— Gary Larson, The Far Side cartoon, 1982, fair use
The Far Side joke is based, yes, on the idea that the dinosaur smashed a caveman who was peering too closely. A big part of the joke is in the word "late," as in, deceased.
However, more generally, it also satirizes the common practice of naming animals after scientists who "discovered" them. It's just kind of ridiculous, and often offensive in various ways, to name something a "thag" because a guy who reported it to a biology journal was named Thag. Take a listen to this NPR story: "These American birds and dozens more will be renamed, to remove human monikers". Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR, November 1, 2023.
We learn that something is called a "thagomizer" and we assume there's some actual meaning behind it, and then we learn it just derives from a caveman grunt like everything else.
"In 1987, the team found, each route had 2,034 birds on average. By 2017, that average had decreased by 304 birds per route, or 15 percent." 🌎🧪
— Ethan Freedman (@ethanpfreedman.com) February 27, 2026 at 12:10 PM
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