The first panel seems ready to get a little more topical / political than Wrong Hands usually means to get into. But then IDU the second panel. Are the free raisins just something inconsequential, that you would probably drive right past? Or is the situation there rather suspicious? No grape vines, so we’re not talking natural sun-dried raisins. Will they just be rabbit pellets?
OK, we see he has just sneezed, and the force of it has left her hair blown back, and evidently left stuck in that shape. And what’s the joke? Is it just that?
I for a few moments entertained the idea that it was meant to be super-Eww and the stripe in her hair represented the discharge of his sneeze! But co-editor phsiiicidu kindly set me straight, that it’s just the standard Bride-of-Frankenstein stripe; and he provided this reference image:
I remember running into a well-meaning person who heard the linguistics lecturer use the term “natural language” and tried to object that no language or dialect is actually more natural — that is, “better” in some way, or more suited to learning — than any other. Which is something that audience would not disagree with, in general, among the set of languages they were discussing. (Which of course, were just those natural languages.)
But of course there are several ways some communication system or notation system can be called a language but is not a natural language. Roy’s list includes two major types, and misses a couple other categories. (But we don’t get to hear if he has command of other natural languages.)
Here’s an amusing talk I ran across recently, which may be fun for those with either practical programming experience in a few different computer languages or anyhow a reading/browsing acquaintance with them.
Boise Ed sends in this one, which was decades in the making.
Thanks to Le Vieux Lapin for this one, which is some sort of word-play on language-related terms, so what is there not to oy?
For Argyle Sweater, one bad pun deserves another. The actual Pony Express is famous, but only existed for a short time, from from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861. Pricing didn’t help (The initial price was set at $5 per 1⁄2 ounce, then $2.50, and by July 1861 to $1. Normal mail service was $0.02 then.). The service continually lost money, and closed two days after the transcontinental telegraph connected Omaha with Sacramento.
Now we’ll segue into some that miss a bit. Kilby reminds us that Segway ceased production in June, 2020. One might ponder the various reasons why the Segway, introduced in 2001 to great fanfare, was a failure (and by the end, so out of mind it might have merited a geezer alert), while now e-bikes are flying off the shelves and electric scooters are commonly seen.
Well, there are some judgement calls here; let”s see if you agree. The “just ok” is enough to qualify it as a pun or Oy; but isn’t especially good, or enough to make it a funny Oy. However, the second shot, using the idea of “settling for [smthg]”, does make it work, and earns at least a chuckle. (No comment on the squirrel’s addition.)
For those of us who’ve served as executor of someone’s estate that wasn’t tied up very well, this will bring back painful memories. Painful OYs here.
And just when we were making plans to officially retire the Synchronicity category, this pair comes along within a week of each other with the same double pun. One factor is that this one was already published here, in last week’s OY list:
But this one is fresh:
There’s a lot of common cartoon elements here: time travel, cave art, smartphone, caveman, social anxiety and Twitter. But are there so many elements here that I can’t get the joke?
Some of you are parents. Others probably know parents. Most of you had parents. Is this something any parent had likely ever said, particularly given the skimpiness of the original outfit?
What saves this from an Arlo tag is that Amend’s women are recognizable as women, but not sexy. One can imagine what this would look like drawn by, say, Brooke McEldowney of 9 Chickweed Lane.
Dirk the Daring sends in this one noting that the corner panel doesn’t seem to have much to do with the rest of the cartoon.
Should I schedule this for next week, but mentally plan for one panel to show up then, with the rest of the comic to come at some unspecified “soon”?
Boise Ed notes “Deering has gotten odder in recent times. Let’s just say that his mind has evolved on a different path from mine.” Or, could it be just a phase?
Some recent Macanudos. They’re all pretty striking, but in different ways, and generally neither straightforwardly funny (“in the classic sense”) nor definitely an outright CIDU. The tube-sculpture set as the featured image (above the post title) is a consummate meta. Others fit the “funny just for the absurdity of picturing it” tag. The one with Martin and the Olgas is kinda terrifying.
Enjoy!
(In case the Featured Image feature didn’t work for your platform, repeated at the end.)
Comics I Don't Understand 