2011-08-26
Original: 2011-08-26 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
The comic is a tall grid of small panels, three across, read left to right then top to bottom. Two characters: a man with orange/red hair (a panicking student) and a man with brown hair and a red bow tie (his friend), who are talking in/near a bathroom during a test.
Red-haired man: You gotta help me!
Bow-tie man (standing by a urinal): I'm just here for the bathroom. I can't help you during a test.
Red-haired man: I'm gonna fail, man!
Bow-tie man: Okay, just be quick.
Red-haired man: What's the abbreviation for nobelium?
Bow-tie man: No.
Red-haired man: You said you'd tell me!
Bow-tie man: No.!
Red-haired man: Okay, what's sodium?
Bow-tie man: Na.
Red-haired man: Well at least tell me potassium!
Bow-tie man: K.
Red-haired man: What's okay?
Bow-tie man: Just K!
Red-haired man: What's just okay?
Red-haired man: You mean OK2?
Red-haired man: What's okay, too?
Bow-tie man: Potassium oxide.
Red-haired man: Oxide?
Bow-tie man: O.
Red-haired man: Oh what?
Bow-tie man: Oxygen.
Red-haired man: I asked for potassium!
Bow-tie man: K.
Red-haired man: No.!
Bow-tie man: Nobelium.
Red-haired man: Nobelium?
Bow-tie man: No.
Red-haired man (to the bow-tie man): Just gimme the bonus question! What's element 166?
Bow-tie man: Uhh.
Bow-tie man: Go on.
Bow-tie man: Uhh.
Red-haired man: Uhh...?
Bow-tie man: Exactly!
Red-haired man: No, what is it?
Bow-tie man: Nobelium.
Red-haired man: No.! What is it?!
Bow-tie man: Nobelium!
Red-haired man: Okay, just give me uranium.
Red-haired man: That's U.
Red-haired man: I know it's up to me, but I'm asking for your help!
Red-haired man: U!
Red-haired man: No, you!
Bow-tie man: Nobelium, uranium.
Red-haired man: No.! You!
Red-haired man: Nobelium! Uranium!
Red-haired man: You are an ass.
Bow-tie man: Uranium, argon, nitrogen, arsenic.
Red-haired man (frowning, silent)
Red-haired man: U, Ar, N, As.
Red-haired man: You are an ass!
Bow-tie man: Exactly!
Red-haired man (clutching the bow-tie man, anguished): Baaah.!
(Wordless panel: red-haired man storming out a bathroom doorway, bow-tie man at right)
Bow-tie man (calm, silent)
Bow-tie man (standing in the bathroom doorway, the door sign showing a figure)
Bow-tie man (in the doorway, calling after the departing red-haired man down the hall): Barium!
Votey:
Two identical hand-drawn periodic-table tiles for element 102: "No" with atomic number 102 and atomic weight (259.10). Between them is the word "means". So: "No" (nobelium) means "No."
Red-haired man: You gotta help me!
Bow-tie man (standing by a urinal): I'm just here for the bathroom. I can't help you during a test.
Red-haired man: I'm gonna fail, man!
Bow-tie man: Okay, just be quick.
Red-haired man: What's the abbreviation for nobelium?
Bow-tie man: No.
Red-haired man: You said you'd tell me!
Bow-tie man: No.!
Red-haired man: Okay, what's sodium?
Bow-tie man: Na.
Red-haired man: Well at least tell me potassium!
Bow-tie man: K.
Red-haired man: What's okay?
Bow-tie man: Just K!
Red-haired man: What's just okay?
Red-haired man: You mean OK2?
Red-haired man: What's okay, too?
Bow-tie man: Potassium oxide.
Red-haired man: Oxide?
Bow-tie man: O.
Red-haired man: Oh what?
Bow-tie man: Oxygen.
Red-haired man: I asked for potassium!
Bow-tie man: K.
Red-haired man: No.!
Bow-tie man: Nobelium.
Red-haired man: Nobelium?
Bow-tie man: No.
Red-haired man (to the bow-tie man): Just gimme the bonus question! What's element 166?
Bow-tie man: Uhh.
Bow-tie man: Go on.
Bow-tie man: Uhh.
Red-haired man: Uhh...?
Bow-tie man: Exactly!
Red-haired man: No, what is it?
Bow-tie man: Nobelium.
Red-haired man: No.! What is it?!
Bow-tie man: Nobelium!
Red-haired man: Okay, just give me uranium.
Red-haired man: That's U.
Red-haired man: I know it's up to me, but I'm asking for your help!
Red-haired man: U!
Red-haired man: No, you!
Bow-tie man: Nobelium, uranium.
Red-haired man: No.! You!
Red-haired man: Nobelium! Uranium!
Red-haired man: You are an ass.
Bow-tie man: Uranium, argon, nitrogen, arsenic.
Red-haired man (frowning, silent)
Red-haired man: U, Ar, N, As.
Red-haired man: You are an ass!
Bow-tie man: Exactly!
Red-haired man (clutching the bow-tie man, anguished): Baaah.!
(Wordless panel: red-haired man storming out a bathroom doorway, bow-tie man at right)
Bow-tie man (calm, silent)
Bow-tie man (standing in the bathroom doorway, the door sign showing a figure)
Bow-tie man (in the doorway, calling after the departing red-haired man down the hall): Barium!
Votey:
Two identical hand-drawn periodic-table tiles for element 102: "No" with atomic number 102 and atomic weight (259.10). Between them is the word "means". So: "No" (nobelium) means "No."
Alt text
A tall multi-panel SMBC comic read left to right, top to bottom. A panicking man with orange-red hair corners his brown-haired, red-bow-tie-wearing friend in a bathroom during a test, begging for help. The friend keeps answering with element chemical symbols that double as words, refusing in disguise. The student asks the abbreviation for nobelium; the friend says "No" (the symbol No also reads as the word no). Asked for sodium, the friend says "Na"; asked for potassium, "K" (which the student hears as "okay"), leading to a spiral of confusion over K, OK2 (potassium oxide), O/oxygen. When the student demands the bonus question (element 166), the friend stalls with "Uhh" then says "Exactly" and "Nobelium" again. Asked for uranium, the friend answers "U" (heard as "you"), escalating a "No, you!" argument. Finally the friend spells out uranium, argon, nitrogen, arsenic, whose symbols U, Ar, N, As spell "You are an ass." "Exactly!" the friend says. The student screams "Baaah!" and storms out of the bathroom. In the last panel the friend leans out the bathroom doorway and calls down the hall after him: "Barium!" (Ba, reading as "bah"/come back). Votey: two identical hand-drawn periodic-table tiles for element 102, labeled No, atomic weight (259.10), with the word "means" between them, the joke being "No means No."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.