Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

other-people

2015-11-09 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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other-people
Votey panel for other-people
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

A man says to a woman named Diana: "Diana, I think we should see otter people." Diana responds: "Don't you mean 'other people'?" The final panel cuts to a scene of an otter in bed cuddling with a distraught-looking woman, with the otter crying "When will the hatred stop?!"

The Humor

The joke is a simple but effective pun on "other" vs. "otter." What initially sounds like a standard breakup line ("I think we should see other people") turns out to be literal -- the man actually wants to see otter people, that is, otters who are people. The final panel commits to the absurdity by showing an otter-person in an intimate relationship scenario, lamenting discrimination. The humor works because the pun is set up so naturally that the reader initially reads it as "other" and only realizes the wordplay when Diana corrects him. The otter's outrage about "hatred" adds a layer of social commentary parody, as if otter-people are an oppressed minority group.

The votey shows a couple in bed with one person thinking "So insightful," adding a meta-commentary on the shallow profundity of the joke itself.

View History (1) Original Comic