How Old
How Old
[White Hat holds his hand out towards a man with a sailor-cap standing to the left in the image while addressing Cueball standing to the right.] White Hat: I'd like you to meet my dad. Cueball: Aww, how old is he?
[Caption below the panel:] Interaction tip: This is a common question to ask parents about their kids, but for some reason in the other direction it's weird.

Another comic of the tips type , this time regarding one of Randall's problems, social interactions , this time including an interaction tip .
White Hat introduces his dad to Cueball , who then expresses a reaction more typical of people being introduced to children, by saying Aww, how old is he?
When introduced to a young kid, saying "aww" is accepted as normal, because the speaker thinks the little child is cute. The speaker also wishes both to know the age of the kid and to give the kid a chance to answer this question.
But when meeting someone older this would feel very awkward, and Randall, indicating he is very awkward around other (normal) people, continues to make this type of comic about problems with social interactions. Hence for others with his problems, this comic gives an interaction tip in the caption, letting you know that How Old? (the title of the comic) is a common question to ask only when introduced to kids, not to older people such as elderly parents. Another excellent example of how Randall also doesn't know how to speak with people with children can be seen in 1650: Baby .
White Hat's father is wearing a sailor cap like the old version of Cueball in 572: Together and as other old people both in 586: Mission to Culture and 1910: Sky Spotters .
In the title text, Cueball continues down the road to awkwardness by saying other things normally reserved for meeting kids. Here he notes that he has actually met White Hat's father before, but so long ago that he since has changed height. For kids this usually means they have grown taller, but old people, who have long stopped growing, will over time become more compressed and lose height. So apart from saying that he remembers when White Hat's father was thiiiis tall , he also holds his hand an inch (2–3 cm) above the father's head to indicate this age-related height loss. For a growing child, he would instead have held his hand some distance below the top of their head.
This interaction would be really embarrassing for White Hat and his father, as being made aware of aging is usually not something people like to be confronted with by someone they hardly know, and being treated like a child is embarrassing. [ citation needed ]
[White Hat holds his hand out towards a man with a sailor-cap standing to the left in the image while addressing Cueball standing to the right.] White Hat: I'd like you to meet my dad. Cueball: Aww, how old is he?
[Caption below the panel:] Interaction tip: This is a common question to ask parents about their kids, but for some reason in the other direction it's weird.
