2013-03-20
Explanation
This comic takes the common expression "you can'''t compare apples to oranges" and imagines a scientist who has literally solved the problem by genetically engineering a hybrid fruit called the "orapple." A professor presents at a podium, explaining that through selective gene splicing, they can create orapples anywhere on the apple-to-orange spectrum, effectively changing the nature of argumentation forever by allowing the analogizing of distinct topics.
The punchline comes when the professor reveals the real reason he cares about this breakthrough: his wife told him that comparing his happiness in their 20-year marriage to a summer fling he had in college was "apples to oranges." He triumphantly declares that, according to current science, she was actually agreeing with him -- meaning those two things can indeed be compared. This leads to an audience member shouting an expletive at him, and Paul shouting one right back.
The joke operates on multiple levels. It satirizes how people selectively invoke scientific findings to win personal arguments, and it skewers the kind of person who would fund an entire research program just to gain leverage in a marital dispute. The absurdity of creating a genetically engineered fruit to settle a domestic argument is the core comedic engine.
The votey panel features the cartoonist (Zach Weinersmith) declaring that from now on, all comics will end with the phrase shouted by the professor. This is a self-referential meta-joke about how satisfying that particular punchline was.