2012-09-10
Explanation
This comic is titled "Dad-Trolling: A Best Practices Guide" and presents a step-by-step manual for how fathers can mess with their children through deliberate misinformation. It begins with Step 1: "Recognize an opportunity" -- a child asks "Daddy, what'''s the hangy thing at the back of your mouth?" Step 2: "Start with whatever vague bit of knowledge you have" -- the dad correctly identifies it as a "uvula." Step 3: "Make any connections, no matter how tenuous or unlikely" -- the dad explains that it is technically a "u"-vula when talking about someone else'''s, a "me"-vula when talking about his own, and an "usvula" or "themvula" for groups, depending on whether you are in the group.
Step 4: "Deflect counterarguments as naive" -- when the child protests "What? But no other body parts work like that," the dad fires back with "Then how come boys have a heart and girls have a sheart? You knew about that, right?" Step 5: "Bide your time" -- the payoff comes later when the child angrily reports "Dammit Dad! My biology prof thinks I'''m an idiot because I asked about my '''meterus'''!" Finally, Step 6: "Acknowledge no responsibility" -- when the child asks "Is everything you say to me a lie?!" the dad coolly responds "If I answer that, it'''ll result in a paradox."
The comic captures a specific type of parental humor where dads exploit their children'''s trust to plant absurd false knowledge that eventually detonates in an embarrassing public setting. The votey panel shows the dad quoting King Lear: "Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I will never speak" -- grandly refusing to clarify his lies by invoking Shakespeare, which is itself another layer of dad-trolling.