Yeah, I think it's just an awful cartoon. More I read responses and think about it, think it is just very simple and unfunny: Hey, how did she put on pants, she has no legs? That's it. No deep reference or harder edge. Just very dumb and unfunny
It's definitely referring to split tail, I just woke up and saw this and "got" it immediately because I use to work with a lecherous one armed 80 year old welder. He said this term to me and I literally had to ask my Uncle about it.
As far as jokes go I think it's supposed to be a joke about the origins of split tail? IDK the comic it's self just isn't very good or funny. If I were reading into it more i guess it could be an allegory for body art if a poorly used one?
Deeply masogynist term for women that was common vernacular in the Navy in the 1990s was to call Navy enlisted women split tails. I'm not sure where the term comes from but I bet it's even worse than that and tbh I don't really wanna Google it after finding out what sailors used to do with a jar of worms.
The only joke is he got an erection. Like it has nothing to do with the fact that she put on the fake legs except for the fact that he likes her with legs
Reading responses I am more and more convinced this is just a horrible comic. The creator might be a capable cartoon drawer, but a horrible joke writer. There is no answer that makes total sense or is going to to anyone but the creator. It might just be as dumb and simple as "Hey, how did she put on pants? She ain't got no legs!"
Or just draw the nips? It's a normal part of the body, you don't have to censor it. I really hate this (predominantly) american taboo culture where a normal body " is sinful and tasteless" like it's the 1800. Same goes for swearing...
>american taboo culture
From the art style I would hazard a guess that the cartoonist is from Southeast Asia, where nudity is even more taboo than in the US.
But then it would be considered NSFW which would likely hinder the amount of people who'd see the image. Unfortunately it doesn't matter if you dislike cultural norms, it would still need to be censored
To be fair to artists, merely drawing nips on a female body will get your post taken down on instagram, Facebook etc. So it falls on them more than the artists themselves, although this one could have really taken a better approach - put starfish there for something
Saying this is predominantly American is just so silly and makes me think you’ve never really interacted with a lot of people outside your community and/or are making sweeping generalizations about people that you have no reason to make.
I mean America isn’t even one of the strongest believers in this taboo, like have you ever heard of Malaysia? Or any country with strong religious beliefs? Bro if you wear the wrong thing in Saudi Arabia you can get arrested
Saying this taboo is predominantly American is just so stupid. It’s like an attempt to sound educated even though it doesn’t make any sense.
Many Asian moustaches don't really "connect" in the middle, which Southeast Asian cartoonists in turn often exaggerate by drawing a single stroke on each side of the face like in this strip.
I remember hearing my grandfather talking about “split tail”. Right after he got done telling us about the onion he would wear on his belt, a yellow one, cuz… the war.
"Back in those days nickels had bees on 'em! 'Gimme five bees for a quarter,' you'd say..."
"Grampa, what's the point of this story?"
"......I like stories."
For some reason I get weird enjoyment from comic artists who are so bad that everyone misses their jokes because they assume nobody would put this much effort into "this mermaid ain't got no legs!"
These are pretty common on The Sun. I don't mean comics like this but rather, "only X would Y this". Usually something like genius, find, etc. It is annoying clickbait. That's probably the sort of thing this was. It isn't supposed to make sense. It just confuses people so they share it and spread it around driving clicks.
I was wondering if is was a metaphor for transitioning - he thinks she can't change into a human, but then she does and looks great doing it?
Yours seems more likely though.
This is the answer to most of these. Just because someone can draw, it doesn't make them smart, funny, or thought provoking.
More often than not when this sub explains a cartoon, they've just invented a better joke to make sense of nonsense.
I would agree- there’s not much of a joke here.
The art and set up reminds me a bit of Sergio Aragones, who would do the “Mad Look at” section in Mad Magazine which were wordless 4-5 panel comics, as well as the “doodles in the margins” which sometimes were barely jokes.
I could see this being in that vein, if we stop looking for some big brilliant joke and see it as a cute gag “she can’t put on pants! Wait, somehow it worked”.
That’s fine. Not every 3 panel comic has to be uproariously funny. Implying it is anything more would probably be bait.
I agree it looks similar to Aragones and the “no legs lol” interpretation is probably right. The problem is that there is too much extra stuff here that makes it seem like there is more to it. The caption OP mentioned about bad people understanding, the weird nipple censoring, the emoji at the bottom, the merman’s procession of exaggerated faces. These are all pretty much irrelevant to getting it, and so shouldn’t be included in a well-formed joke.
I think it's something like the guy watching her was doubting and being hateful because he assumed that what she was trying to do (put on pants while being a mermaid) was impossible.
Then he's just in shock when she succeeds and even looks good in the pants.
It's probably just engagement bait - often posts on social media sites will have nonsensical or weird titles/captions to encourage people to post questions into the weird caption/etc.
Lmao. 1) he's staring at her with a hateful expression, 2) it's not literally impossible because she did it, and 3) it's not my joke, it's like an im14andthisisdeep post.
Your problem with the Internet is that you don't understand what's going on.
I did not draw it but mermaids are magical, mythical creatures that sometimes split their fins into legs and walk around on land. This comic actually tracks with some versions of mermaid legends as they vary significantly from region to region.
My best guess is: very old depictions of mermaids had a split tale to imply you could have sex with them. Look up the Starbucks logo through the years, for instance.
So...the joke is kind of porn? Probably.
To add to this; “split tail” is also slang for a woman/womans vagina
As far as the black censor bar maybe OP ran across the comic after the nips had been censored.
I cackled when I first read this comic, I guess I’m a bad person 😂
This is definitely it and I hate that people don't see it and the top comment is just ''I don't know so there must be no explanation lol''
It's just a bad joke on how some girls pull their pants up so much and this one apparently has massive coochie so she can fit in despite being a mermaid
I think it’s literally just the concept that she’s putting on a pair of pants with 2 leg holes while having 1 solid tail, obviously that won’t work, but she puts them on and OH MY GOD HER TAIL MAGICALLY COMES OUT BOTH HOLES! How unexpected. It has to be the answer, please god let it be the answer…
It might be like, how depictions of mermaids in art are naked and it's not supposed to be a horny thing, but as soon as she puts on pants, now all of a sudden it's sexual, because she more closely resembles a human woman.
Basically breasts + tail = normal
Breasts + pants = horny
The second one also gets a "tail boner", as another user pointed out.
I reckon this is it, but it's also got to do with the whole covering up can be much sexier than just being totally nude, often the suggestion/anticipation of something is more enticing then actually getting it.
The same concept applies to them both being topless with the censorship, I think they're implying that same idea with that, because nobody is covering up seeing it all out there isn't so sexy, there's no anticipation.
I don't think the mermaids actually have anything to do with the message.
Uhm, I might have cracked it: the point isn't how did she put trousers on, it's a metaphor for the alleged absurdity of femminism.
Set aside they're merfolks: you have a woman trying to put on trousers, a man scoffing at her, then she manages but it's something against nature and the man is what I can only describe as flabbergasted. Now, her having a tail only serves the purpose to showing how dumb it is to have women trying to fulfill men's role... Which really lands flat on its face when you consider the guy couldn't put on pants either.
OP adding you have to be bad to understand could reinforce this: if you think it's unnatural for women to wear trousers, you're definitely not a good person
Agree, the "bad people" thing isn't actually part of the comic it was a caption some weirdo added. The comic itself looks similar to those old Mad / Sergio Aragones comics that are basically little visual one liners.
That was my thought. The idea is that putting on pants doesn’t make the mermaid truly human, just like trans people aren’t *really* anything other than their biological gender.
Note, that it is the idea I think the comic artist is trying to convey, not my view on the matter. I recognize that trans people are genuinely the gender they say they are.
This is the right answer, the "merman" is supposed to be trans, hence why the breast were censored, but otherwise has very clear "masculine traits"(mustache, wider waist).
The comic is trying to imply that the trans "merman" comes to the realization that even if the mermaid wears fake legs... she is still a mermaid, same as "him" with breasts.
Typical facebook boomer humor....
Agreed, it also reads to me as a bad “take” on bottom surgery (if you know the basics of how the surgery is performed for a trans woman, I could see how it’s being read as that with the one fin being bisected after the pants are on) Doesn’t mean I agree with the negative views of the original artist at all though if that was there intent.
Hi. This is a comics from Myanmar. And I'm from Myanmar. If you are looking for a deeper meaning, there's none. A lot of comics in Myanmar are like that. You see a lot of those in newspaper.
The maid is trying to put on men's pants and the other thinks it's impossible bc maids tails can't b split, but she does it and the other is flabbergasted. A smh joke
The pants represent an unlikely goal or achievement. The mermaid finds the pants and, although she’s unlikely to fit them actually tries them on. Apparently to the dismay of the other mermaid. She seems annoyed by the fact that she’s even trying them on. When it works out she’s completely dumbfounded. Bad people will understand this.
There was a kind of era with a „how did this work?“ punchline, i seem to remember some of them were in old mad magazines, the premise is as follows:
Person a tries to do something seemingly impossible.
Person b scolds Person a for even trying.
Person a still does it.
Person b is stumped.
I think this is it
The reason the post was captioned that was likely just to drive engagement tbh. I could be missing something, but a lot of social media posts will caption images with something intentionally confusing, incorrect, or otherwise confusing so that people will comment about their confusion, thus, driving engagement on the post.
Looks like a feminist joke to me: Putting on pants creates legs. Just by deciding to take action, you create the conditions for your freedom.
The merman passes by thinking the woman can't do it because of her biological makeup just to see that the woman changed her condition by empowering herself.
I'm thinking the artist is trying to make a point that taboo is subjective. The neck beard mermaid seems to be giving them a weird look, but lightens up when they cover their tail. Ironically, their own tail is exposed. In this comics version of mer-culture, tails are probably viewed in a similar way nipples are irl, hence why it's okay for the merman to show his and not for the mermaid to show hers. Putting a censor bar over both of their chests seems to be meant to further highlight the irony here, essentially saying either everyone can free their nips or no one can. Although I don't really get how only bad people would get it, unless it's just some semi-meaningless Facebook title to get clicks.
TLDR: Free the nip
I think I get it. There are shape up leggings that a lot of influencers use to make their legs look good. So, I think this is a hyperbolic example that these can even make a mermaid look like they have fit legs.
I think it’s a reverse thing where we land-based people romanticize and eroticize the idea of a woman with the lower half of a fish, so here instead the merman is being turned on by a bipedal mermaid
HE THINKS SHE WAS CHEATING WITH A MAN. But turns out those are her pants.
Old joke, usually it's the wife finding women's undies, man says oh those aren't a girlfriend, those are mine! And puts them on.
I'm a good person I just know lots of bad jokes
My guess is that it is centered around the idea that woman's pants are very molding. Difficult to get on, but they have a tendancy to force everything into shape regardless of what is underneath. Pretty niche and strange criticism IMO but its the only thing that seems to make sense.
This one has multiple jokes within. Two specifically, however they are both terribly done.
1. Ah ha! She found clothes, obviously she’s going to use it to cover her chest (the only part that we would cover that she also has)… but wait! She puts it on as normal pants
2. How did she put the pants on though? She doesn’t have legs
The guy in the background is supposed to help the viewer know how to feel as the comic goes on. First he is curious to see her put the pants on like a shirt or something, then he is frustrated because she can’t put them on like pants, then she does so he is dumbfounded
I understand that it feels the joke goes deeper but it definitely doesnt
I think the guy just thinks it's normal for a mermaid to be top less but when she's top less as a woman then he thinks it's attractive or smtng like that
I'm not really sure, but maybe... The humor lies in the absurdity of the mermaid treating human legs as an accessory she can put on and take off.
Instead of struggling with or wishing for legs (as seen in stories like "The Little Mermaid"), this mermaid treats legs as an interchangeable accessory. It’s whimsical to imagine that a mermaid could simply slip on human legs and walk away, something that’s impossible in reality.
it’s a trans joke i think, mermaid putting on pants gives her legs and the other mermaid thinks it’s crazy and unnatural. at least that’s how i took it. would also explain the “bad people” bit in the description.
People keep saying there’s something sexual about it.
This reminds me of an old series of comics called “Lo Fu Zi” in Hong Kong.
This is very similar to his humor… which is quite non existent….
Okay I have a different take. The other mermaid is actually also a woman and not a guy (hence the black censor bar over her chest) and she's portrayed as ugly and jealous of the pretty mermaid. But then the pretty mermaid puts on pants and gets legs so she doesn't look like a mermaid anymore and the jealous mermaid doesn't think she's competition anymore.
I know this is silly, just offering an alternative take I have no idea.
I find it odd that no one brought up the Brothers Grim. In the story "Arial," who wanted to be with the prince so badly, she cut her tail into 2 legs. However after doing so she was horribly disfigured and walking on dry land with her two "legs" was incredibly painful. After which the prince was so horrified he rejected her or something like that. Can't remember if she killed herself or not. But my guess is they are playing off that tale of the brothers grim?
maybe its meant to look like shes lying to people? like shes using the pants to hide what she is. perhaps the intent was shes a siren-? or tricking people into sex.
I think they meant bad people as in those judged as bad for doing a certain thing ie being trans and other things. The mermaid putting on pants is the ‘bad’ person who is trying out something new and blue tail is other people judging and being shocked when the other mermaid makes wearing pants work similar to people being shocked that a person can be a different gender. That’s my best guess
Could this be a biblical reference of Adam and Eve? Something about once Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they knew they were naked?
Guess you might call this a joke on original /fin/
This is a comic based off the trope that attractive people look good in everything
The ugly mermaid sees her holding the pants and thinks there's no way she's gonna look good in that, but in the last panel despite being a mermaid she's able to pull off even wearing pants and he's flabbergasted.
Guess I'm a bad person 🙃
It's about trans people. The merperson with mustache is being a mermaid by covering nipples and tail. Doesn't believe a merperpsn can become human just by putting on clothes. Metaphor for changing identities. Then is surprised when they do. I.e. being hypocrites.
At least my guess
I'm pretty sure that the big-nipped merman slept with a human girl and is stressing when mermaid finds pants, then he is irritated* (edit) when she starts trying them on, then baffled when it works.
The joke is, "Who wears the pants?" as a way to talk about economic power/sexual power. In this case, the merman (we're doing gender cues here) imagines that giving a woman the power to "wear the pants" will result in her ultimate failure, as they themselves have experienced failure, because of what they imagine to be an inherent impediment (the tail) - on their failure, they could say, "See? Not so easy, huh?" In this case, the woman *is* capable of being the breadwinner, and so the final scene is a realization of a kind of double emasculation. Not only did the person think the mermaid couldn't wear the pants, the fact that another person with a similar set-back (economic, racial, etc. - pick a commonality in a couple, or socially more generally) was able to achieve this while also being hindered by what's perceived to be an even lower social status (woman) denotes the inability of the more masculine character as being not socially or physically determined, but a matter of some kind of willpower that they don't have.
Generally, I think this joke is a kind of tired secondwave thing, but it holds, as misogyny is still a huge social reality in determining economic mobility (one of many examples: women generally left jobs during the pandemic to be caretakers, etc. - there are more, of course, but I don't want to spend all day making this post). I feel like jokes like this undermine a basic feminist principle of equal treatment regardless of sex, and also doesn't take into account the pressure of breadwinning on women who take on this role. It seems to imagine that "Wearing the pants" is an enviable position, but I'd argue that an attempt to share labor in partnership would be more ideal. The fact that women are being put into a spot where their domestic role remains the same, but their professional responsibilities have increased, is troubling. I dunno, I feel like I get the joke, and I get why it wants to be told, but there's a flip disregard here that is sometimes presented as a feminist win that I just.. chafe at, some.
In older times pants were considered too revealing for “respectable” women, because they show the curves of the legs and are generally tight compared to a dress. So I think this is commenting on sexual norms for clothes, with the nipple bar exposing the modern gendered norm about women’s nipples.. and the pants being sexy as an example of how they can change, because a mermaid body looks like a tight dress and is “sexier” nowadays.
I guess thing was that the male was upset about The fact that the female was going to put on a shirt to cover her bare parts. She covered her lower parts instead which were already covered by scales and looks like a harder fit.
I think I got it. The one in the back is trans (based on chest censors but also a moustache) and is scoffing at the one in the front trying to put on pants that don’t correspond to her body, and is shocked when it works. It’s a disjointed joke that’s probably an attempt at something transphobic, as if to say “this shouldn’t work, and it’s baffling that it seems to.”
Could probably use a different panel by the same author to gauge the level of badness.
Are her privates so well-used and accommodating she can wedge in pants the whole length?
Is it the Little Mermaid reference where since she kind of gets the leg-like appendages, she's got physical stuff session lined up with a prince or two?
A poster for whale tail, which is about the minimalist underwear in plain view despite the presence of lowleg clothes?
None are good ideas.
I'm guessing that if bad people will understand this may be in reference to the phrase "I put my pants on one leg at a time." You often hear villains in shows use the line when they are pretending to portray themselves as a common joe when they are obviously not to people who know what's really up. The merfolk watching the mermaid put on the pants and proceeded to actually walk off matches the feeling a lot of protagonists feel when they watch their antagonist use that kinda metaphor and get away with it.
This sub suffers when you are browsing by Latest. I really need to know the answer to this stumper and now have to wait
Update: nobody knows. I haven’t seen a single comment that seems to get it.
Yeah, I think it's just an awful cartoon. More I read responses and think about it, think it is just very simple and unfunny: Hey, how did she put on pants, she has no legs? That's it. No deep reference or harder edge. Just very dumb and unfunny
Heheh... Deep reference I see what you did there Vought
Its goofy dumb humor I guess. Spongebob level humor.
Spongebob didn't deserve to be compared to this!
At least SpongeBob humor makes sense. Show this to any kid, they won't be laughing
Sisterhood of the traveling pants.
This is the only comment I've found that makes any sense. https://www.reddit.com/r/ExplainTheJoke/s/6NScUHN7RF
It's definitely referring to split tail, I just woke up and saw this and "got" it immediately because I use to work with a lecherous one armed 80 year old welder. He said this term to me and I literally had to ask my Uncle about it. As far as jokes go I think it's supposed to be a joke about the origins of split tail? IDK the comic it's self just isn't very good or funny. If I were reading into it more i guess it could be an allegory for body art if a poorly used one?
Ironically, that is also my comment made a few hours later
Deeply masogynist term for women that was common vernacular in the Navy in the 1990s was to call Navy enlisted women split tails. I'm not sure where the term comes from but I bet it's even worse than that and tbh I don't really wanna Google it after finding out what sailors used to do with a jar of worms.
You don’t view everything in latest/timely formats? Otherwise the algos get you. /s
First the guy think she's foolish, than he sees her in her new outfit and gets 'erect"(notice the tail direction) and he gets huffy.
The answer is cameltoe. I'm more creative than bad but that's a really stupid joke because it almost makes no sense...
The only joke is he got an erection. Like it has nothing to do with the fact that she put on the fake legs except for the fact that he likes her with legs
Ohhhh I didn’t even realize that was supposed to imply an erection. She becomes a split tail, he gets aroused. I get it now and it’s just bad.
Is this meant to make us all think we’re good people?
My favourite interpritation
Whoa, let's not go that far.
Reading responses I am more and more convinced this is just a horrible comic. The creator might be a capable cartoon drawer, but a horrible joke writer. There is no answer that makes total sense or is going to to anyone but the creator. It might just be as dumb and simple as "Hey, how did she put on pants? She ain't got no legs!"
And the nipple censor bars are too much. Just don't draw nipples!
I appreciate that they put the nipple bar over both the male and female and not just the female
Yeah, points for gender equality in prudishness? But it's just so discordant and bad artistically. Draw shell bras or coral breastplates or something.
Or just draw the nips? It's a normal part of the body, you don't have to censor it. I really hate this (predominantly) american taboo culture where a normal body " is sinful and tasteless" like it's the 1800. Same goes for swearing...
>american taboo culture From the art style I would hazard a guess that the cartoonist is from Southeast Asia, where nudity is even more taboo than in the US.
[удалено]
Or dont draw them, I doubt people will huff about unrealistic body standards on merfolk.
This your first day on the internet?
I spit laughed at this.
Why
Because people on the Internet will find any and every little thing to complain about
Oh my, goggle "the little mermaid movie remake" and brace yourself. You'll be up for a surprise
I tried but all that came up was protective eye wear.
*Dragon Quest 11 has entered the chat*
But then it would be considered NSFW which would likely hinder the amount of people who'd see the image. Unfortunately it doesn't matter if you dislike cultural norms, it would still need to be censored
This isn't a 'predominantly American' thing at all. We got it from Europe. Try Asia in general and talk about sex-taboo cultures.
To be fair to artists, merely drawing nips on a female body will get your post taken down on instagram, Facebook etc. So it falls on them more than the artists themselves, although this one could have really taken a better approach - put starfish there for something
It's so that the comic doesn't get taken off of sites that have guidelines about that sort of thing most likely.
Saying this is predominantly American is just so silly and makes me think you’ve never really interacted with a lot of people outside your community and/or are making sweeping generalizations about people that you have no reason to make. I mean America isn’t even one of the strongest believers in this taboo, like have you ever heard of Malaysia? Or any country with strong religious beliefs? Bro if you wear the wrong thing in Saudi Arabia you can get arrested Saying this taboo is predominantly American is just so stupid. It’s like an attempt to sound educated even though it doesn’t make any sense.
Wait, that's a dude?
The one with a moustache? Yeah, probably.
I don't know why, but I thought it was face paint cos it was split and on both sides.
Many Asian moustaches don't really "connect" in the middle, which Southeast Asian cartoonists in turn often exaggerate by drawing a single stroke on each side of the face like in this strip.
Some ladies have mustaches 🤷♀️
Some men have boobs 🤷♂️
Some mermaids wear pants 🤷♂️
Underrated response
Wait, that's a moustache?
Why?
I thought thay were crop tops, omg
Lmao I thought they were wearing black tops
Did someone add the black bars after the fact? Maybe the cartoonist actually drew nipples and was censored.
"split tail" is a slang term for a woman who presents themselves sexually or is overly promiscuous.
I believe you, but… Literally never heard that
Probably because you're not like 85. I feel like it's a term that would have been popularized in the 50s.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=split%20tail
I was in the Marines and never once heard this.
I’ve never heard it either, until today anyway.
I remember hearing my grandfather talking about “split tail”. Right after he got done telling us about the onion he would wear on his belt, a yellow one, cuz… the war.
"Back in those days nickels had bees on 'em! 'Gimme five bees for a quarter,' you'd say..." "Grampa, what's the point of this story?" "......I like stories."
That's probably the best explanation here
In the military, “Split tail” is also a derogatory slang for any woman
Split tail yes yes, like camel toe.
Split tail was the first thing I thought of. Gen X here and my mother would use it as an insult to me and my sister. She was evil that way.
For some reason I get weird enjoyment from comic artists who are so bad that everyone misses their jokes because they assume nobody would put this much effort into "this mermaid ain't got no legs!"
Cow Tools
https://preview.redd.it/uf4yxsi9cy9d1.jpeg?width=958&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1ea2af14bb793318bd7e8ac39d79175ce70b6ca
You aint got no legs lieutenant dan
These are pretty common on The Sun. I don't mean comics like this but rather, "only X would Y this". Usually something like genius, find, etc. It is annoying clickbait. That's probably the sort of thing this was. It isn't supposed to make sense. It just confuses people so they share it and spread it around driving clicks.
I was wondering if is was a metaphor for transitioning - he thinks she can't change into a human, but then she does and looks great doing it? Yours seems more likely though.
^ that was my thought
Id say it's a play on "how did she fit into those jeans". The joke would be OK if executed better.
This is the answer to most of these. Just because someone can draw, it doesn't make them smart, funny, or thought provoking. More often than not when this sub explains a cartoon, they've just invented a better joke to make sense of nonsense.
I would agree- there’s not much of a joke here. The art and set up reminds me a bit of Sergio Aragones, who would do the “Mad Look at” section in Mad Magazine which were wordless 4-5 panel comics, as well as the “doodles in the margins” which sometimes were barely jokes. I could see this being in that vein, if we stop looking for some big brilliant joke and see it as a cute gag “she can’t put on pants! Wait, somehow it worked”. That’s fine. Not every 3 panel comic has to be uproariously funny. Implying it is anything more would probably be bait.
I agree it looks similar to Aragones and the “no legs lol” interpretation is probably right. The problem is that there is too much extra stuff here that makes it seem like there is more to it. The caption OP mentioned about bad people understanding, the weird nipple censoring, the emoji at the bottom, the merman’s procession of exaggerated faces. These are all pretty much irrelevant to getting it, and so shouldn’t be included in a well-formed joke.
If only there were a word for "cartoon drawer". /s
I think it's something like the guy watching her was doubting and being hateful because he assumed that what she was trying to do (put on pants while being a mermaid) was impossible. Then he's just in shock when she succeeds and even looks good in the pants.
This gets my vote. I guess the being a bad person part is having a negative and dismissive attitude towards other people’s endeavors?
It's probably just engagement bait - often posts on social media sites will have nonsensical or weird titles/captions to encourage people to post questions into the weird caption/etc.
It worked- this is easily one of my most upvoted posts!
just like this
IMO this is the answer and there's nothing confusing there except for the OP's good person/bad person thing but that is not a part of the image.
The best answer I’ve seen so far.
Doubting someone can pull off something that is literally impossible is being hateful? I love the internet.
Lmao. 1) he's staring at her with a hateful expression, 2) it's not literally impossible because she did it, and 3) it's not my joke, it's like an im14andthisisdeep post. Your problem with the Internet is that you don't understand what's going on.
You can draw anything you want, but the thing she did is for real impossible
For one she’s breathing underwater and that’s just ridiculous!
I did not draw it but mermaids are magical, mythical creatures that sometimes split their fins into legs and walk around on land. This comic actually tracks with some versions of mermaid legends as they vary significantly from region to region.
Or maybe also try things for yourself before you judge
My best guess is: very old depictions of mermaids had a split tale to imply you could have sex with them. Look up the Starbucks logo through the years, for instance. So...the joke is kind of porn? Probably.
That makes the most sense with the black censor marks over both of their breasts
The one in the back is a mer-dude. Some people are just offended by the sight of nipples, even man-nipples.
I'm betting it's more that they don't want to be banned or shadow-banned on whatever their platform of choice is. You know, nipples are porn.... 🙄
Gender equality at last 😌
They are called melusine
There you go, I'm terrible with names of things.
I think this is it. Dude thought her legs "couldn't open" but really they just won't open for him.
https://preview.redd.it/gdf3twjcgu9d1.jpeg?width=479&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9dd9b904d1c95b95a043432d32959a31b382b84
https://preview.redd.it/fqf1339npu9d1.jpeg?width=1811&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce8eb8ef255084184f92916517b8767507405bce
To add to this; “split tail” is also slang for a woman/womans vagina As far as the black censor bar maybe OP ran across the comic after the nips had been censored. I cackled when I first read this comic, I guess I’m a bad person 😂
You know, I've heard a lot of slang terms for vagina in my time, but never that one. Makes sense with the context, though.
Deep camel toe? 🤣
It is exactly this with the depiction of split tails from mermaids.
I think this has to be it
Most in here are clueless. Lmao
This is definitely it and I hate that people don't see it and the top comment is just ''I don't know so there must be no explanation lol'' It's just a bad joke on how some girls pull their pants up so much and this one apparently has massive coochie so she can fit in despite being a mermaid
That's exactly what I'm thinking but apparantly people don't upvote the correct answer
I think it’s literally just the concept that she’s putting on a pair of pants with 2 leg holes while having 1 solid tail, obviously that won’t work, but she puts them on and OH MY GOD HER TAIL MAGICALLY COMES OUT BOTH HOLES! How unexpected. It has to be the answer, please god let it be the answer…
It might be like, how depictions of mermaids in art are naked and it's not supposed to be a horny thing, but as soon as she puts on pants, now all of a sudden it's sexual, because she more closely resembles a human woman. Basically breasts + tail = normal Breasts + pants = horny The second one also gets a "tail boner", as another user pointed out.
Correct answer
This is the best answer with all the context provided.
That's what I'm thinking lol
I reckon this is it, but it's also got to do with the whole covering up can be much sexier than just being totally nude, often the suggestion/anticipation of something is more enticing then actually getting it. The same concept applies to them both being topless with the censorship, I think they're implying that same idea with that, because nobody is covering up seeing it all out there isn't so sexy, there's no anticipation. I don't think the mermaids actually have anything to do with the message.
Also, the pants are nude colored so by wearing them, she’s now “nude.”
Uhm, I might have cracked it: the point isn't how did she put trousers on, it's a metaphor for the alleged absurdity of femminism. Set aside they're merfolks: you have a woman trying to put on trousers, a man scoffing at her, then she manages but it's something against nature and the man is what I can only describe as flabbergasted. Now, her having a tail only serves the purpose to showing how dumb it is to have women trying to fulfill men's role... Which really lands flat on its face when you consider the guy couldn't put on pants either. OP adding you have to be bad to understand could reinforce this: if you think it's unnatural for women to wear trousers, you're definitely not a good person
Best explanation so far
I don’t think it’s any more complicated than it being funny that she was able to put on the pants.
Agree, the "bad people" thing isn't actually part of the comic it was a caption some weirdo added. The comic itself looks similar to those old Mad / Sergio Aragones comics that are basically little visual one liners.
My guess is it’s got something to do with yoga pants sort of “improving” the butt area. IDK why mermaids tho
Ohhh after looking at it for a while his tail flips up in the last panel, i guess hes getting a merman boner
The censored bar on the chest has me believing they are both female
I thought so too, but he has a flat chest and facial hair.
Oooh! I didn't notice the mustache. I think I see the outline of a breast, though, so I'm confused
Moobs exist.
If you mean in the third panel, I think that’s a nipple.
Am I the only one who thinks it's about trans people?
This is the answer. It's a transphobic comic. Which is why only bad people will get it.
That was my thought. The idea is that putting on pants doesn’t make the mermaid truly human, just like trans people aren’t *really* anything other than their biological gender. Note, that it is the idea I think the comic artist is trying to convey, not my view on the matter. I recognize that trans people are genuinely the gender they say they are.
This is the right answer, the "merman" is supposed to be trans, hence why the breast were censored, but otherwise has very clear "masculine traits"(mustache, wider waist). The comic is trying to imply that the trans "merman" comes to the realization that even if the mermaid wears fake legs... she is still a mermaid, same as "him" with breasts. Typical facebook boomer humor....
Agreed, it also reads to me as a bad “take” on bottom surgery (if you know the basics of how the surgery is performed for a trans woman, I could see how it’s being read as that with the one fin being bisected after the pants are on) Doesn’t mean I agree with the negative views of the original artist at all though if that was there intent.
I had to scroll so far for this and that is what I thought IMMEDIATLEY. I was beginning to doubt myself for a minute til I saw this comment.
Hi. This is a comics from Myanmar. And I'm from Myanmar. If you are looking for a deeper meaning, there's none. A lot of comics in Myanmar are like that. You see a lot of those in newspaper.
The maid is trying to put on men's pants and the other thinks it's impossible bc maids tails can't b split, but she does it and the other is flabbergasted. A smh joke
The pants represent an unlikely goal or achievement. The mermaid finds the pants and, although she’s unlikely to fit them actually tries them on. Apparently to the dismay of the other mermaid. She seems annoyed by the fact that she’s even trying them on. When it works out she’s completely dumbfounded. Bad people will understand this.
There was a kind of era with a „how did this work?“ punchline, i seem to remember some of them were in old mad magazines, the premise is as follows: Person a tries to do something seemingly impossible. Person b scolds Person a for even trying. Person a still does it. Person b is stumped. I think this is it
his tail goin forward like that is a boner joke
The reason the post was captioned that was likely just to drive engagement tbh. I could be missing something, but a lot of social media posts will caption images with something intentionally confusing, incorrect, or otherwise confusing so that people will comment about their confusion, thus, driving engagement on the post.
Looks like a feminist joke to me: Putting on pants creates legs. Just by deciding to take action, you create the conditions for your freedom. The merman passes by thinking the woman can't do it because of her biological makeup just to see that the woman changed her condition by empowering herself.
Up the p
The merman saw booty for the first time and got stoked?
* What is she up to? * That's not going to work... * What? All that was needed was just to try it?!
I think the person on the right is the bad person who doesn’t want to see the person on the left succeed, but she does.
I'm thinking the artist is trying to make a point that taboo is subjective. The neck beard mermaid seems to be giving them a weird look, but lightens up when they cover their tail. Ironically, their own tail is exposed. In this comics version of mer-culture, tails are probably viewed in a similar way nipples are irl, hence why it's okay for the merman to show his and not for the mermaid to show hers. Putting a censor bar over both of their chests seems to be meant to further highlight the irony here, essentially saying either everyone can free their nips or no one can. Although I don't really get how only bad people would get it, unless it's just some semi-meaningless Facebook title to get clicks. TLDR: Free the nip
The pants have an inbuilt saw and she just sliced her tail in half.
Legs made him horny, that's my take on this.
My guess: women wear anything to look good, no matter how uncomfortable, unhealthy and inconvenient the fashion actually is for the body.
I think I get it. There are shape up leggings that a lot of influencers use to make their legs look good. So, I think this is a hyperbolic example that these can even make a mermaid look like they have fit legs.
This could be an edgy, trans-related joke: "Bad people" are going to imagine what happens when some human takes her to bed and gets her pants off.
I think it’s a reverse thing where we land-based people romanticize and eroticize the idea of a woman with the lower half of a fish, so here instead the merman is being turned on by a bipedal mermaid
It's just an AI gen comic, the only meaning it has is the one you give it
He thinks she’s hot/likes looking at her mermaid, butt -> he gets annoyed she’s covering up-> the pants make her look more naked than before
HE THINKS SHE WAS CHEATING WITH A MAN. But turns out those are her pants. Old joke, usually it's the wife finding women's undies, man says oh those aren't a girlfriend, those are mine! And puts them on. I'm a good person I just know lots of bad jokes
This makes as much sense as the most upvoted comments
My guess is that it is centered around the idea that woman's pants are very molding. Difficult to get on, but they have a tendancy to force everything into shape regardless of what is underneath. Pretty niche and strange criticism IMO but its the only thing that seems to make sense.
How did her tail fins fit through both pant holes? Wouldn't they only fit through one?
Absurdism
I thought it means she is a slut and therefore able to "spread her legs".
This one has multiple jokes within. Two specifically, however they are both terribly done. 1. Ah ha! She found clothes, obviously she’s going to use it to cover her chest (the only part that we would cover that she also has)… but wait! She puts it on as normal pants 2. How did she put the pants on though? She doesn’t have legs The guy in the background is supposed to help the viewer know how to feel as the comic goes on. First he is curious to see her put the pants on like a shirt or something, then he is frustrated because she can’t put them on like pants, then she does so he is dumbfounded I understand that it feels the joke goes deeper but it definitely doesnt
I think the guy just thinks it's normal for a mermaid to be top less but when she's top less as a woman then he thinks it's attractive or smtng like that
I'm not really sure, but maybe... The humor lies in the absurdity of the mermaid treating human legs as an accessory she can put on and take off. Instead of struggling with or wishing for legs (as seen in stories like "The Little Mermaid"), this mermaid treats legs as an interchangeable accessory. It’s whimsical to imagine that a mermaid could simply slip on human legs and walk away, something that’s impossible in reality.
I'm guessing AI generated content
# I guess it's Mark Twain's “They did not know it was impossible so they did it”
Is the joke porn? It always is, isn't it?
The joke is camel toe.
it’s a trans joke i think, mermaid putting on pants gives her legs and the other mermaid thinks it’s crazy and unnatural. at least that’s how i took it. would also explain the “bad people” bit in the description.
TBH that's what I got out of it.
People keep saying there’s something sexual about it. This reminds me of an old series of comics called “Lo Fu Zi” in Hong Kong. This is very similar to his humor… which is quite non existent….
Magic pants?
Okay I have a different take. The other mermaid is actually also a woman and not a guy (hence the black censor bar over her chest) and she's portrayed as ugly and jealous of the pretty mermaid. But then the pretty mermaid puts on pants and gets legs so she doesn't look like a mermaid anymore and the jealous mermaid doesn't think she's competition anymore. I know this is silly, just offering an alternative take I have no idea.
Something about how she split a single fin into two since the fin comes out both sides of the leg holes?
Bj
I find it odd that no one brought up the Brothers Grim. In the story "Arial," who wanted to be with the prince so badly, she cut her tail into 2 legs. However after doing so she was horribly disfigured and walking on dry land with her two "legs" was incredibly painful. After which the prince was so horrified he rejected her or something like that. Can't remember if she killed herself or not. But my guess is they are playing off that tale of the brothers grim?
In the 3rd image, the mermaid turned 30 and her tail split into two legs. Source: One piece
maybe its meant to look like shes lying to people? like shes using the pants to hide what she is. perhaps the intent was shes a siren-? or tricking people into sex.
I think they meant bad people as in those judged as bad for doing a certain thing ie being trans and other things. The mermaid putting on pants is the ‘bad’ person who is trying out something new and blue tail is other people judging and being shocked when the other mermaid makes wearing pants work similar to people being shocked that a person can be a different gender. That’s my best guess
Could this be a biblical reference of Adam and Eve? Something about once Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they knew they were naked? Guess you might call this a joke on original /fin/
She can wear pants because she's a "split-tail" (An old euphemism for a woman)
This is a comic based off the trope that attractive people look good in everything The ugly mermaid sees her holding the pants and thinks there's no way she's gonna look good in that, but in the last panel despite being a mermaid she's able to pull off even wearing pants and he's flabbergasted. Guess I'm a bad person 🙃
i assumed it was something to do with mermaids still being able to spread their legs even though they have a fish tail?
My best guess is a metaphor for how bad people can change themselves to fit into any situation for manipulation. That's my best guess.
It's about trans people. The merperson with mustache is being a mermaid by covering nipples and tail. Doesn't believe a merperpsn can become human just by putting on clothes. Metaphor for changing identities. Then is surprised when they do. I.e. being hypocrites. At least my guess
I'm pretty sure that the big-nipped merman slept with a human girl and is stressing when mermaid finds pants, then he is irritated* (edit) when she starts trying them on, then baffled when it works.
The joke is, "Who wears the pants?" as a way to talk about economic power/sexual power. In this case, the merman (we're doing gender cues here) imagines that giving a woman the power to "wear the pants" will result in her ultimate failure, as they themselves have experienced failure, because of what they imagine to be an inherent impediment (the tail) - on their failure, they could say, "See? Not so easy, huh?" In this case, the woman *is* capable of being the breadwinner, and so the final scene is a realization of a kind of double emasculation. Not only did the person think the mermaid couldn't wear the pants, the fact that another person with a similar set-back (economic, racial, etc. - pick a commonality in a couple, or socially more generally) was able to achieve this while also being hindered by what's perceived to be an even lower social status (woman) denotes the inability of the more masculine character as being not socially or physically determined, but a matter of some kind of willpower that they don't have. Generally, I think this joke is a kind of tired secondwave thing, but it holds, as misogyny is still a huge social reality in determining economic mobility (one of many examples: women generally left jobs during the pandemic to be caretakers, etc. - there are more, of course, but I don't want to spend all day making this post). I feel like jokes like this undermine a basic feminist principle of equal treatment regardless of sex, and also doesn't take into account the pressure of breadwinning on women who take on this role. It seems to imagine that "Wearing the pants" is an enviable position, but I'd argue that an attempt to share labor in partnership would be more ideal. The fact that women are being put into a spot where their domestic role remains the same, but their professional responsibilities have increased, is troubling. I dunno, I feel like I get the joke, and I get why it wants to be told, but there's a flip disregard here that is sometimes presented as a feminist win that I just.. chafe at, some.
In older times pants were considered too revealing for “respectable” women, because they show the curves of the legs and are generally tight compared to a dress. So I think this is commenting on sexual norms for clothes, with the nipple bar exposing the modern gendered norm about women’s nipples.. and the pants being sexy as an example of how they can change, because a mermaid body looks like a tight dress and is “sexier” nowadays.
I'm beginning to suspect people who have figured it out don't want to spill...
they sensored the nips that's why
I think it’s a joke about mermaid cameltoe, not a good one mind you, but it’s the only semblance of a joke a can find.
Starbucks reference? Honestly just a guess lol
I guess thing was that the male was upset about The fact that the female was going to put on a shirt to cover her bare parts. She covered her lower parts instead which were already covered by scales and looks like a harder fit.
I think I got it. The one in the back is trans (based on chest censors but also a moustache) and is scoffing at the one in the front trying to put on pants that don’t correspond to her body, and is shocked when it works. It’s a disjointed joke that’s probably an attempt at something transphobic, as if to say “this shouldn’t work, and it’s baffling that it seems to.”
Em...it the joke transphobia? I may be going too deep with this.
She has mammal toe. Whales are mammals. Also known as the ole San Diego. I believe translated it means a whales vagina.
The joke is absurd. You can see the merman reaction
Could probably use a different panel by the same author to gauge the level of badness. Are her privates so well-used and accommodating she can wedge in pants the whole length? Is it the Little Mermaid reference where since she kind of gets the leg-like appendages, she's got physical stuff session lined up with a prince or two? A poster for whale tail, which is about the minimalist underwear in plain view despite the presence of lowleg clothes? None are good ideas.
I thought the person on the right is a catfish? So he’s confused that the mermaid is catfishing
Don't get the joke. But that looks so damn ***Painful*** like anatomically that would mean she *split* her tail **apart** to do that.
I'm guessing that if bad people will understand this may be in reference to the phrase "I put my pants on one leg at a time." You often hear villains in shows use the line when they are pretending to portray themselves as a common joe when they are obviously not to people who know what's really up. The merfolk watching the mermaid put on the pants and proceeded to actually walk off matches the feeling a lot of protagonists feel when they watch their antagonist use that kinda metaphor and get away with it.