So the Formal Point of today’s strip is to have Mark explain to Cherry what his emergency is all about. However, the Underlying Purpose of today’s strip is for Jules Rivera to pretend this is a gag strip and set up the punchline in panel 4. She did that by having Mark mansplain his emergency using carefully framed grammar to cause Cherry to question Mark’s jargon and offer her own cute humorous response; a comment that would fit nicely in Family Circus. But Cherry (or Rivera) should leave comedy to the professionals.