Editing Particle Man (section)

== Lyrical content ==
The song describes four different "men": Particle Man, a microscopic being whose attributes are deemed "not important" enough to be discussed lyrically; Triangle Man, a belligerent entity who hates Particle Man, fights him, and wins; Universe Man, a kinder being, who is the size of the [[universe]], and has a watch with hands relevant to the age of the universe ("He’s got a watch with a [[minute]] hand, a [[millennium]] hand, and an [[aeon|eon]] hand"); and Person Man, a "degraded" being who lives in a garbage can, somehow feels worthless, and who is also despised, challenged, and defeated by Triangle Man. The song's author, [[John Linnell]], denied the assertion that there is a deeper meaning to "Particle Man", stating on a phone interview filmed for ''[[Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)]]'' that "nothing is missing from your understanding of 'Particle Man{{'"}}.<ref name="gigantic">''[[Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)]]''. Dir. AJ Schnack. 2003.</ref> Band member [[John Flansburgh]] described it as "just a song about characters in the most obvious sense" and claims that the lyrics are not intended to allude to real people,<ref>Flansburgh, John. {{cite web |url=http://www.popculturecorn.com/music/issues/oct98/interview-tmbg.html |title=Interview |access-date=2005-02-20 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402221442/http://www.popculturecorn.com/music/issues/oct98/interview-tmbg.html |archive-date=April 2, 2012 }} by Matt Springer and Brian Bender. ''Pop Culture Corn''. October 1998. Retrieved 2013-02-10.</ref> though Linnell later said that "Triangle Man was based on a friend's observation that [[Robert Mitchum]] looked like an evil triangle when he took his shirt off in ''[[The Night of the Hunter (film)|Night of the Hunter]]''. Nothing else not explicitly stated need be inferred."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/they-might-be-giants-flood-track-by-track-guide-to-the-geek-chic-breakthrough-20091008|title=They Might Be Giants' ''Flood'': Track by Track Guide to the Geek-Chic Breakthrough|first=D.X.|last=Ferris|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=2009-10-08|access-date=2012-08-06}}</ref>