Original artwork, not a still
Caption of a caveman lecturer's diagram, Gary Larson's The Far Side (1982)
Now, this end is called the thagomizer...after the late Thag Simmons.
— The Far Side · 1980
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The cartoon has the rare distinction of becoming science: a joke name for a dinosaur's tail spikes that museums now put on their labels. Fans cite it as proof that The Far Side got into the real world. It is also a perfect small piece of Larson logic, a prehistoric lecturer who solemnly honours the guy who met the spikes.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Far SideShow the scene
A 1982 Far Side panel by Gary Larson shows a caveman lecturer pointing at a diagram of a stegosaur's tail, four spikes on the end, and explaining to his audience of cavemen that this end is called the thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons. It is a gag about naming, with a death hanging in the air. Larson coined the word purely as a joke. In 1993, paleontologist Kenneth Carpenter, then at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, used it at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, and it became the informal term for those tail spikes.
Sources (1)
- Wikipedia: ThagomizerLead and EtymologyReference checked
Context reviewed
