Communication
by Jeff
Image text: Anyone who says that they're great at communicating but 'people are bad at listening' is confused about how communication works.
In this comic, White Hat tries to communicate to two other people that their is a hole in their path. Meanwhile, Megan is attempting to tell White Hat the same thing about the path in the other direction. Both head off into different directions, not knowing that their is a hole in the ground ahead of them because it was not properly communicated to them. They only knew that there was a hole behind them because that is what they observed personally. The holes are hilariously only about one person deep and I'm not sure why they didn't see them when they came upon them. However, either way, they fell into the holes, when the other person was trying to warn them that the hole was there.
In the last row, Beret Guy sees the hole and after he is not successful telling another person about it, he just takes him by the hand to show him the hole. Once that happens, they have exactly the same idea.
If you are not familiar with it, the symbol of the triangle with the exclamation mark in it is a widely used symbol that means "warning".
So It Has Come To This
by Jeff
Image text: 'Come to what?' 'You. Me. This moment.'
The image text is the continuation of the conversation in the comic. Not sure what to say about this one? I'm just getting home from travel, and I don't see anything below the surface here.
Good Cop, Dadaist Cop
by Jeff
Image text: NOW INVENT AN IMPOSSIBLE-TO-TRANSLATE LANGUAGE AND USE IT TO TELL US WHERE THE MONEY IS.
So, this is a play on the traditional police officer strategy of "Good Cop, Bad Cop", in which two officers play different parts to get the suspect to give the required information. One is nice to the suspect and the other is mean to the suspect.
However, in this comic, they use the strategy "Good Cop, Dadaist Cop" strategy in which one is nice to the suspect and the other is Dadaist, which is defined as (via the Free Dictionary) an European artistic and literary movement (1916-1923) that flouted conventional aesthetic and cultural values by producing works marked by nonsense, travesty, and incongruity.
So, the Dadaist cop is spouting nonsense attempting to get the suspect to give some information. Unfortunately, I don't think it is going to work.
Car Problems
by Jeff
Image text: Or if you replace your car, we'll be happy to set it on fire again so you can take another crack at getting that shot.
Ok, so in this comic, Megan's friends, including our old friend Black Hat take the phrase "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?" literally and are critiquing the style and composition of the picture and not the subject. Megan is hoping that they have any insight to why her car was on fire this morning and not a photography critique.
Wake Up Sheeple
by Jeff
Image text: Your will be led to judgement like lambs to the slaughter--a simile whose existence, I might add, will not do your species any favors.
In this comic, Cueball is going through the traditional loudspeaker-having person refrain about the government having control over our lives and uses the refrain "Wake Up Sheeple", which has been referenced at least two other times in XKCD. Sheeple is a portmanteau (another thing that is loved in XKCD) of "sheep" and "people" used as a derisive term to describe people who thoughtlessly wander through their daily lives going exactly where they are "herded" by the powers that be.
However, in this comic, "sheeple" are not that, instead are a race of half sheep/half person who have slumbered beneath the Earth for ten thousand years and are apparently going to destroy the human race.
Wrong Superhero
by Jeff
Image text: Hi! Someone call for me? I'm a superhero who specializes in the study of God's creation of Man in the Book of Genesi-- HOLY SHIT A GIANT BUG!
So, here we have the return of the super hero from just two comics ago, Etymology-Man. And just like that comic, Etymology-Man is explaining the origination of words instead of actually helping. For those of you who were not here on Monday, Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.
Who they want is Entomology-Man because they are fighting a giant praying mantis and an army of little praying mantises. (manti? I'm not sure.) But, honestly, those "little" praying mantises still look huge compared to the typical size of manti. Entomology is the study of insects. Considering Etymology-Man, I'm not sure Entomology-Man would fight the mantis or study it.
In the image text, we find out instead of getting Entomology-Man, they accidentally call a superhero of Etiology. (UPDATE: Some commenters are suggesting Adam-ology as well, which would make a lot of sense as well. Head to the comments for their reasoning) (I'm going to assume Etiology-Man, since the previous two superheroes have been male, but the image text gives me no reason to assume that.) Etiology is the study of causation, or origination. An etiological myth, or origin myth, is a myth intended to explain the origins of cult practices, natural phenomena, proper names and the like. Looking at that definition, it is no surprise that the Etiology superhero is over-matched with the giant praying mantis.
Etymology-Man
by Jeff
Image text: 'I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Aquaman were here instead--HE'D be able to help.'
This comic is a take on the traditional appearance of a super hero when a disaster strikes. In this case, Etymology-Man arrives, who apparently has the power of Etymology which is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. As Etymology-Man is explaining the history of the words tsunami and tidal wave while the water starts rising towards them.
Sustainable
by Jeff
Image text: Though 100 years is longer than a lot of our resources.
This is a graph of the usage of the word "Sustainable" in English in the United States each year. And as you can see, Randall extends the graph to the point where sustainable will be used as every word.
Sustainable has been increasing in use as people of the US are concerned about making sure that Earth's resources are not totally exhausted in the near future by developing sustainable development. Sustainable development (using wikipedia here) is a pattern of growth in which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come.
As Randall mentions in the image text, the 100 years it takes for the word sustainable to get to 100% usage is a lot longer than most of our non-renewable (and non-sustainable) resources will last on the Earth.
I’m Sorry
by Jeff
Image text: You know I've always hated her.
Rarely does xkcd beat me to the explanation by providing it below the comic, however, in this case it does.
In the US, I don't know if this is the case in other countries, but when someone presents the other with bad news, they respond with (as the comic explains) a sympathetic "I'm Sorry". That is different than the "I'm Sorry" that a person would give for something that is their fault.
As it says below the comic, Cueball switches his sympathetic "I'm Sorry" when Megan does not accept the "I'm Sorry" because it was not his fault. This all starts to sound like an episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld.
Cueball says at the end "You know what I did..." and ""You know I've always hated her" as a wild switch to a fault "I'm Sorry".
Mimic Octopus
by Jeff
Image text: Even if the dictionaries are starting to give in, I refuse to accept 'octopi' as a word mainly because--I'm not making this up--there's a really satisfying climactic scene in the Orson Scott Card horror novel 'Lost Boys' which hinges on it being an incorrect pluralization.
Let's get this out of the way before it starts a flame war on here: according to Merrian Webster Dictionary online, both octopi, octopuses and octopodes (only if you are English) are all the correct plural of octopus. It is a pretty funny video, I highly recommend watching it, even if you don't care about the plural of octopus.
So, this comic is a reference to a typical fish and sea-life identification chart. Like this or the US airforce ID chart parody. So, its basically a parody of a parody referencing the mimic octopus which is, as the name implies, able to mimic other animals.
The Orson Scott Card novel 'Lost Boys' is (from Publisher's Weekly): "A withdrawn eight-year-old in a troubled family invents imaginary friends who bear the names of missing children in this absorbing thriller."