Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

rolling-2

2025-07-12 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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rolling-2
Votey panel for rolling-2
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Explanation

This comic plays on the contrast between human conflict resolution and canine submission behavior.

In the top panel, one person confronts another who is rolling on the ground, yelling and flailing. The standing person demands, "Why are you rolling on the ground and yowling? Stop it! Put up your fists!" The person on the ground responds that they are also exposing their belly while urinating, and that if the aggressor finds that satisfactory, they'd be eager to nuzzle while avoiding eye contact.

The "Pro Tip" at the bottom reads: "You can avoid any fight by exhibiting canine submission behavior."

The humor comes from the literal application of animal behavioral science to human social situations. Dogs display submission through specific behaviors -- rolling over, exposing the belly, urination, averting eye contact, and nuzzling -- to defuse aggression from dominant dogs. The comic imagines a human doing all of these things simultaneously during a confrontation, which would indeed be so bizarre and unsettling that no one would want to continue fighting. The joke works because it's technically true (no one would punch a person doing all this), while being obviously impractical and deeply undignified advice.

View History (1) Original Comic