oak
Original: oak on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (top):
Woman (holding a leaf): HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT'S AN OAK LEAF?
Older man (wide-eyed, sweating): WELL IT'S GOT AN OAKY-LIKE... OAKSOME... OAK...NESS.
Panel 2 (bottom): A line graph. The vertical (y) axis is labeled "ABILITY TO EXPLAIN HOW YOU IDENTIFIED A SPECIES." The horizontal (x) axis is labeled "KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE." The curve is a bell curve: it starts low, rises to a peak in the middle, then falls back down low at high knowledge.
Votey:
(TAXONOMISTS ARE UNNATURAL FREAKS)
Woman (holding a leaf): HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT'S AN OAK LEAF?
Older man (wide-eyed, sweating): WELL IT'S GOT AN OAKY-LIKE... OAKSOME... OAK...NESS.
Panel 2 (bottom): A line graph. The vertical (y) axis is labeled "ABILITY TO EXPLAIN HOW YOU IDENTIFIED A SPECIES." The horizontal (x) axis is labeled "KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE." The curve is a bell curve: it starts low, rises to a peak in the middle, then falls back down low at high knowledge.
Votey:
(TAXONOMISTS ARE UNNATURAL FREAKS)
Alt text
A two-part SMBC comic. Top panel: a woman holds up a leaf and asks an older, wide-eyed, sweating man, "How do you know that's an oak leaf?" He fumbles, "Well it's got an oaky-like... oaksome... oak...ness." Bottom panel: a line graph with a bell-shaped curve. The y-axis reads "Ability to explain how you identified a species" and the x-axis reads "Knowledge of nature." The curve is low at both little and great knowledge but peaks in the middle, implying both novices and true experts struggle to explain their identifications while those in the middle can. Votey (aftercomic): handwritten text on a hand-drawn frame reads "(Taxonomists are unnatural freaks)."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.