2013-01-06
Explanation
The comic is titled "Automatic Email Signatures Are the Worst Thing in History." It shows an email with the subject line "Goodbye," containing an intensely emotional breakup message: "We can no longer be lovers or even friends. I love you more every day, even now. But when I look in your eyes I see only our daughter and the pain is too much." After the separator, however, comes the sender's automatic email signature: "Thanks a buncharooni! Bob."
The humor comes from the jarring tonal whiplash between the deeply heartfelt, devastating content of the email and the comically upbeat, casual automatic signature appended at the bottom. This is a relatable observation about how email signatures are appended indiscriminately to every message, regardless of context. Most people set a cheerful, professional signature and forget about it, leading to situations where the signature's tone is wildly inappropriate for the email's content. The word "buncharooni" is especially absurd in this context, being an aggressively chipper and silly sign-off following what amounts to a farewell letter about the loss of a child. The comic exaggerates for comedic effect, but the underlying observation -- that automated signatures can undermine the tone of a message -- is something many email users have experienced.