xkcd.WTF!?

Explanation ➲

This comic is about listening to a podcast while driving with GPS navigation using speech synthesis for turn-by-turn driving instructions. Car entertainment systems and SatNav-enabling devices (if connected to the car's audio feed) typically allow the SatNav to interrupt whatever else is being played, so that directions can be heard clearly. It's usually easy for the driver to recognise such instructions due to the sudden change in characteristics of the voice and the switch in contextual flow. However, if the synthetic voice is similar to the speech that was playing, it may be hard to distinguish between the two, especially if the navigation instructions seem to coincide with the interrupted speech. In cases like this, the listener might think that the driving instructions are part of their podcast.

Cueball is interviewing Ponytail for the podcast, and she tells a story about a woman who betrayed her. Just when she is about to tell what the betraying woman said to her before she left with the money, which might have revealed if it had been planned in advance, the GPS instructions interrupts and delivers a driving instruction blocking out the last part of a sentence.

The comic suggests Randall misinterpreted those driving instructions as part of the story being told in the podcast because the GPS voice sounds similar to Ponytail's voice. The comic illustrates the instructions as if they were part of the story from the podcast.

The title text suggests this confusion worsened after Randall's navigation instructions voice got stuck emulating Phoebe Judge, known for the Criminal and This Is Love podcasts, implying he often listens to her.