Fashion Police and Grammar Police
Fashion Police and Grammar Police
[Beneath two headings to the left and right are shown two aggressive-looking groups of people with only the four people in the front clearly shown for each group. Behind them five other people can be seen, but they are not drawn with the same solid line and are only partly shown behind the first four, but legs from all five in each group can be seen along with some heads (all Cueball like) and arms etc. The front of the left group consist of Hairy holding a fist up towards left, Megan with her arms crossed in front of her chest, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, straight up above his head and another Cueball-like guy to the right is holding up a broken branch in one hand toward right. The person behind this last person is shown to hold up his fist towards right like Hairy does to the left. The sign shows a Crocs shoe in a circle with a strike through it going above the Crocs from top left to bottom right.  The front of the right group consist of Megan holding both her arms over her head hands folded into fist while looking towards left, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, towards the right and up above Ponytails head, she is raising one hand in a fist to the left and finally a bald guy with glasses is brandishing a short sword in one hand toward right while holding his other hand palm up. The sign has three similar words written beneath each other.] Left: Fashion Police Right: Grammar Police Sign: Their They're There
[Below the two groups are eight points with bullets:] Judgemental and smug Angry about something deeply arbitrary Strong opinions backed by style guides Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted is your responsibility Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you
[Caption below the panel:] I just realized these are literally the same people

In this comic, two groups of angry protesters are presented and labeled. They are probably not actually protesting side by side, but simply drawn side by side to compare their similarities.
The left group represents the Fashion Police with Cueball holding a sign implying that Crocs are prohibited (by showing Crocs shoe/sandall in a circle with a strike through it). Crocs are a type of clogs made of foam. Crocs (and their imitators) have become fairly popular due to their low price, comfort, and ease of use, but are broadly considered unfashionable to wear in public . It is not the first time Randall mocks a special type of shoes, previously in 1065: Shoes Randall was after shoes that has those creepy individual toes like Vibram FiveFingers . They will also never be a hit with the Fashion Police. [ citation needed ]
The right group represents the Grammar Police with another Cueball holding a sign with three homophones: Their (belongs to them), They're (contraction meaning "they are"), There (a location).  These words, due to their common usage and identical pronunciation are frequently confused for one another, with one spelling being used in a context meant for a different one, causing the Grammar Police to quickly intervene (see 386: Duty Calls ). See the Grammar Police on Twitter and also Linguistic prescription which comes up on Wikipedia when searching for Grammar Police.
The two groups look similar, standing in similar poses, with one Cueball holding signs in each group, and Megan in the front line of both groups. Each group also has one member brandishing a sword, indicating the exaggerated level of intensity they feel about their respective causes.
Both types of people will correct, criticize, denigrate or mock those who fail to conform to their criteria for what is "correct". Fashion police oppose people wearing clothing that's mismatched, out of style/ fashion or simply "ugly" to them. Grammar police are "sticklers" for grammar rules and have an immediate negative reaction when someone uses non-standard grammar in a sentence. These two groups are generally seen as socially separate, and their goals appear very distinct, but the comic explains how the two groups are actually very similar.  This is demonstrated by listing eight characteristics (plus a ninth in the title text) common to both groups. See explanation in the table below .
In the caption below the comic Randall notes that he just realized that these are literally the same people because they both exhibit the listed traits.
It seems like a safe assumption (see 1339: When You Assume ) that there are more grammar pedants (see title text of 1652: Conditionals ) than fashion police people who read xkcd, and it also would seem likely that many xkcd readers would dislike the Fashion Police.  This comic may, therefore, be intended to point out to grammar pedants that their behavior is functionally similar to that of other people who they dislike. Ponytail also represented the grammar police in 1576: I Could Care Less , where Megan puts her in place after she polices her sentence; this thus shows what Randall thinks about such police work and supports the above assumption. In 1576: I Could Care Less, "literally" was also used in the title text.
Randall is, with regards to language, definitely one of those that can belong in this group: To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well.
The title is a ninth point to add to the list, with the asterisk in front representing one more bullet. See the last entry in the table below for more:
[Beneath two headings to the left and right are shown two aggressive-looking groups of people with only the four people in the front clearly shown for each group. Behind them five other people can be seen, but they are not drawn with the same solid line and are only partly shown behind the first four, but legs from all five in each group can be seen along with some heads (all Cueball like) and arms etc. The front of the left group consist of Hairy holding a fist up towards left, Megan with her arms crossed in front of her chest, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, straight up above his head and another Cueball-like guy to the right is holding up a broken branch in one hand toward right. The person behind this last person is shown to hold up his fist towards right like Hairy does to the left. The sign shows a Crocs shoe in a circle with a strike through it going above the Crocs from top left to bottom right.  The front of the right group consist of Megan holding both her arms over her head hands folded into fist while looking towards left, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, towards the right and up above Ponytails head, she is raising one hand in a fist to the left and finally a bald guy with glasses is brandishing a short sword in one hand toward right while holding his other hand palm up. The sign has three similar words written beneath each other.] Left: Fashion Police Right: Grammar Police Sign: Their They're There
[Below the two groups are eight points with bullets:] Judgemental and smug Angry about something deeply arbitrary Strong opinions backed by style guides Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted is your responsibility Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you
[Caption below the panel:] I just realized these are literally the same people
