sticks-and-stones

A three-panel comic. Panel 1: A man holds up a finger and recites smugly to a woman, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Panel 2: The woman, looking distressed, says, "Your narcissism is crushing our relationship." Panel 3: The man stands with a blank, unbothered expression, shrugging, and says, "See, no effect at all." The joke is that he uses the childhood rhyme to deflect emotional criticism, claiming words can't affect him. Votey (aftercomic): A close-up of the man's face with a speech/thought bubble that begins like the rhyme but trails off into honesty: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can emotionally... I am dead." — revealing that the words did, in fact, devastate him.