Scarecrows are out in the fields with crops. I think we need a tag for “that’s all there is”.
croppelganger rhymes with doppelganger??????????
Maybe the cartoonist was stoned and s/he thought that was funny.
I think he might have been smoking the wrong kind of grass.
His crop, as in, e.g., the outlined needed to cut yourself from a picture in your back yard and paste yourself into another standing 50m tall atop the Eiffel Tower, just walked in the door.
I think Melquart has it, double meaning of the word “crop”. Still not exactly a knee slapper.
I think the double is just in shadow. The idea that the outline could walk around and be referred to by a weird phrase no-one has ever heard and then *further* that a scarecrow would have double meaning of crop is just too busy.
I think it’s simply that the scarecrow is thinking doppelganger. The phrase is “Everyone has a doppelganger” [as in “Didn’t I see you at X last night” “uh, nope. I was at home reading a book” “Are you sure, I could have sworn it was you” “Well, it must have been my doppelganger”] and there’s mild speculation as to how unpleasant and awkward it would be if someone actually met their doppelganger. (Although it’s not *that* common a speculation and it certainly is something that never actually happens.)
Anyway, “croppelganger” rhymes with “doppelganger” and so a scarecrow that live in the crops would say “croppelganger” is something that might give you the giggles if you are in the right mood and drunk or stoned enough. But it’s not enough to put on paper and publish.
Well, according to Urban Dictionary “croppelganger” is a word for a person who looks like *two* other people. But urban dictionary and circular references to it are the only sources I can find for it.
If this is a well known phrase the scarecrow can’t have a croppelganger. The scarecrow and someone else will jointly have a croppelganger.
UD is not exactly the most reliable source.
I’m just amazed that UD has non-obscene definitions in it!
A couple other questions:
Why does the scarecrow react this way? Seeing someone who looks like you warrants an “Oh no!” response?
Why is the lion seemingly holding his tail down?
The cowardly lion is holding his tail because it would constantly wave around and get in the way.
Woozy, I assume if you came face to face with your dopp, you wouldn’t think you looked as similar as others do.
I personally seem — over the course of my lifetime — to have had four of them: close enough that people accused me of lying (twice, angrily) when I denied being him. I guess I’m lucky none of them commited any crimes.
“UD is not exactly the most reliable source.”
Yes. And I noticed all other references to it are either usernames, this site, or auto-index sellf generated references to the UD. So I conclude “croppelganger is *not* a well known phrase.
“Why does the scarecrow react this way? Seeing someone who looks like you warrants an “Oh no!” response?”
Yeah, that kind of bugged me too. But I think it’s kind of a modern trope, to introduce a mild pun in a comic strip you have the characters say “Oh no! it’s [[the pun ]]!”. (Mother Goose and Grimm seem to do this a lot.) It doesn’t really make much sense when you think about it but you aren’t supposed to think about these things.
Or maybe, as I said, the idea that everyone has a doppelganger and you keep hearing “Hey, wasn’t that you who was at the party last night” “No I was home reading a book.” “No, I swear it was you. You were getting drunk and hitting on everyone.” “No, It’ must have been my doppelganger”. “No, I’m sure it was you; you’re were dancing naked and sending anthrax in the mail; and kicking puppies; and eating red meat and smoking”… and it seems, gee, if I ever meet this person who looks like me, well, gee…. I hate to think.
“Why is the lion seemingly holding his tail down?”
It’s become disattached and he’s putting it up for a bet in a poker game. The joke’s on him; the other two players quit playing hours ago and don’t even have cards. — As every Oz aficionado knows, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman can not drink so all the drinks are for the Cowardly Lion, who is quite plastered by now.
I once saw a doppelganger of my ex-husband; my parents and I were in Canada and all three of us were SURE he was there . . . when I got back to USA, I called him and asked if he had recently been in Canada. Nope, not since the Vietnam War days (and that’s a whole ‘nother story). Very spooky . . . I got to wondering if he was ok (which was the other reason I called him).
“Woozy, I assume if you came face to face with your dopp, you wouldn’t think you looked as similar as others do.”
Yeah, that’s kind of why a situation will never happen that you ever do meet your doppelganger.
Also when you hear the stories of what your doppelganger supposedly did, they always sound a little out of character. So one gets the impression there’s this obnoxious weird guy who looks like you going around and doing embarrassing stuff so … if you do see him it’ll just mean something bad is going to happen.
Anyway, I do think the entire joke is that “doppelganger” and “croppelganger” rhyme. And if you are in a state of mind to actually find that to be funny, then you are in no state of mind to scrutinize that none of this really makes very much sense.
Technically speaking, I wonder if a person would even ‘recognize’ his/her own doppelganger . . . we don’t really know what we look like, having only seen ourselves in mirrors and photographs. Well, yeah, if I was made of straw, I’m sure I’d ‘recognize’ another straw creature, but otherwise . . .
In a Nashville restaurant a couple of years ago, I had the weird experience of being waited on by somebody who looked disconcertingly similar to my nephew… then walked outside and almost walked right into his girlfriend’s exact dopplegänger.
You win!!
@ Andréa – There’s a Poirot mystery in which the murderer dressed up as the victim, but had practiced the duplication in front of a mirror, meaning that her performance as the victim’s “Doppelgänger” was a mirror image of the original. Nobody noticed it at the time, but later on someone finally realizes what had seemed strange that day, and gives Poirot a vital clue.
P.S. Ooops (italics off). That’s what I get for trying to show off with the original German spelling.
The “Oh no!” seems reasonable to me. While dopplegangers don’t have to be evil, part of the trope is that they commonly are.
I once saw my sister’s doppelganger – even down to her posture and hair style. I knew it wasn’t her, and I was supposed to be interviewing her, but I couldn’t help staring and I kept forgetting to ask the next question. Very disorienting.
In my early days at Megacorp, there was someone we called, “the guy who’s not Ralph”. He looked enough like Ralph that people didn’t know Ralph that well would start talking to him.
Seeing your doppelganger is traditionally considered a bad omen, so ‘oh no’ is definitely a good reaction, especially for someone from a place where magic is provably real.
Does alcohol have any effect on the scarecrow and the tin man? We know that whatever sleeping gas poppies produce does not affect them.
“Does alcohol have any effect on the scarecrow and the tin man? We know that whatever sleeping gas poppies produce does not affect them.”
There is an actual specific answer. The Tin Woodman and Scarecrow do not and can not eat, drink, sleep, or breath. That’s specifically stated many many times.
They are not alone in this. Non of the animated beings, the Patchwork Girl, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, the Glass Cat, Tik-tok (actually he’s an exception as he is not alive and can run down; the others all are alive), the Gump, the Tin Soldier etc. all specifically never tire and can not eat or drink.
So the Scarecrow and the Tin Man just bought the beers to be sociable while the Lion gets smashed?
Comics I Don't Understand 
Scarecrows are out in the fields with crops. I think we need a tag for “that’s all there is”.
croppelganger rhymes with doppelganger??????????
Maybe the cartoonist was stoned and s/he thought that was funny.
I think he might have been smoking the wrong kind of grass.
His crop, as in, e.g., the outlined needed to cut yourself from a picture in your back yard and paste yourself into another standing 50m tall atop the Eiffel Tower, just walked in the door.
I think Melquart has it, double meaning of the word “crop”. Still not exactly a knee slapper.
That is a matte, not a crop.
I think the double is just in shadow. The idea that the outline could walk around and be referred to by a weird phrase no-one has ever heard and then *further* that a scarecrow would have double meaning of crop is just too busy.
I think it’s simply that the scarecrow is thinking doppelganger. The phrase is “Everyone has a doppelganger” [as in “Didn’t I see you at X last night” “uh, nope. I was at home reading a book” “Are you sure, I could have sworn it was you” “Well, it must have been my doppelganger”] and there’s mild speculation as to how unpleasant and awkward it would be if someone actually met their doppelganger. (Although it’s not *that* common a speculation and it certainly is something that never actually happens.)
Anyway, “croppelganger” rhymes with “doppelganger” and so a scarecrow that live in the crops would say “croppelganger” is something that might give you the giggles if you are in the right mood and drunk or stoned enough. But it’s not enough to put on paper and publish.
Well, according to Urban Dictionary “croppelganger” is a word for a person who looks like *two* other people. But urban dictionary and circular references to it are the only sources I can find for it.
If this is a well known phrase the scarecrow can’t have a croppelganger. The scarecrow and someone else will jointly have a croppelganger.
UD is not exactly the most reliable source.
I’m just amazed that UD has non-obscene definitions in it!
A couple other questions:
Why does the scarecrow react this way? Seeing someone who looks like you warrants an “Oh no!” response?
Why is the lion seemingly holding his tail down?
The cowardly lion is holding his tail because it would constantly wave around and get in the way.
Woozy, I assume if you came face to face with your dopp, you wouldn’t think you looked as similar as others do.
I personally seem — over the course of my lifetime — to have had four of them: close enough that people accused me of lying (twice, angrily) when I denied being him. I guess I’m lucky none of them commited any crimes.
“UD is not exactly the most reliable source.”
Yes. And I noticed all other references to it are either usernames, this site, or auto-index sellf generated references to the UD. So I conclude “croppelganger is *not* a well known phrase.
“Why does the scarecrow react this way? Seeing someone who looks like you warrants an “Oh no!” response?”
Yeah, that kind of bugged me too. But I think it’s kind of a modern trope, to introduce a mild pun in a comic strip you have the characters say “Oh no! it’s [[the pun ]]!”. (Mother Goose and Grimm seem to do this a lot.) It doesn’t really make much sense when you think about it but you aren’t supposed to think about these things.
Or maybe, as I said, the idea that everyone has a doppelganger and you keep hearing “Hey, wasn’t that you who was at the party last night” “No I was home reading a book.” “No, I swear it was you. You were getting drunk and hitting on everyone.” “No, It’ must have been my doppelganger”. “No, I’m sure it was you; you’re were dancing naked and sending anthrax in the mail; and kicking puppies; and eating red meat and smoking”… and it seems, gee, if I ever meet this person who looks like me, well, gee…. I hate to think.
“Why is the lion seemingly holding his tail down?”
It’s become disattached and he’s putting it up for a bet in a poker game. The joke’s on him; the other two players quit playing hours ago and don’t even have cards. — As every Oz aficionado knows, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman can not drink so all the drinks are for the Cowardly Lion, who is quite plastered by now.
I once saw a doppelganger of my ex-husband; my parents and I were in Canada and all three of us were SURE he was there . . . when I got back to USA, I called him and asked if he had recently been in Canada. Nope, not since the Vietnam War days (and that’s a whole ‘nother story). Very spooky . . . I got to wondering if he was ok (which was the other reason I called him).
“Woozy, I assume if you came face to face with your dopp, you wouldn’t think you looked as similar as others do.”
Yeah, that’s kind of why a situation will never happen that you ever do meet your doppelganger.
Also when you hear the stories of what your doppelganger supposedly did, they always sound a little out of character. So one gets the impression there’s this obnoxious weird guy who looks like you going around and doing embarrassing stuff so … if you do see him it’ll just mean something bad is going to happen.
Anyway, I do think the entire joke is that “doppelganger” and “croppelganger” rhyme. And if you are in a state of mind to actually find that to be funny, then you are in no state of mind to scrutinize that none of this really makes very much sense.
Technically speaking, I wonder if a person would even ‘recognize’ his/her own doppelganger . . . we don’t really know what we look like, having only seen ourselves in mirrors and photographs. Well, yeah, if I was made of straw, I’m sure I’d ‘recognize’ another straw creature, but otherwise . . .
In a Nashville restaurant a couple of years ago, I had the weird experience of being waited on by somebody who looked disconcertingly similar to my nephew… then walked outside and almost walked right into his girlfriend’s exact dopplegänger.
You win!!
@ Andréa – There’s a Poirot mystery in which the murderer dressed up as the victim, but had practiced the duplication in front of a mirror, meaning that her performance as the victim’s “Doppelgänger” was a mirror image of the original. Nobody noticed it at the time, but later on someone finally realizes what had seemed strange that day, and gives Poirot a vital clue.
P.S. Ooops (italics off). That’s what I get for trying to show off with the original German spelling.
The “Oh no!” seems reasonable to me. While dopplegangers don’t have to be evil, part of the trope is that they commonly are.
I once saw my sister’s doppelganger – even down to her posture and hair style. I knew it wasn’t her, and I was supposed to be interviewing her, but I couldn’t help staring and I kept forgetting to ask the next question. Very disorienting.
In my early days at Megacorp, there was someone we called, “the guy who’s not Ralph”. He looked enough like Ralph that people didn’t know Ralph that well would start talking to him.
Seeing your doppelganger is traditionally considered a bad omen, so ‘oh no’ is definitely a good reaction, especially for someone from a place where magic is provably real.
Does alcohol have any effect on the scarecrow and the tin man? We know that whatever sleeping gas poppies produce does not affect them.
“Does alcohol have any effect on the scarecrow and the tin man? We know that whatever sleeping gas poppies produce does not affect them.”
There is an actual specific answer. The Tin Woodman and Scarecrow do not and can not eat, drink, sleep, or breath. That’s specifically stated many many times.
They are not alone in this. Non of the animated beings, the Patchwork Girl, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, the Glass Cat, Tik-tok (actually he’s an exception as he is not alive and can run down; the others all are alive), the Gump, the Tin Soldier etc. all specifically never tire and can not eat or drink.
So the Scarecrow and the Tin Man just bought the beers to be sociable while the Lion gets smashed?
The Lion is enjoying liquid courage.