Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Milkshake

2021-08-14 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
Milkshake
Votey panel for Milkshake
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

This comic satirizes how America culturally appropriates and transforms foreign foods, drawing a parallel to how the English language borrows and transforms foreign words. A patriotic Uncle Sam-type figure proudly presents "our traditional Christmas sweet, cherished for generations," only for it to be revealed as a milkshake with coffee flavor -- and the warning that if you're not careful, it'll become a hamburger bun. The caption at the bottom makes the analogy explicit: "America treats foreign food like English treats foreign words." Just as English absorbs words from other languages and often changes their pronunciation and meaning beyond recognition (e.g., "colonel," "entrepreneur"), America takes cuisines from other cultures and radically transforms them into something barely recognizable from the original -- think General Tso's chicken, California rolls, or deep-dish pizza.

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