That shrill, one-note, plebeian whistle she’s marrying doesn’t actually have the requisite opening on top to produce a whistling noise — he’s a mute!
(note his lapel pin: he’s “sharp”; is that in the sense of “shrill”, or at least “off key”, or does it mean he’s “fiiine”?)
And shouldn’t the groom’s side of the chapel be populated with penny-whistles, kazoos, and cheap noise-makers?
In terms of a parent’s (dis)approval of an offspring’s relationship, this comic is effectively identical to the “Plug (& Socket & Fork)” we discussed two weeks ago.
Kilby, perhaps not. In that one, it was a dangerous match. In this case, it’s just that she could do better (or so the father thinks).
larK, you have a good point. But maybe this is the black sheep of the family.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
“That shrill, one-note, plebeian whistle she’s marrying doesn’t actually have the requisite opening on top to produce a whistling noise”
No man is complete until he is married. Then, he’s finished. It’s a well-known trope that some women men who need to be “fixed up” If wife can just fix flaw, and other flaw, and other flaw, then he’ll be perfect. Eventually, she figures out that she can’t change him, gives up, and they divorce.
Well, would Dad prefer his daughter marry a fagot?
Father spent his daughter’s adolescent years worrying about her getting the horn at an inappropriate age, and used to harp on about it. Then there was the teenage love triangle – one was a nice enough cello but the other a wood block head possessed of a plausible glockenspiel. Oboe! But he drummed them both out of her life. And now look what’s happened! She castanets wide, the trumpet! She got whistled at a lot in the street, and instead of telling those rough boys off she actually rather liked their saxophone talk. He said, why’d you piccolo born tin guy. But don’t break out the violins, at bass it’s all his own flute. It’s a cymbal 4/4 our time. Tuba d.
Nice to see the orchestral instruments have included a saxophone 🎷.
Powers, yes I’m sure he would prefer to keep it in the woodwind family.
To follow up on Mr. Pollack’s observation. I am reminded of the Rodney Dangerfield line: “My wife spent the last 20 years trying to change me. No she complains I am not the man she married.” Maybe in 20 years the whistle will have changed into a piccolo.
My music dictionaries list fagott & fagotto, but not fagot.
I read this cartoon years ago and never understood it. (I didn’t realize the man in the first panel was her father; I thought he was the groom.)
So today I read it here and, thanks to the helpful comments, I finally understand what the artist was getting at.
Cute. Strange, but cute.
Thanks for helping me get this one, guys.
” (I didn’t realize the man in the first panel was her father; I thought he was the groom.)”
The key to this realization is that the weddings in the first and second panels and in the third panel are not the same wedding.
The symbolism in the second panel is supposed to guide you to this realization… the traditional wedding is to celebrate the transition of the bride from her father’s household to her husband’s. If you have a more modern view, that’s not what a wedding is about any more. But the center panel is supposed to illustrate the exact moment of transition.
I’m pretty sure it’s the same wedding depicted in all three panels.
What confused me (years ago) is that I thought the first panel was showing the bride and groom triumphantly marching out of the church at the end of the wedding.
But now (thanks to this site) I realize that it’s the bride’s father walking his daughter to the altar (at the start of the wedding), which is hinted by the fact the seats are facing forward, and that the man is holding a cane (suggesting that the man is elderly, and probably her father).
I’m pretty sure it’s the same wedding depicted in all three panels.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Pop thinks she’s marrying someone too low-class.
That shrill, one-note, plebeian whistle she’s marrying doesn’t actually have the requisite opening on top to produce a whistling noise — he’s a mute!
(note his lapel pin: he’s “sharp”; is that in the sense of “shrill”, or at least “off key”, or does it mean he’s “fiiine”?)
And shouldn’t the groom’s side of the chapel be populated with penny-whistles, kazoos, and cheap noise-makers?
In terms of a parent’s (dis)approval of an offspring’s relationship, this comic is effectively identical to the “Plug (& Socket & Fork)” we discussed two weeks ago.
Kilby, perhaps not. In that one, it was a dangerous match. In this case, it’s just that she could do better (or so the father thinks).
larK, you have a good point. But maybe this is the black sheep of the family.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
“That shrill, one-note, plebeian whistle she’s marrying doesn’t actually have the requisite opening on top to produce a whistling noise”
No man is complete until he is married. Then, he’s finished. It’s a well-known trope that some women men who need to be “fixed up” If wife can just fix flaw, and other flaw, and other flaw, then he’ll be perfect. Eventually, she figures out that she can’t change him, gives up, and they divorce.
Well, would Dad prefer his daughter marry a fagot?
Father spent his daughter’s adolescent years worrying about her getting the horn at an inappropriate age, and used to harp on about it. Then there was the teenage love triangle – one was a nice enough cello but the other a wood block head possessed of a plausible glockenspiel. Oboe! But he drummed them both out of her life. And now look what’s happened! She castanets wide, the trumpet! She got whistled at a lot in the street, and instead of telling those rough boys off she actually rather liked their saxophone talk. He said, why’d you piccolo born tin guy. But don’t break out the violins, at bass it’s all his own flute. It’s a cymbal 4/4 our time. Tuba d.
Nice to see the orchestral instruments have included a saxophone 🎷.
Powers, yes I’m sure he would prefer to keep it in the woodwind family.
To follow up on Mr. Pollack’s observation. I am reminded of the Rodney Dangerfield line: “My wife spent the last 20 years trying to change me. No she complains I am not the man she married.” Maybe in 20 years the whistle will have changed into a piccolo.
My music dictionaries list fagott & fagotto, but not fagot.
@ Arthurt: Fagotto bout it
As for the bride, I’d say she really blew it.
@narmitaj – Bravo!
Disney did it first: https://youtu.be/dihJ1w48Jh0
I read this cartoon years ago and never understood it. (I didn’t realize the man in the first panel was her father; I thought he was the groom.)
So today I read it here and, thanks to the helpful comments, I finally understand what the artist was getting at.
Cute. Strange, but cute.
Thanks for helping me get this one, guys.
” (I didn’t realize the man in the first panel was her father; I thought he was the groom.)”
The key to this realization is that the weddings in the first and second panels and in the third panel are not the same wedding.
The symbolism in the second panel is supposed to guide you to this realization… the traditional wedding is to celebrate the transition of the bride from her father’s household to her husband’s. If you have a more modern view, that’s not what a wedding is about any more. But the center panel is supposed to illustrate the exact moment of transition.
I’m pretty sure it’s the same wedding depicted in all three panels.
What confused me (years ago) is that I thought the first panel was showing the bride and groom triumphantly marching out of the church at the end of the wedding.
But now (thanks to this site) I realize that it’s the bride’s father walking his daughter to the altar (at the start of the wedding), which is hinted by the fact the seats are facing forward, and that the man is holding a cane (suggesting that the man is elderly, and probably her father).
I’m pretty sure it’s the same wedding depicted in all three panels.
Yes, you’re correct.