2012-11-23
Explanation
This comic features a "Dictionary Genie" who grants a woman the power to invent one new word. The genie emerges from what appears to be a lamp or dictionary, announcing grandly: "I am the Dictionary Genie! You may invent one new word!" The woman'''s choice is deviously cruel: "H-O-A-M-U-H-P-H-O-N-E. Hoamuhphone. It'''s a synonym for homonym."
The genie reacts with visible horror, and the woman gleefully declares she'''s "just a middle school teacher with a sadistic streak." The joke operates on multiple levels. First, the English language already has a notoriously confusing set of terms -- homonym, homophone, homograph -- that students (and many adults) constantly mix up. Adding "hoamuhphone" as a synonym for "homonym" that also sounds like "homophone" would make an already confusing linguistic landscape even more nightmarish for students trying to learn the differences between these concepts.
The humor also plays on the stereotype of teachers who secretly enjoy the suffering of their students, particularly in the domain of English language arts where the rules are already maddeningly inconsistent. The votey panel adds a caption where someone says "Also known as a veteran," suggesting that any teacher who has survived long enough in middle school education has inevitably developed this kind of sadistic sense of humor as a coping mechanism.