I’m not sure what’s not to understand. Mrs. Olsen is not willing to hear any sort of criticism of her gardening ability, even if it’s a simple matter of defending against a particularly noxious pest. Half of the humor is an extended commentary on hammer-headedness, the rest is an unexpected poop joke.
Has “agree to disagree” EVER meant anything other than “I’m not listening”?
@ianosmond: Well, sometimes it means “You’re not listening and I’m tired of banging my head against the wall.”
Yes, I am more familiar with it under DemetriosX’s reading.
ianosmond/DemetriosX: I’ve always found people to use it as a fairly neutral way of ending a discussion that’s not going anywhere, without assignment of blame. After all, the main alternatives are to say “Let’s keep arguing,” or “Let’s stop arguing, because you’re so unreasonable.”
It’s Frazz’s line in the final panel “Sometimes I especially enjoy the future…” that’s the puzzlement.
Bill: Frazz is looking forward to when Mrs. Olsen finds all the cat poop in her roses, and realizes that she could have prevented at least some of the poop by being willing to listen.
The comic doesn’t work for me, as the dialogue seems forced to reach this point.
I’ll go along with WW @5 that it often enough is neutral today. But I’m pretty sure it does not today mean “I’m not listening”, pace Ian and … no not Frazz, but what Frazz mentions.
That is, I think Frazz is being an observer of language and manners, and sees a trend. And as he sees it, the expression has not yet taken on that meaning, but he sees it heading that way. Thus his remark about the future.
Generally when they have these kind of discussions for humor, it involves both parties being dumb. Instead of Frazz saying, “I really think you want to hear this.” Just start saying what you need to say.
“In the past I had to act responsibly, but one of the advantages of having moved beyond that and now living ‘in the future’ is that I can pick the fights I enjoy, and otherwise only need to make a token effort to save people from their own mistakes.”
The comic doesn’t work for me, either, but it’s because poop is fertilizer, and cat poop is a rodent repeller.
And yes, I am a crazy cat lady with 4 or 5 indoor (one can’t make up his mind) and a dozen or more outdoor in our feral colony. Our block has no rats, and the squirrels are always on high alert.
I usually take it to mean “I’m afraid I’m actually wrong but I won’t admit it, so I’ll declare that we’re both equally right and if you disagree with this oh-so-fair comment, then you’re the one being unreasonable and I get the moral high ground.”
Basically, the verbal equvalent of knocking the chessboard to the floor when you’re about to get checkmated.
Gosh, people have such negative views of this phrase! What’s the appropriate way to end a debate that’s not going anywhere?
“What’s the appropriate way to end a debate that’s not going anywhere?”
Online, just stop posting, as I should have done a few times and didn’t.
In person, “Neither of us is sufficiently convincing; perhaps we should take this up another time.” I think that’s less galling than “agree to disagree”.
Arthur. Huh, I don’t see why that in person message is any less (or more) galling. The message and tone seem the same to me. But I guess we’ll have to ag…
Oh, never mind.
@WW: the dialogue seems forced to reach this point.
That’s not uncommon in Frazz. When Pastis does it to set up an excruciating pun, it’s part of the joke, but for Mallett it usually means he can’t find a way to get natural dialog to set up his punchline.
I’ve always taken the phrase to mean “You are utterly wrong but I just realized you are a pig – headed idiot who will never realize it so there’s no point in my wasting my time trying to convince you of the obvious truth. You can continue raving at the dirt like a lunatic, but I have better things to do.”
@ Chak – We have cats in our neighborhood, but I’ve never seen a squirrel anywhere near our house. The reason is that there are ‘weasels’ (*) that nest somewhere in the vicinity. I’ve never been able to discover where these nests are located, and we see them only very rarely (less than once a year), but one of them occasionally sleeps under the hood of our car, on top of the felt cover over the battery. This is an extremely local problem. Walking about a quarter mile in just about any direction is enough to get back into squirrel territory.
Cat poo might help as fertilizer, but weasel poo is an amazingly effective herbicide. Whenever I discover it in our yard, I have to get rid of it right away, or it will leave a small circle of dead grass in just a matter of days.
P.S. (*) – Technically the term is “marten“, but I never heard that word before I moved here.
Huh – I never knew that weasels and martens were the same thing. Thanks!
According to the interwebs, they are similar, and in the same family, but not identical.
” What’s the appropriate way to end a debate that’s not going anywhere?”
Depends on how important it is. If it’s not important, just walk away (under-breath muttering optional). For more important matters, sticking with it may be required, up to the point of light gunplay.
Isn’t “weasel” a generic term, encompassing a variety of different animals?
“A variety of different animals, and some alleged human beings.” There; fixed it for you.
Human beings (the real ones anyway, not as sure about “alleged” ones, are all animals, are they not?
And now the practical portion, where you can try to put into effect what was discussed…
@ Chak – As WW noted, there is a distinction between the two types of animals, but to be honest, there’s no 100% guarantee exactly which kind lives in our neighborhood. There are German words for both “weasels” and “martens” (“das Wiesel” and “der Marder“), but the latter of the two terms is much more commonly used in Germany, whereas the former is more common in America.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I’m not sure what’s not to understand. Mrs. Olsen is not willing to hear any sort of criticism of her gardening ability, even if it’s a simple matter of defending against a particularly noxious pest. Half of the humor is an extended commentary on hammer-headedness, the rest is an unexpected poop joke.
Has “agree to disagree” EVER meant anything other than “I’m not listening”?
@ianosmond: Well, sometimes it means “You’re not listening and I’m tired of banging my head against the wall.”
Yes, I am more familiar with it under DemetriosX’s reading.
ianosmond/DemetriosX: I’ve always found people to use it as a fairly neutral way of ending a discussion that’s not going anywhere, without assignment of blame. After all, the main alternatives are to say “Let’s keep arguing,” or “Let’s stop arguing, because you’re so unreasonable.”
It’s Frazz’s line in the final panel “Sometimes I especially enjoy the future…” that’s the puzzlement.
Bill: Frazz is looking forward to when Mrs. Olsen finds all the cat poop in her roses, and realizes that she could have prevented at least some of the poop by being willing to listen.
The comic doesn’t work for me, as the dialogue seems forced to reach this point.
I’ll go along with WW @5 that it often enough is neutral today. But I’m pretty sure it does not today mean “I’m not listening”, pace Ian and … no not Frazz, but what Frazz mentions.
That is, I think Frazz is being an observer of language and manners, and sees a trend. And as he sees it, the expression has not yet taken on that meaning, but he sees it heading that way. Thus his remark about the future.
Generally when they have these kind of discussions for humor, it involves both parties being dumb. Instead of Frazz saying, “I really think you want to hear this.” Just start saying what you need to say.
“In the past I had to act responsibly, but one of the advantages of having moved beyond that and now living ‘in the future’ is that I can pick the fights I enjoy, and otherwise only need to make a token effort to save people from their own mistakes.”
The comic doesn’t work for me, either, but it’s because poop is fertilizer, and cat poop is a rodent repeller.
And yes, I am a crazy cat lady with 4 or 5 indoor (one can’t make up his mind) and a dozen or more outdoor in our feral colony. Our block has no rats, and the squirrels are always on high alert.
I usually take it to mean “I’m afraid I’m actually wrong but I won’t admit it, so I’ll declare that we’re both equally right and if you disagree with this oh-so-fair comment, then you’re the one being unreasonable and I get the moral high ground.”
Basically, the verbal equvalent of knocking the chessboard to the floor when you’re about to get checkmated.
Gosh, people have such negative views of this phrase! What’s the appropriate way to end a debate that’s not going anywhere?
“What’s the appropriate way to end a debate that’s not going anywhere?”
Online, just stop posting, as I should have done a few times and didn’t.
In person, “Neither of us is sufficiently convincing; perhaps we should take this up another time.” I think that’s less galling than “agree to disagree”.
Arthur. Huh, I don’t see why that in person message is any less (or more) galling. The message and tone seem the same to me. But I guess we’ll have to ag…
Oh, never mind.
@WW: the dialogue seems forced to reach this point.
That’s not uncommon in Frazz. When Pastis does it to set up an excruciating pun, it’s part of the joke, but for Mallett it usually means he can’t find a way to get natural dialog to set up his punchline.
I’ve always taken the phrase to mean “You are utterly wrong but I just realized you are a pig – headed idiot who will never realize it so there’s no point in my wasting my time trying to convince you of the obvious truth. You can continue raving at the dirt like a lunatic, but I have better things to do.”
@ Chak – We have cats in our neighborhood, but I’ve never seen a squirrel anywhere near our house. The reason is that there are ‘weasels’ (*) that nest somewhere in the vicinity. I’ve never been able to discover where these nests are located, and we see them only very rarely (less than once a year), but one of them occasionally sleeps under the hood of our car, on top of the felt cover over the battery. This is an extremely local problem. Walking about a quarter mile in just about any direction is enough to get back into squirrel territory.
Cat poo might help as fertilizer, but weasel poo is an amazingly effective herbicide. Whenever I discover it in our yard, I have to get rid of it right away, or it will leave a small circle of dead grass in just a matter of days.
P.S. (*) – Technically the term is “marten“, but I never heard that word before I moved here.
Huh – I never knew that weasels and martens were the same thing. Thanks!
According to the interwebs, they are similar, and in the same family, but not identical.
” What’s the appropriate way to end a debate that’s not going anywhere?”
Depends on how important it is. If it’s not important, just walk away (under-breath muttering optional). For more important matters, sticking with it may be required, up to the point of light gunplay.
Isn’t “weasel” a generic term, encompassing a variety of different animals?
“A variety of different animals, and some alleged human beings.” There; fixed it for you.
Human beings (the real ones anyway, not as sure about “alleged” ones, are all animals, are they not?
And now the practical portion, where you can try to put into effect what was discussed…
@ Chak – As WW noted, there is a distinction between the two types of animals, but to be honest, there’s no 100% guarantee exactly which kind lives in our neighborhood. There are German words for both “weasels” and “martens” (“das Wiesel” and “der Marder“), but the latter of the two terms is much more commonly used in Germany, whereas the former is more common in America.
And today there is this . . . https://www.gocomics.com/overboard/2018/08/22
I prefer it with bacon, and not toasting the bread. Hard on the inside of my mouth.
What? a cat would be harmless, Kilby. how dare you!