2011-11-26
Explanation
This single-panel comic offers a "life tip" in the style of a humorous public service announcement. The header text reads: "Life tip: When leaving a conversation, you can say anything, and people will assume they misheard some form of goodbye." Below, a blonde woman demonstrates the principle by cheerfully saying to a man: "Well, I gotta go. Hot dog squirrel comets." The man, slightly confused but not alarmed, replies: "Uh, yeah. Seeya."
The joke highlights a genuine social phenomenon: when someone signals that a conversation is ending (with a phrase like "I gotta go"), the listener'''s brain essentially stops processing the details of what follows, automatically interpreting any subsequent sounds as some variation of "goodbye" or "see you later." The nonsensical phrase "hot dog squirrel comets" is so far removed from any plausible farewell that it emphasizes just how little we pay attention during these social scripts.
The votey panel takes the absurdity to a literal extreme, showing the same blonde woman gleefully riding a squirrel through the sky like a comet, suggesting that "hot dog squirrel comets" was not just a random phrase but an actual description of her plans. This is a classic SMBC move: turning a throwaway absurdist detail into something that is literally true within the comic'''s universe.