I thought it was funny. If you insist on it making sense, imagine that the capo is going to push him off the plank after letting him appreciate the view for a minute.
And with feet in cement you can’t hop, either.
Feet in cement, while the trope, is inefficient. Much easier to tie a cinderblock or and anchor to them. Having to get them to sit still while the cement/concrete cures would really slow things down.
@ BiStL – “Bounce up and down on the plank”
There’s a gag in the first “Pirates of the Caribbean”: Elizabeth hesitates too long on the plank, so the first mate stomps on it, causing her to fall off. However, if the pirate in this panel tried this, it looks like the comic cantilever would break, dropping them both in the water.
Arthur, I looked into this once. There is some historical evidence of walking the plank, although it was rare. The theory indeed was that the pirates were avoiding an active role in the victim’s murder.
It probably does not come as a surprise to anyone that this cartoon therefore is not historically accurate.
I’ve heard that the pirate accent with it’s “Yarr, matey” and “Shiver me timbers” goes all the way back to Robert Newton, in the movie version of Treasure Island. Also that maybe only one or two pirates in all of pirate history buried a treasure chest somewhere.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think that’s it, yes.
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Arrr, tis time for you to hop the plank!
(I kind of like the sound of “hop the plank”)
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The New Yorker is slumming it.
Yes, that’s all there is. And, man, is that *not* enough.
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CWAA
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CWAA
Cotton Warehouse Association of America?
Clean Water Action Alliance?
Chicano Writers and Artists Association?
County of Warwick Archery Association?
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BiSTL: https://boingboing.net/2010/03/30/recaptioning-new-yor.html
I wanted to get credit for using it without being caught in moderation.
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I thought it was funny. If you insist on it making sense, imagine that the capo is going to push him off the plank after letting him appreciate the view for a minute.
And with feet in cement you can’t hop, either.
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Feet in cement, while the trope, is inefficient. Much easier to tie a cinderblock or and anchor to them. Having to get them to sit still while the cement/concrete cures would really slow things down.
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“And with feet in cement you can’t hop, either.”
You can in a cartoon.
It looks like, to me, the facial expression on the guy at the end of the diving board is thinking “now what?”
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Bounce up and down on the plank maybe propel him off.
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I wanted to get credit for using it without being caught in moderation.
Ah. Didn’t come up in the top several searches for me.
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Isn’t that just the drain plug?
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Isn’t the point of walking the plank to make the victim the active agent, thus making it a suicide rather than a murder?
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“the point of walking the plank”
Walking the plank was made up from whole cloth by Robert Louis Stevenson. I believe there is no evidence it ever actually took place.
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Hmph. Next you’ll be telling us he made up the custom of fifteen men sitting on the chest of a dead man.
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Regardless of whether the chest is a torso or a footlocker, it’d have to be mighty big to allow for 15 men to be on it.
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@ BiStL – “Bounce up and down on the plank”
There’s a gag in the first “Pirates of the Caribbean”: Elizabeth hesitates too long on the plank, so the first mate stomps on it, causing her to fall off. However, if the pirate in this panel tried this, it looks like the comic cantilever would break, dropping them both in the water.
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Arthur, I looked into this once. There is some historical evidence of walking the plank, although it was rare. The theory indeed was that the pirates were avoiding an active role in the victim’s murder.
It probably does not come as a surprise to anyone that this cartoon therefore is not historically accurate.
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Well, how did he get out on the plank, then? From where he is a good shove will suffice, anyway.
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@Usual John: Well, if you throw him in the sea while he’s still alive, you technically haven’t murdered him.
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“if you throw him in the sea while he’s still alive, you technically haven’t murdered him.”
Unless he dies as a result of your actions within 365 days.
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SingaporeBill: By that standard, what would constitute “technically” murdering someone? Shooting someone while still alive seems just as OK/not OK.
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@Arthur: I’ve read Treasure Island, and walking the plank definitely doesn’t appear in it. Was it another work by Stevenson?
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Apparently the “year and a day” rule no longer applies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_and_a_day_rule#United_States
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Apparently nobody walks the plank in Treasure Island, but it’s referred to. Search for the instances of “walking the plank” in http://www.gutenberg.org/files/120/120-h/120-h.htm
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I’ve heard that the pirate accent with it’s “Yarr, matey” and “Shiver me timbers” goes all the way back to Robert Newton, in the movie version of Treasure Island. Also that maybe only one or two pirates in all of pirate history buried a treasure chest somewhere.
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“Apparently the ‘year and a day’ rule no longer applies”
But it did when pirates were alleged to be making people walk the plank.
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