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In the Rick and Morty series, we see multiple interactions with Morty's school Principal. His name is Principal Vagina. After he introduces himself, he says, "no relation" afterwards. Why? What joke am I missing? I thought he might be referring to the school name but if so, I'm not getting it.

What's the joke here, or what does he mean when he says it?

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    He says it once.
    – OrangeDog
    Oct 7, 2019 at 18:12

5 Answers 5

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The joke is that the Principal is saying his name has "no relation" to the body part. He is constantly attempting to clarify that his last name is "not a joke" and that it's a real, "possibly Scandanavian" last name.

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    Ok, so he's trying to say "vagina" is a word in another language that means something else, it's not referring to a body part. I get it then. I was hoping it was something more in-depth.
    – DustinDavis
    Oct 7, 2019 at 20:16
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    It is, actually, a real Russian last name - I had an actual classmate whose last name was Vagin (Вагин in Cyrillic). He had a sister several years younger than him, attending the same school. And in Russian, to put a last name into its feminine form, you add an "a" to the end. Luckily for them, nobody spoke English back there back then. Also, it's pronounced quite different from the English word, and yes, no relation to the body part.
    – Headcrab
    Oct 8, 2019 at 6:01
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    @jinkevin for the male form VUH-gh'een, for female VUH-gh'ee-na (emphasis on the first syllable). The gh' is not the soft sound like in "gin", but the hard sound, like in "grass"
    – Slav
    Oct 8, 2019 at 16:48
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    a second level to the joke could be that the body part in question is involved in an activity something known as "relations".
    – Michael
    Oct 8, 2019 at 21:58
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    @jinkevin In case Slav's explanation is not enough, you can go to google translate, choose Russian as the language to translate from, copy-paste вагина there and press the sound button (the word is different, but it's a homophone).
    – Headcrab
    Oct 9, 2019 at 0:47
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When people who have the same (or similar) name as someone famous introduce themselves, they will often get questions as to whether they're related. Think if an American was named Richard Clinton, or Travis Trump.

After a while they will anticipate these questions, and as part of their self-introduction just state flat-out that they aren't related to that famous person it sounds like they are related to. Just to avoid having to be asked: "Hi, my name is Richard Clinton. And before you ask, no, I'm not related to Bill." This can be shortened to "No relation."

This is what the principal is doing. Only instead of a famous person, it's a body part.

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    A good example of this is in the movie Office Space, where one of the characters is named "Michael Bolton" and he is constantly asked if he is any relation to the pop singer. I have the same name as an actor who was fairly well known when I was a child and I got much the same treatment. My preferred response, especially when it was an adult asking the question, was to say that the actor was named after me.
    – krb
    Oct 8, 2019 at 15:48
  • @krb Would you be willing to tell us your name? If we promise not to ask that question, even as a joke?
    – Shawn V. Wilson
    Oct 9, 2019 at 14:39
  • I feel like this just states the obvious and misses the point if the question.
    – Gnemlock
    Oct 10, 2019 at 5:08
  • @Gnemlock Could you expand on that? Maybe, if I knew what you meant, I could make this answer better. Or I could disagree with you and still maintain that I believe that this is an answer to the question. Regardless, I can't decide until I hear you out.
    – Arthur
    Oct 10, 2019 at 7:59
  • The question is asking for an explanation of the context in which the phrase is said, not an explanation of what the phrase means in general. I don't think you can add much more than what has already been said in other answers.
    – Gnemlock
    Oct 10, 2019 at 8:51
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I always understood it as a reference to "not being a pussy". Thus he is saying his name is not a reference to his character.

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    You have more than 50 rep, so you_can_ comment, actually.
    – Jenayah
    Oct 8, 2019 at 5:00
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    @F1Krazy In what way is this not an answer to the question?
    – Rob
    Oct 8, 2019 at 6:08
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    I couldn't comment before paying this answer... And i think it's just an extension to the first answer.
    – steros
    Oct 8, 2019 at 6:52
  • Well that definitely adds another layer...
    – Darth Locke
    Oct 10, 2019 at 14:28
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It could also be a nod to Die Hard's Agent Johnson and Special Agent Johnson.

AJ: I'm Agent Johnson
AJ: And this is Special Agent Johnson
AJ: ... No relation

The joke there is they have the same surname but they're clearly of different ethnicity.

But in relation to Rick and Morty, Johnson is American slang for penis.

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    Seems like a very long stretch without anything to back you up...
    – Gnemlock
    Oct 10, 2019 at 5:09
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    @Gnemlock Oof. It's a sad day when Die Hard isn't considered popular enough to be referenced by a show that references 80s and 90s pop culture all the time.
    – Oli
    Oct 10, 2019 at 10:24
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To me, having grown up with a TV in the 90's (for good reason: moved to USA for learning the language and culture), this phrase was an instant reference to Tiny Toon Adventures cartoon series, where two major characters - Buster and Babs Bunny (sometimes with Bugs Bunny in the loop) - always introduced themselves with a "No relation!" disclaimer.

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