2010-09-06
Explanation
This comic is a bar chart joke about the awkwardness of rhyming advice given by a father to his college-bound daughter. The x-axis shows two pieces of rhyming advice, and the y-axis measures awkwardness. The first bar, labeled "Beer before liquor, never been sicker," is small -- it is a common, harmless drinking proverb that any parent might share. The second bar, labeled "Condom just broke, get the name of the bloke," towers over the first, representing an astronomically higher level of awkwardness.
The humor comes from the contrast between the two pieces of advice. While the first is a well-known, socially acceptable saying, the second is an intensely personal and uncomfortable piece of practical wisdom about sexual mishaps that no daughter would want to hear from her father. The chart format, typically associated with dry, objective data presentation, makes the absurdity even funnier by treating parental awkwardness as something that can be quantified and graphed. The two faces at the bottom -- the embarrassed daughter and the obliviously well-meaning father -- complete the picture.