I took it that WAS the joke. Cute geezer reference and nothing more.
They’re playing “Stairway to Heaven”
Or are they playing “Highway to Hell” instead?
Squirrel Nut Zippers, but poorly drawn?
I wondered if there was some other meaning to “graveyard smash” apart from the Monster Mash lyric – maybe a technical term in record sales, like “going platinum”. However, googling up “a graveyard smash” got me the Urban Dictionary with three definitions – one scatalogical and two rather brutally worse, none of which had ever occurred to me before, so I don’t recommend checking unless you have mental bleach to hand, or one of those memorywipe wands they have in Men in Black. Those definitions are definitely not it, so I think it is just an innocent reference to the Welcome to Vienna* song.
(*Hallo Wien).
Also pretty clearly (to me) a reference to Back to the Future.
chipchristian, you nailed it.
“This is literally part of the song, isn’t it?”
It is NOW. Maybe it wasn’t, back before it first got recorded. Maybe they put that part in as a nod to the guy who helped them get the recording deal.
I guess a Back to Future reference while referencing the Monster Mash is enough in the cartoonists view.
I’m not going to deny it’s cute…. but not sure it’s …. funny.
Oh, the vampire on his knees is supposed to by Marty McFly. … who happens to be in a universe populated with monsters … making this a literal scene recreation of the Back to the Future Johnny Be Good scene complete to the school band’s blue jacket, because…. well, just because … I guess
Yep, combines Back to the Future (including the posture of holding a hand to the free ear to block the music) and a reference to “The Monster Mash”. So showing us how it was discovered in a similar fashion. Good for a giggle. Though, as it is Frankenstein (and only a butthead would say “ummm, actually…Frankenstein was the scientist and not the name of the creature yadda yadda”) making the call, shouldn’t he be saying something like: “Mmmmmm, music good! Fire bad! Graveyard smash…hmmmmmm”
Here’s the actual history of the song, and the guy who recorded it:
Thanks for the clip . . . never saw the movie, but makes sense of the comic now.
“(and only a butthead would say “ummm, actually…Frankenstein was the scientist and not the name of the creature yadda yadda”)”
Guess I’m a butthead, then . . .
This feels like a single entrendre.
(A double-meaning joke that falls short by one meaning.)
Thank you, Andréa. I was sure someone was going to take the bait. I didn’t know it’d be you, though. :)
Correcting someone condescendingly might be being a butthead, but being correct and acknowledging that calling the monster “Frankenstein” is a simply wrong, is not.
If we’re going to be pedantically predictable, I might as well revive a claim that’s been made in an earlier thread: the monster is for all practical purposes Doctor Frankenstein’s son, and thus has the moral right to take on his last name.
As you know I undoubtedly mean the thing made from parts of dead bodies stitched together when I say Frankenstein, any “correction” is ipso facto condescension.
Furthermore, what WW said.
And, if something is called “Frankenstein” by enough people long enough it is Frankenstein. All the prescriptivist wailing in the world won’t matter.
“entrendre”
Living up to, or down to, my butthead pedantic reputation, it’s entendre, whether single or double, or even triple . . . if that’s possible.
. . . and why WOULDN’T it be me?
“the monster is for all practical purposes Doctor Frankenstein’s son, and thus has the moral right to take on his last name.”
He does, but he didn’t.
And Victor Frankenstein wasn’t a Doctor. He was a student.
“As you know I undoubtedly mean the thing made from parts of dead bodies stitched together when I say Frankenstein, any “correction” is ipso facto condescension.”
And I, undoubtedly know the person saying “Look at that blue jay”, and pointing to the jay that is blue in color means the stellar jay, and the person who says his favorite fish is the killer whale undoubtedly meant his favorite sea dwelling animal. Being wrong is still being wrong no matter how well you are understood.
It would be kind of me to be polite and gentle in my dealing with your wrong-headed stupidity and if I can even pull off the seemingly impossible act of being *respectful* so much the better. But that doesn’t make the wrong-headed stupidity anything else.
I may be a butthead if I condescendingly correct one who calls it Frankenstein, but if one insists on calling it Frankenstein when one *knows* that is wrong, then I don’t care that I am a butthead. One, in that circumstances, *deserves* buttheading.
“One, in that circumstances, *deserves* buttheading.”
Amen, brother/sister!
Even MORE pedantically, “Frankenstein” is a book.
“Being wrong is still being wrong no matter how well you are understood.”
And there we have it. The rationale of every butthead who derails the conversation (the melding of Monster Mash and Back to the Future and whether it is skillfully accomplished) so they can demonstrate they are right, no matter how little anyone cares. Bonus points for pursuing this when they’ve been warned they will be mocked for such buttheadedness.
But[t] where would be without thread drift. I, for one, appreciate it when it occurs.
. . . would WE be . . .
“He does, but he didn’t.”
The Western tradition is that children automatically take on the last name of the parent. It doesn’t require explicit opt-in.
Also, if we’re going to be pedantic, everyone in this thread is pronouncing the name wrong. It’s pronounced Frankenstein, not Frankenstein! ;)
““entendre”
Living up to, or down to, my butthead pedantic reputation, it’s entendre, whether single or double, or even triple . . . if that’s possible.
—-
Sorry, you’re more a pedon’t than a pedant.
“Entendre” is not an English word. “Double entendre” is a real word, a compound noun meaning a word or phrase with two meanings. “Entendre”, “single entendre”, or “triple entendre” do not exist, according to the listings of reputable dictionaries:
Lest I go into moderation, I will leave out other links, but the Oxford Learners’ Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Learners’ Dictionary, the Collins Dictionary, and the Cambridge Dictionary all list only “double entendre.”
Now, if one were inclined toward descriptivism, as I am, one could simply say that, by back formation “entendre”, “single entendre” (which is redundant”, and “triple entendre” are all words growing in use and that they will enter the dictionary some day when use is widespread enough. Just like “underwhelm” did.
But, if you’re a prescriptivist, well, you’re wrong.
Hey, no-where did I feel some need to point out “of course, we all know that Frankenstein refers to the scientist and not the monster”. I felt there was no need to point that out because I assume that others are probably as well aware of this as I am. The only person who felt a need to point this out was a person pointing out that although it is Frankenstein’s Monster he’s going to call it Frankenstein *anyway* even though he knows it is wrong simply because people who are correct no matter how quietly they are correct are buttheads for making stupid people inferior even though the only thing these non-stupid people actually did was to not be stupid.
“single entendre” is not a word. It is a two word phrase. Prescriptivists can not allow words to spontaneously generate. But phrases, being assembled, are allowed to be created.
I was correcting DP Wally’s spelling . . . or rather, misspelling (“entrendre”). Meant to be funny, but methinks the humor has fled to another thread . . .
. . . or gone out trick-or-treating.
Look what I did with a clumsy typo…
I wonder how many words are created that way. “Entrendre” may have a bright future describing trends that take off in an unexpected direction.
Great save there.
‘Entre’ means between, so that should be used as part of the definition, too.
In this comic’s world, history has a “Triple Dalliance” and a “Triple Entendre”.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I took it that WAS the joke. Cute geezer reference and nothing more.
They’re playing “Stairway to Heaven”
Or are they playing “Highway to Hell” instead?
Squirrel Nut Zippers, but poorly drawn?
I wondered if there was some other meaning to “graveyard smash” apart from the Monster Mash lyric – maybe a technical term in record sales, like “going platinum”. However, googling up “a graveyard smash” got me the Urban Dictionary with three definitions – one scatalogical and two rather brutally worse, none of which had ever occurred to me before, so I don’t recommend checking unless you have mental bleach to hand, or one of those memorywipe wands they have in Men in Black. Those definitions are definitely not it, so I think it is just an innocent reference to the Welcome to Vienna* song.
(*Hallo Wien).
Also pretty clearly (to me) a reference to Back to the Future.
chipchristian, you nailed it.
“This is literally part of the song, isn’t it?”
It is NOW. Maybe it wasn’t, back before it first got recorded. Maybe they put that part in as a nod to the guy who helped them get the recording deal.
I guess a Back to Future reference while referencing the Monster Mash is enough in the cartoonists view.
I’m not going to deny it’s cute…. but not sure it’s …. funny.
Oh, the vampire on his knees is supposed to by Marty McFly. … who happens to be in a universe populated with monsters … making this a literal scene recreation of the Back to the Future Johnny Be Good scene complete to the school band’s blue jacket, because…. well, just because … I guess
Yep, combines Back to the Future (including the posture of holding a hand to the free ear to block the music) and a reference to “The Monster Mash”. So showing us how it was discovered in a similar fashion. Good for a giggle. Though, as it is Frankenstein (and only a butthead would say “ummm, actually…Frankenstein was the scientist and not the name of the creature yadda yadda”) making the call, shouldn’t he be saying something like: “Mmmmmm, music good! Fire bad! Graveyard smash…hmmmmmm”
Here’s the actual history of the song, and the guy who recorded it:
http://thememorypalace.us/2019/10/late-one-night/
Thanks for the clip . . . never saw the movie, but makes sense of the comic now.
“(and only a butthead would say “ummm, actually…Frankenstein was the scientist and not the name of the creature yadda yadda”)”
Guess I’m a butthead, then . . .
This feels like a single entrendre.
(A double-meaning joke that falls short by one meaning.)
Thank you, Andréa. I was sure someone was going to take the bait. I didn’t know it’d be you, though. :)
Correcting someone condescendingly might be being a butthead, but being correct and acknowledging that calling the monster “Frankenstein” is a simply wrong, is not.
If we’re going to be pedantically predictable, I might as well revive a claim that’s been made in an earlier thread: the monster is for all practical purposes Doctor Frankenstein’s son, and thus has the moral right to take on his last name.
As you know I undoubtedly mean the thing made from parts of dead bodies stitched together when I say Frankenstein, any “correction” is ipso facto condescension.
Furthermore, what WW said.
And, if something is called “Frankenstein” by enough people long enough it is Frankenstein. All the prescriptivist wailing in the world won’t matter.
“entrendre”
Living up to, or down to, my butthead pedantic reputation, it’s entendre, whether single or double, or even triple . . . if that’s possible.
. . . and why WOULDN’T it be me?
“the monster is for all practical purposes Doctor Frankenstein’s son, and thus has the moral right to take on his last name.”
He does, but he didn’t.
And Victor Frankenstein wasn’t a Doctor. He was a student.
“As you know I undoubtedly mean the thing made from parts of dead bodies stitched together when I say Frankenstein, any “correction” is ipso facto condescension.”
And I, undoubtedly know the person saying “Look at that blue jay”, and pointing to the jay that is blue in color means the stellar jay, and the person who says his favorite fish is the killer whale undoubtedly meant his favorite sea dwelling animal. Being wrong is still being wrong no matter how well you are understood.
It would be kind of me to be polite and gentle in my dealing with your wrong-headed stupidity and if I can even pull off the seemingly impossible act of being *respectful* so much the better. But that doesn’t make the wrong-headed stupidity anything else.
I may be a butthead if I condescendingly correct one who calls it Frankenstein, but if one insists on calling it Frankenstein when one *knows* that is wrong, then I don’t care that I am a butthead. One, in that circumstances, *deserves* buttheading.
“One, in that circumstances, *deserves* buttheading.”
Amen, brother/sister!
Even MORE pedantically, “Frankenstein” is a book.
“Being wrong is still being wrong no matter how well you are understood.”
And there we have it. The rationale of every butthead who derails the conversation (the melding of Monster Mash and Back to the Future and whether it is skillfully accomplished) so they can demonstrate they are right, no matter how little anyone cares. Bonus points for pursuing this when they’ve been warned they will be mocked for such buttheadedness.
But[t] where would be without thread drift. I, for one, appreciate it when it occurs.
. . . would WE be . . .
“He does, but he didn’t.”
The Western tradition is that children automatically take on the last name of the parent. It doesn’t require explicit opt-in.
Also, if we’re going to be pedantic, everyone in this thread is pronouncing the name wrong. It’s pronounced Frankenstein, not Frankenstein! ;)
““entendre”
Living up to, or down to, my butthead pedantic reputation, it’s entendre, whether single or double, or even triple . . . if that’s possible.
—-
Sorry, you’re more a pedon’t than a pedant.
“Entendre” is not an English word. “Double entendre” is a real word, a compound noun meaning a word or phrase with two meanings. “Entendre”, “single entendre”, or “triple entendre” do not exist, according to the listings of reputable dictionaries:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20entendre
Lest I go into moderation, I will leave out other links, but the Oxford Learners’ Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Learners’ Dictionary, the Collins Dictionary, and the Cambridge Dictionary all list only “double entendre.”
Now, if one were inclined toward descriptivism, as I am, one could simply say that, by back formation “entendre”, “single entendre” (which is redundant”, and “triple entendre” are all words growing in use and that they will enter the dictionary some day when use is widespread enough. Just like “underwhelm” did.
But, if you’re a prescriptivist, well, you’re wrong.
Hey, no-where did I feel some need to point out “of course, we all know that Frankenstein refers to the scientist and not the monster”. I felt there was no need to point that out because I assume that others are probably as well aware of this as I am. The only person who felt a need to point this out was a person pointing out that although it is Frankenstein’s Monster he’s going to call it Frankenstein *anyway* even though he knows it is wrong simply because people who are correct no matter how quietly they are correct are buttheads for making stupid people inferior even though the only thing these non-stupid people actually did was to not be stupid.
“single entendre” is not a word. It is a two word phrase. Prescriptivists can not allow words to spontaneously generate. But phrases, being assembled, are allowed to be created.
I was correcting DP Wally’s spelling . . . or rather, misspelling (“entrendre”). Meant to be funny, but methinks the humor has fled to another thread . . .
. . . or gone out trick-or-treating.
Look what I did with a clumsy typo…
I wonder how many words are created that way. “Entrendre” may have a bright future describing trends that take off in an unexpected direction.
Great save there.
‘Entre’ means between, so that should be used as part of the definition, too.
In this comic’s world, history has a “Triple Dalliance” and a “Triple Entendre”.