19 Comments

1. 

   I vote for “wine cellar” on the grounds that I know of no dialect where “worm” rhymes with “storm.”

2. 

   Willkommen bei Wurm & Sturm! https://wurmundsturm.de/

3. 

   Dave Coverly is from Michigan, land of the extended ‘o’s. So even though worm is derived from wyrm, I think it could be the near rhyme (not that I like the idea). I may just get the idea from Animal House’s “Dean Wormer” which is pronounced like dormer.

4. 

   WW, sometimes comic strips go for “visual rhymes.”

5. 

   Y’all have wine on the mind because of the A&J . . . it is a ‘visual rhyme’ for storm cellar – and I’m NEVER seen a wine cellar with doors like that!!

6. 

   I submitted this as a Geezer Alert, thinking that – other than in Wizard of Oz – not many have or have seen storm cellars with doors like this. My parents remodeled and got rid of theirs in early 1960s.

7. 

   Storm cellar? Wouldn’t that just be a…. cellar? I mean without a basement the safest place for me in the event of a tornado is probably the bathroom. But I don’t call it my storm tub.

   And yes I vote for wine cellar in this strip.

8. 

   My grandparents had a root cellar like this at their farm where they stored root vegetables after the harvest. Potatoes, carrots, etc. It had doors just like that. Inside was basically similar to a crawlspace. tall enough to stand in, dirt floor, no light.

9. 

   Mark M, a storm cellar, like a bomb shelter, has/had as its primary purpose protection against a ground-level danger.

10. 

    I think what bothered me was why the bird is pointing it out to the other one. But I guess the second one is a visitor, and not included in the “our”.
    With that resolved, it’s a cute enough little joke.

11. 

    I think it’s where the birds store their vases that double as women’s faces. Also, ballerinas that can switch direction.

12. 

    My vote is that it’s just where they keep their worms. If they were squirrels it would be “nut cellar”. Unfortunately my explanation does not allow for it to be funny, unless animals doing anything that only humans do is automatically funny.

13. 

    @ MiB- There is one animal that does it: Moles collect worms in a chamber of their burrow, disabling them first with a strategic bite so they don’t die, but cannot crawl away. Moles need this food reserve because the have a high rate of metabolism, and will starve if they go too long between meals.

14. 

    Kilby, sure but do moles possess the same quality workmanship that this bird appears to have? And I bet they use much finer wood.

15. 

    Worm cellar, like wine cellar. But my problems is, how do they plan to keep the worms inside the cellar, when worms can just tunnel around in the dirt and ‘escape’?

16. 

    I think the cartoonist thought, “Wouldn’t be funny to have a bird with a birdhouse boasting on its features like some people do with their houses. Hmm… what might work? People keep wine underground in a wine cellar. Having one and boasting about it is kind of a snooty thing. Cellars are underground. Birds eat worms. Worms live underground. It all fits. Having a bird on a birdhouse boast to its friend about having a worm cellar would be hilarious!”

    Unfortunately, it just isn’t very funny.

17. 

    @ ja – Another problem with “animal residence having unexpected hidden luxuries” is that Schulz pretty much burned out the joke with Snoopy’s dog house, which had a pool table, Van Gogh painting, etc.

18. 

    “when worms can just tunnel around in the dirt and ‘escape’?”

    Dead worms don’t dig tunnels.

19. 

    On my second reading, I mis-read “worm” as “warm”, and is it a joke about cold cellars? (Shit, it’s a warm day, I need to go close the vent in mine.)