For an elephant whitening strips would be very expensive. Maybe not $2,000 worth ….
The elephant speaking has spend two grand on teeth whitening strips so that it can make its tusks nice and white. This does not address where it got the money, where it made the purchase or how it put them on without fingers. Maybe with his prehensile trunk or penis.
It’s bugging me a lot that the tusks appear to be coming out of the elephants’ necks.
The left elephant (blessed with naturally beautiful tusks) asks right elephant if he has ever considered using whitening strips to make his tusks more attractive. Not only has right elephant considered this, he’s looked into it and found out that given the size of elephant tusks, it would be quite expensive.
It’s supposed to be funny because whitening strips are supposed to be affordable.
Possible alternative punchlines:
* I prefer them this way… cuts down on poachers
* A bunch of us were drinking, and scrimshaw sounded like a great idea…
* I know I should brush twice a day– but here’s the REALLY embarrassing part– I forget to.
* It’s just marker, but it gives me that tough “bad bull” look that some cows really dig.
And I agree with Kamino Neko on the tusks…
The speaking elephant actually has many small whitening strips on his tusks.
Yeah, but considering the underlying value of the ivory in question, surely it’s a worthwhile investment…
The artwork doesn’t work for me here. The elephant on the right looks like it’s tusk is covered with lots of tiny fractures – but that wouldn’t be helped with whitening strips, so that interpretation is obviously incorrect. But I found it hard to decide whether the tusks were covered with lots of little whitening strips, or covered with black marks, and thus in need of whitening strips. I eventually went with the former, but it wasn’t very clear.
Thanks a bunch, Kamino Neko. I didn’t notice, but now it bugs me, too.
Mwahahaha. >_>
I agree that it looks like fractures (or scrimshaw), but if you zoom in enough, the edges turn out to be (mostly) parallel lines, and it does look like a bunch of little strips.
After reading the other comments, I’d have to agree that the intent was the right elephant was wearing whitening strips.
But whitening strips go on for a few minutes and then you take them off. You don’t go out in public wearing them, And even if we buy into the premise, what sort of question from left elephant would prompt this sort of reply?
Maybe just, “So how goes the whitening?”
I thought he had put on and later removed the whitening strips, but the seams between the strips were not whitened, and so when he took them off, the outlines of all the stripes were left in the original darker color.
I like MikeD’s answer.
Perhaps part of the $2000 was spent on having the tuskist (tusk dentist?) put them on for him/her?
I wonder how many whitening strips it would take to whiten my tusks… turns out about $2000 worth, see?
Someone should sell that elephant a gallon of paint and/or bleach: definitely less expensive, and probably more effective that the current solution.
Comics I Don't Understand 
For an elephant whitening strips would be very expensive. Maybe not $2,000 worth ….
The elephant speaking has spend two grand on teeth whitening strips so that it can make its tusks nice and white. This does not address where it got the money, where it made the purchase or how it put them on without fingers. Maybe with his prehensile trunk or penis.
It’s bugging me a lot that the tusks appear to be coming out of the elephants’ necks.
The left elephant (blessed with naturally beautiful tusks) asks right elephant if he has ever considered using whitening strips to make his tusks more attractive. Not only has right elephant considered this, he’s looked into it and found out that given the size of elephant tusks, it would be quite expensive.
It’s supposed to be funny because whitening strips are supposed to be affordable.
Possible alternative punchlines:
* I prefer them this way… cuts down on poachers
* A bunch of us were drinking, and scrimshaw sounded like a great idea…
* I know I should brush twice a day– but here’s the REALLY embarrassing part– I forget to.
* It’s just marker, but it gives me that tough “bad bull” look that some cows really dig.
And I agree with Kamino Neko on the tusks…
The speaking elephant actually has many small whitening strips on his tusks.
Yeah, but considering the underlying value of the ivory in question, surely it’s a worthwhile investment…
The artwork doesn’t work for me here. The elephant on the right looks like it’s tusk is covered with lots of tiny fractures – but that wouldn’t be helped with whitening strips, so that interpretation is obviously incorrect. But I found it hard to decide whether the tusks were covered with lots of little whitening strips, or covered with black marks, and thus in need of whitening strips. I eventually went with the former, but it wasn’t very clear.
Thanks a bunch, Kamino Neko. I didn’t notice, but now it bugs me, too.
Mwahahaha. >_>
I agree that it looks like fractures (or scrimshaw), but if you zoom in enough, the edges turn out to be (mostly) parallel lines, and it does look like a bunch of little strips.
After reading the other comments, I’d have to agree that the intent was the right elephant was wearing whitening strips.
But whitening strips go on for a few minutes and then you take them off. You don’t go out in public wearing them, And even if we buy into the premise, what sort of question from left elephant would prompt this sort of reply?
Maybe just, “So how goes the whitening?”
I thought he had put on and later removed the whitening strips, but the seams between the strips were not whitened, and so when he took them off, the outlines of all the stripes were left in the original darker color.
I like MikeD’s answer.
Perhaps part of the $2000 was spent on having the tuskist (tusk dentist?) put them on for him/her?
I wonder how many whitening strips it would take to whiten my tusks… turns out about $2000 worth, see?
Someone should sell that elephant a gallon of paint and/or bleach: definitely less expensive, and probably more effective that the current solution.