2009-11-20
Explanation
This comic imagines the invention of a "Cat Translator" -- a device that converts a cat's purring and meowing into human speech. An elderly woman is shown sitting with a cat on her lap while a translation device sits nearby. The cat's translated words turn out to be hilariously vulgar and demanding: "Oh f--k yeah. Oh, right there, bitch. Yeah, right there." The caption reads: "Excitement over the Cat Translator died off quickly."
The joke plays on the common fantasy of being able to understand what our pets are saying. While many cat owners romantically imagine their cats are thinking loving thoughts, the comic suggests that a cat's inner monologue while being petted would be crude and self-centered -- essentially treating its owner as nothing more than a servant providing physical pleasure. The humor comes from the jarring contrast between the sweet image of a grandmother petting her cat and the shockingly profane "translation."
The votey panel extends the joke with a different take: a woman says "Ha! I get it. The cat hates Mondays," referencing the Garfield comic strip, while a man holding a cat responds, "Why you gotta make me sad?" This adds a layer of meta-humor, poking fun at how Garfield's sanitized version of cat thoughts (hating Mondays, loving lasagna) is nothing like what a real cat translator would probably reveal.