2011-04-01
Explanation
The comic presents a formula at the top: "Normal Sentence - Euphemism = Creepy." It then demonstrates this principle with a single example: a man on a date says, "I'm sorry, I can't... I'm saving my penis for marriage." The woman looks uncomfortable.
The joke is that the common phrase "saving myself for marriage" is a well-understood euphemism for abstaining from sex until marriage. When you remove the euphemism and replace it with the literal, anatomically specific version of the same statement, the meaning is identical but the effect is profoundly different -- it becomes awkward and creepy. The comic illustrates how much of polite social interaction depends on euphemisms to make otherwise uncomfortable topics palatable, and how stripping away that linguistic cushion reveals the underlying bluntness that people work so hard to avoid.