out to be visible from the air.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5795 "2026-04-23T09:09:06Z")
Poking fun at gerrymandering no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5796 "2026-04-23T21:16:30Z")
That’s a very topical xkcd comic, with Virginians voting two days ago to temporarily redistrict. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5797 "2026-04-23T21:22:27Z")
Yes, it’s one of his more political adjacent strips. And very funny. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5798 "2026-04-23T22:06:10Z")
Well, parts of it are political-adjacent, but parts of it are actually in politics. It’s complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5799 "2026-04-24T00:00:30Z")
It can be more complicated even: logging regulations? This was planted on purpose: [![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEI4xQgy7fowYfLL5mW6tXst19zakHtK9AA41dwNAzK6ZzLaGZId0jQoFIxapTKmUivhF7EpME6b756x_5lcNQnB7rEU_UB0s27eobfcmq1acRn8SPV8PwrjaObJFnEpjMOawsaItPR42Z/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/LpAAiZu.jpg) ](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEI4xQgy7fowYfLL5mW6tXst19zakHtK9AA41dwNAzK6ZzLaGZId0jQoFIxapTKmUivhF7EpME6b756x_5lcNQnB7rEU_UB0s27eobfcmq1acRn8SPV8PwrjaObJFnEpjMOawsaItPR42Z/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/LpAAiZu.jpg) And this is the story in German about how those trees were felled: > **[Der Hakenkreuz-Wald bei Zernikow](https://vergessene-orte.blogspot.com/2009/10/das-hakenkreuz-im-wald-von-zernikow.html)** > > Ein Blog über Lostplaces, Vergessenes und Vergangenes ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5800 "2026-04-24T16:23:02Z")
> **[Husband and Wife](https://xkcd.com/3237/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/husband_and_wife.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/husband_and_wife.png) “Borat came out twenty years ago this year–closer to the breakup of the Soviet Union than to today–but it honestly feels like it’s been even longer, somehow.” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5801 "2026-04-24T16:30:42Z")
So what _is_ the most salient cultural reference for the phrase “my wife”? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5802 "2026-04-24T16:30:49Z")
And if this makes no sense to you, it’s a reference to _Borat_ as noted in the alt-text. There’s a scene from the movie where Borat say [“this is my wife”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw16aew4Pt0) that briefly became a funny way for everyone to say it, then quickly became an extremely cringey example of bad humor. Cueball (like many others) can’t say “my wife” without hearing it in Borat’s voice and the voice of all the bad imitations that followed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=289) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=291)