Mallet thinks he has a reputation for making references to things that are too obscure. So in this strip he is having Frazz and the girl talk deliberately about things the reader simply does not relate to at all. Frazz points that it’s okay to not care about things other people relate to as you… well, then I begin to lose it… I don’t know if he’s saying that people get apoplectic about the power that comes with one being self-aware that one doesn’t relate to things (although I don’t know if its supposed to be Mallet, Frazz or the reader who is self-aware), or if he’s saying the not relating to stuff that others are apoplectic about gives one power (and still not sure who has the powere.
I was actually fine wit this until the comment about the 11th grader.
I think I agree with most of what Woozy said, until he began to lose it. ;-)
P.S. @ Bill – I think the girl’s comment means that she thinks some high school English teacher is going read this strip and then decide to put the word into the next quiz. As woozy said, a little “4th wall-ish”.
I took the eleventh grader comment to be a “hey, you’re complaining about ‘apoplectic’ being obscure and overly pedantic but get used to it; it’s the type of word that gets put on vocabulary quizzes.”
11th graders don’t care about vocabulary but their teachers do and go apoplectic when they hear them speak?
People who don’t care have the power over those who do because it’s easy and fun to start their ranting: they can’t help it.
I think Mallett’s saying that there are people who get apoplectic about things like the end of golf season or the stock market being flat and that there is power in not being one of those people. It’s probably okay to be disappointed or concerned about those things (respectively), but freaking out over them is silly.
OTOH, I think people are pretty much done with vocabulary tests by the 11th grade. Except maybe in foreign language classes, but they aren’t likely to run across “apoplectic” there.
I just thought the girl was giving another example of things she doesn’t care about; it’s not on HER vocab quiz.
Mallett is mocking the people who complain about his strip putting adult vocabulary in the mouths of elementary-school-age children, and that Frazz talks to them with adult vocabulary and they understand him fully.
In this case, it’s the second. Frazz has used the word “apoplectic” to a third-grader (ish), and she points out that this word isn’t in her vocabulary yet.
Pastis doesn’t give Jef the cyclist enough grief…
@ DemetriosX – …people are pretty much done with vocabulary tests by the 11th grade…
I‘m not so sure about that. In 10th grade I had an English teacher who still tortured us with spelling tests. She was a wacko nut case, but even so… (as I recall, I pulled a subject swap to get out of her class).
“people are pretty much done with vocabulary tests by the 11th grade”
In 11th grade, they are called “SAT prep tests”. Unless your mother is Lori Loughlin…
Comics I Don't Understand 
Breaking the 4th Wall again.
Mallet thinks he has a reputation for making references to things that are too obscure. So in this strip he is having Frazz and the girl talk deliberately about things the reader simply does not relate to at all. Frazz points that it’s okay to not care about things other people relate to as you… well, then I begin to lose it… I don’t know if he’s saying that people get apoplectic about the power that comes with one being self-aware that one doesn’t relate to things (although I don’t know if its supposed to be Mallet, Frazz or the reader who is self-aware), or if he’s saying the not relating to stuff that others are apoplectic about gives one power (and still not sure who has the powere.
I was actually fine wit this until the comment about the 11th grader.
I think I agree with most of what Woozy said, until he began to lose it. ;-)
P.S. @ Bill – I think the girl’s comment means that she thinks some high school English teacher is going read this strip and then decide to put the word into the next quiz. As woozy said, a little “4th wall-ish”.
I took the eleventh grader comment to be a “hey, you’re complaining about ‘apoplectic’ being obscure and overly pedantic but get used to it; it’s the type of word that gets put on vocabulary quizzes.”
11th graders don’t care about vocabulary but their teachers do and go apoplectic when they hear them speak?
People who don’t care have the power over those who do because it’s easy and fun to start their ranting: they can’t help it.
I think Mallett’s saying that there are people who get apoplectic about things like the end of golf season or the stock market being flat and that there is power in not being one of those people. It’s probably okay to be disappointed or concerned about those things (respectively), but freaking out over them is silly.
OTOH, I think people are pretty much done with vocabulary tests by the 11th grade. Except maybe in foreign language classes, but they aren’t likely to run across “apoplectic” there.
I just thought the girl was giving another example of things she doesn’t care about; it’s not on HER vocab quiz.
Mallett is mocking the people who complain about his strip putting adult vocabulary in the mouths of elementary-school-age children, and that Frazz talks to them with adult vocabulary and they understand him fully.
In this case, it’s the second. Frazz has used the word “apoplectic” to a third-grader (ish), and she points out that this word isn’t in her vocabulary yet.
Pastis doesn’t give Jef the cyclist enough grief…
@ DemetriosX – …people are pretty much done with vocabulary tests by the 11th grade…
I‘m not so sure about that. In 10th grade I had an English teacher who still tortured us with spelling tests. She was a wacko nut case, but even so… (as I recall, I pulled a subject swap to get out of her class).
“people are pretty much done with vocabulary tests by the 11th grade”
In 11th grade, they are called “SAT prep tests”. Unless your mother is Lori Loughlin…