autological
Original: autological on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man with wavy/swept hair: Autological words are my hobby.
Friend (curly-haired man): What's that?
Panel 2:
Wavy-haired man: Words that describe themselves.
Friend: ...
Panel 3:
Wavy-haired man: 'Polysyllabic' is polysyllabic.
Friend: This is stupid.
Panel 4:
Wavy-haired man: 'Term' is a term for term.
Friend: Stop.
Panel 5:
Wavy-haired man: And then there's 'pareidolia.'
Friend: What's that?
Panel 6:
Wavy-haired man: It refers to the perception of meaning in a random pattern, like seeing faces in clouds.
Friend: So?
Panel 7:
Friend (now smiling/excited): It looks JUST like a caterpillar!
Votey:
The word "pareidolia" is hand-lettered in a wobbly, drifting style along a winding line/path, so that the letters themselves suggest a meandering shape one might read meaning into.
Man with wavy/swept hair: Autological words are my hobby.
Friend (curly-haired man): What's that?
Panel 2:
Wavy-haired man: Words that describe themselves.
Friend: ...
Panel 3:
Wavy-haired man: 'Polysyllabic' is polysyllabic.
Friend: This is stupid.
Panel 4:
Wavy-haired man: 'Term' is a term for term.
Friend: Stop.
Panel 5:
Wavy-haired man: And then there's 'pareidolia.'
Friend: What's that?
Panel 6:
Wavy-haired man: It refers to the perception of meaning in a random pattern, like seeing faces in clouds.
Friend: So?
Panel 7:
Friend (now smiling/excited): It looks JUST like a caterpillar!
Votey:
The word "pareidolia" is hand-lettered in a wobbly, drifting style along a winding line/path, so that the letters themselves suggest a meandering shape one might read meaning into.
Alt text
A seven-panel SMBC comic. A man with swept, wavy hair tells his curly-haired friend, "Autological words are my hobby" — words that describe themselves. He gives examples: "'Polysyllabic' is polysyllabic" (friend: "This is stupid"), "'Term' is a term for term" (friend: "Stop"). Then he says, "And then there's 'pareidolia,'" explaining it refers to perceiving meaning in a random pattern, like seeing faces in clouds. In the last panel the friend lights up, grinning, and exclaims, "It looks JUST like a caterpillar!" — the joke being that 'pareidolia' is autological because the friend reads a caterpillar into it. Votey: the word "pareidolia" is hand-drawn in a squiggly, drifting script along a winding line, inviting the viewer to see a shape (a caterpillar) in the random-looking lettering.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.