2012-10-12
Explanation
This comic is a single-panel joke about the intersection of "yo mama" insults and academic vocabulary. A man angrily delivers what he intends as a cutting insult: "Yo mama'''s so unlettered, she mistakes the word malapropism for other similar-sounding words." The caption below reads: "It'''s hard being an angry English major."
The joke operates on multiple levels. A malapropism is the mistaken use of a word that sounds similar to the intended word (for example, saying "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes"). So the insult is saying that the target'''s mother is so uneducated that she commits malapropisms with the very word "malapropism" itself -- a delightfully self-referential linguistic joke. Additionally, the insult uses the word "unlettered" (meaning uneducated or illiterate) instead of the more common "yo mama'''s so dumb" phrasing, further demonstrating that the speaker cannot help but use elevated vocabulary even when trying to deliver a lowbrow insult.
The caption acknowledges the fundamental absurdity: an English major trying to participate in the traditionally crude genre of "yo mama" jokes cannot help but produce something so intellectually refined that it loses all its punch as street-level trash talk.
The votey panel shows someone asking, "Do you HAVE to draw comics during NYCC?" and the cartoonist responding, "Internet. Needs. Yo mama jokes." This is a behind-the-scenes joke about Weinersmith drawing comics at New York Comic Con, suggesting this particular comic was hastily produced during the convention because the internet demanded content.