(and frequently useless answers)

It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation. It stands for the comic and everything the comic stands for! Just kidding, I'll tell you what it means.

POP == popular && lollipop

The comic is about popular stuff. Also, the dimensions of the stick-people are approximate to a lollipop (that way, they're more fun to lick).

sickle == sickle && sicklin'

As in, "a curved blade with a short handle often used in the agricultural industry." As in, "I'm in your Interwebs sicklin' your POP."

STRIP == comic strip && strip && (stripping || strippers)

It's a comic strip and also, all the full-image comics are formatted as downward-flowing frames in the form of a strip. If you examine POPsickleSTRIP designs, you'll notice that there are no border-lines dividing the frames - everything is a strip.

Some people, who wish to save the time and effort of writing or speaking all four syllables of the word POPsickleSTRIP have abbreviated it as PSS. For those who wish to save even more time and effort, I suggest pronouncing PSS as "piss". It's only one syllable, it's a clean phonetic translation of "PSS", and it has no negative associations at all. "Have you read the latest PISS strip?" "Yeah, I was just on the PISS site this morning."

When I first started drawing stick-people, I didn't realize that they had been drawn before. I thought I had invented the stick person and I was quite excited about the idea. Much to my surprise, I came to find out that Randall Munroe (creator of xkcd) has been drawing them for years. Despite this obvious embarrassment, I continue to draw stick-people because I don't give a shit.

When I first started writing about technology, I didn't realize it had been written about before. I thought I was the first person to write about technology and I was quite excited about this new direction I was taking. People were relating to my material and an entirely new field of possibilities began to open up. Much to my dismay, I came to find out that Mr. Munroe had actually invented technology back in 2005. Now, I continue to write some technology related strips simply because technology is popular and I try to cover popular topics. After this technology fad passes over I will probably stop writing about it.

To be honest, I have trouble telling the difference myself. Essentially, they're the same thing. Occasionally I try to upload my comics to xkcd's server by mistake. Although I usually realize what I'm doing wrong after my FTP login is rejected a few times. Eventually, I hope PSS can serve as a mirror for the xkcd website in the event it ever goes down. When no one is around, I sometimes dress up as Monroe and style my hair like his. Sadly, this makes it even more difficult to tell the difference.

Yeah... yeah...

Stick-people have no innards, no viscera - which means that they have no solids parts to reflect light back to your eye. The light simply passes through (much like a window in a house or a windshield on a car) and reveals whatever is on the other side. So, realism is the reason. If another person were to draw them in a different way, they would be doing so incorrectly.

I am not very funny. So naturally, the material I write is not going to be very funny either.

No.

Don't click this button.