Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

explosives

2016-06-21 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
You are viewing an older revision of this explanation (2026-03-14 20:44:02). View current version →
explosives
Votey panel for explosives
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

The Joke

At an airport security checkpoint, a TSA officer asks a woman with glasses: "Are you carrying any explosive chemicals?" She responds: "Probably not." The votey reads: "Fun Fact: No statistician has ever been on an airplane."

The Humor

The humor hinges on the woman answering a yes-or-no security question with a probabilistic answer — "Probably not." While most people would simply say "No," she is being technically more accurate in a way that suggests she thinks like a scientist or statistician. Strictly speaking, one can never be 100% certain of anything, and many everyday chemical compounds can be explosive under the right conditions. Her answer is honest but deeply unhelpful in the context of airport security, where certainty is expected. The votey extends the joke by suggesting that no statistician has ever flown because their inability to give definitive yes-or-no answers would make it impossible to get through security screening.

View History (1) Original Comic