I think James’ explanation makes the most sense to me. However, does it look like the shortstop in the second panel is kind of smirking a little, the way you do when you think of something funny to say just before you walk into a room? He’s still smiling in the last panel too, while the baker is giving him a WTF look.
I have a nagging suspicion that he is making a joke. Or trying to.
It seems to be playing on “desert” and “dessert”. I am guessing the joke is the woman wants dessert but she will get desert. All resemblance between characters in the strip and shortstops living or dead is pure coincidence.
I like Mike’s idea. But the customer is probably not the one confused about ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’, as she uses both words in her panel 1 speech. (Spelled correctly, which I guess can be attributed to her.)
But what is all this byplay about shortstops? That’s what I don’t at all get!
Mitch4, I think Ryne Sandberg, one of the best baseball players of all time, played shortstop for a while with the Chicago Cubs until he became their permanent second baseman. Here is where we get the connection between “sand” and “shortstop”. That makes no sense so never mind. Carry on!
I guess that’s in response to my giving him a hard time for his (to me) weird gap of not knowing the names of the BC characters. (Are they *really* that indistinguishable? Considering that we are all comic nerds and will drop the the team name for the Abbot and Costello routine and expect it to be appreciated.)
(In college I dated a woman who couldn’t remember the name of the dog in Peanuts. Used to drive me nuts… Then again her family had a beagle name Pogo so she simply got them confused… but still drove me nuts.)
@ woozy – I’ve never had trouble distinguishing any of the characters in B.C. (even in black&white), but that’s because it was one of my favorite strips as a kid, and back then, the distinctions between the characters were more pronounced than they are now. Color wasn’t necessary, even if it was used on Sundays: Peter’s defining characteristic was not “blond”, but the raised lock of hair in front.
In response to Woozy, I don’t think I could name characters from BC and yet I consider myself a “comic nerd”. After all, I can name 2 main characters from the following strips:
padrig – I had the impression of an English scone being similar to what we in the US call English muffins based on a description from an online friend in Nottingham.
I don’t think so. Scones are somewhat similar to baking-powder biscuits in the US. English muffins are made with a yeast dough. There are muffins in England similar to that, which they don’t call “English muffins”, just muffins. There are also crumpets, which are less similar.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Either that, or it’s supposed to be a diner-style order, like “Adam and Eve on a raft” for 2 eggs on toast.
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Playing bakery ? Making pretend cakes out of sand and mud is something children would do.
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“Because the caveman (who probably has a name but might as well be the St. Louis Wolves shortstop) thinks that’s what scones are?”
Do you have evidence that that’s NOT what they were? (Remembering that this is a world where cavemen speak English and co-exist with dinosaurs).
The joke is “ha, ha! She ordered something modern and they don’t have that yet.”
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Desert Delight is a Nectarine, he thinks it is the sand and peat from a desert.
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Everything at the bakery is made form sand and peat.
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Is Peter just making a wild guess as to what a “desert delight” is and starting in eww territory?
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The cartoonist doesn’t like scones. He thinks they taste like sand and peat.
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I think James’ explanation makes the most sense to me. However, does it look like the shortstop in the second panel is kind of smirking a little, the way you do when you think of something funny to say just before you walk into a room? He’s still smiling in the last panel too, while the baker is giving him a WTF look.
I have a nagging suspicion that he is making a joke. Or trying to.
I’m with the baker though. WTF?
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The cartoonist doesn’t like scones.. That’s all.
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Ever bit into a scone? Especially an English scone? Sand slabs coated with peat would be preferable, especially if it’s fresh peat.
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It seems to be playing on “desert” and “dessert”. I am guessing the joke is the woman wants dessert but she will get desert. All resemblance between characters in the strip and shortstops living or dead is pure coincidence.
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I like Mike’s idea. But the customer is probably not the one confused about ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’, as she uses both words in her panel 1 speech. (Spelled correctly, which I guess can be attributed to her.)
But what is all this byplay about shortstops? That’s what I don’t at all get!
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Mitch4, I think Ryne Sandberg, one of the best baseball players of all time, played shortstop for a while with the Chicago Cubs until he became their permanent second baseman. Here is where we get the connection between “sand” and “shortstop”. That makes no sense so never mind. Carry on!
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@ Mitch4 – The team’s name leads to Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine, in which the name of the shortstop is “I Don’t Care“.
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Somebody had some fun with an online roster site:
https://gc.com/t/summer-2016/stlouis-wolves-576bb15a2a52080509000001/roster
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I guess that’s in response to my giving him a hard time for his (to me) weird gap of not knowing the names of the BC characters. (Are they *really* that indistinguishable? Considering that we are all comic nerds and will drop the the team name for the Abbot and Costello routine and expect it to be appreciated.)
(In college I dated a woman who couldn’t remember the name of the dog in Peanuts. Used to drive me nuts… Then again her family had a beagle name Pogo so she simply got them confused… but still drove me nuts.)
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TY Kilby and Brian!
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Ty Cobb
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@ woozy – I’ve never had trouble distinguishing any of the characters in B.C. (even in black&white), but that’s because it was one of my favorite strips as a kid, and back then, the distinctions between the characters were more pronounced than they are now. Color wasn’t necessary, even if it was used on Sundays: Peter’s defining characteristic was not “blond”, but the raised lock of hair in front.
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The early paperback collections of B.C. had character guides in them, and that was my first exposure to the strip and its characters.
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In response to Woozy, I don’t think I could name characters from BC and yet I consider myself a “comic nerd”. After all, I can name 2 main characters from the following strips:
Mutt and Jeff
Hi and Lois
Frank and Ernest
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padrig – I had the impression of an English scone being similar to what we in the US call English muffins based on a description from an online friend in Nottingham.
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I don’t think so. Scones are somewhat similar to baking-powder biscuits in the US. English muffins are made with a yeast dough. There are muffins in England similar to that, which they don’t call “English muffins”, just muffins. There are also crumpets, which are less similar.
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Thank you.
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