It’s rare that a comic strip does a song parody that totally works.
And by “rare”, I mean the last one I can think of was “Deck the Halls With Boston Charlie”.
You can tell that Piraro does not have a solid sense of the British class structure. He may think this is just a generic English accent, but I would characterize it as cockney, which is pretty much the opposite of rich.
I continue to be impressed with the great artwork he produces for his one strip a week.
I just LOVE “Deck the Halls With Boston Charlie.” As for the comics here, I love that Bizarro, don’t get the chicken one, and am trying to make sense of the cafe.
Ed,
Also Ed:
Love the cafe one, Queen parody is decent, Pooh joke is good in principle, but as mentioned, dropping the “h” would be very low class. Could be a nouveau-riche, but then why not drop the “h” on “honey”? Probably thought the joke would collapse it if required that much effort.
Thanks, Bill. I did see Breakfast at Tiffany’s, half a century ago. And the lyrics, I’ve been assaulted by that tune often enough at sporting events.
In the Bizarro, why is the British accent even necessary? Yes, Christopher Robin was British, but what does the joke gain by spelling it out?
Boise Ed, do you mean Moon River, or the song Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
He means “We Will Rock You”.
One of the pleasures of watching Brokenwood (a Kiwi police tv) is hearing them call in a car plate, or spell a name, etc, and say “Haitch” for H.
Of course, it is possible that the woman in the Bizarro panel is a cook. Christopher Robin’s family was middle class, but the kind of 1920’s English middle class where there are servants. However, other than the accent, I see nothing to suggest that this is a servant.
I wonder that no one mentioned to Truman Capote that it isn’t Tiffany’s, it’s Tiffany. Difficult to say, tho . . .
“be a big hen someday”? Was Hilburn thinking of a one-syllable synonym for “rooster”?
He originally wrote “Buddy you’re a chick” but he couldn’t think of a rhyme.
And it should have been “Hunny”.
Perhaps the accent wasn’t necessary(*), but I think the panel does need something to place the scene in England:
1. Copying Shepard’s vision of the Hundred Acre Wood would have been both too difficult and too obscure (not to mention too monochrome).
2. Tucking a Union Jack into the scenery would have been more colorful, but needless overkill.
3. Less subtle product placement might have helped: the low resolution(**) makes it hard to be sure, but it looks like there is a jar of “shaved pork” in the cabinet; I think a jar of Marmite on the counter would have been more effective.
4. It’s too bad that only half of the faucet is visible: the half we can see makes it nearly certain that it would have been a standard British model, with separate knobs for hot and cold water.
P.S. (*) – The reason the accent is so distinctive (or “low class”) is probably just because of the difficulty of rendering a refined (“posh”) accent in text form.
P.P.S. (**) – I would like to have seen the original, but Piraro’s website is just as useless as Larson’s in terms of (non-)searchability; it simply directs the reader to King Features, which immediately ends in a paywall (with absolutely NO information about how much the premium subscription will cost after the “free” trial). Twits. I refuse to sign up for a pig in a poke.
Boise Ed, do you mean Moon River, or the song Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
He means “We Will Rock You”.,/i>
When I first read the question, I knew the real answer, but did have a quick vision of “Moon River” at the hockey game. Then again, a popular tune there is “Country Roads”.
Blimey, stuffed up the HTML. Oh bother.
‘“be a big hen someday”? Was Hilburn thinking of a one-syllable synonym for “rooster”?’
I don’t think so. The original line is “Gonna be a be a big man some day,” so “hen” is much closer. They come close to rhyming.
I think he felt the need to make it English not so much because Pooh is English, but because Robin Hood is.
Another factor: punning “poor” and “Pooh” requires a non-rhotic dialect. Or I suppose it doesn’t require one, given how many horribly strained puns appear, but it’s better that way.
And then there’s this Breakfast At Tiffany’s (stuck in my head since it’s it’s been in the music rotation at work from time to time).
Mitch4, I also enjoyed Brokenwood’s Kiwi accints, Apparently New Zealanders work sitting at disks, pay bills by chick and search the internit. Of course, we probably sound equally strange to Kiwi ears.
Ooten Aboot: and receive their mail from a litterbox!
And that coming from the standard stereotype of Canadian Raising! :-)
Comics I Don't Understand 
It’s rare that a comic strip does a song parody that totally works.
And by “rare”, I mean the last one I can think of was “Deck the Halls With Boston Charlie”.
You can tell that Piraro does not have a solid sense of the British class structure. He may think this is just a generic English accent, but I would characterize it as cockney, which is pretty much the opposite of rich.
I continue to be impressed with the great artwork he produces for his one strip a week.
I just LOVE “Deck the Halls With Boston Charlie.” As for the comics here, I love that Bizarro, don’t get the chicken one, and am trying to make sense of the cafe.
Ed,
Also Ed:
Love the cafe one, Queen parody is decent, Pooh joke is good in principle, but as mentioned, dropping the “h” would be very low class. Could be a nouveau-riche, but then why not drop the “h” on “honey”? Probably thought the joke would collapse it if required that much effort.
Thanks, Bill. I did see Breakfast at Tiffany’s, half a century ago. And the lyrics, I’ve been assaulted by that tune often enough at sporting events.
In the Bizarro, why is the British accent even necessary? Yes, Christopher Robin was British, but what does the joke gain by spelling it out?
Boise Ed, do you mean Moon River, or the song Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
He means “We Will Rock You”.
One of the pleasures of watching Brokenwood (a Kiwi police tv) is hearing them call in a car plate, or spell a name, etc, and say “Haitch” for H.
Of course, it is possible that the woman in the Bizarro panel is a cook. Christopher Robin’s family was middle class, but the kind of 1920’s English middle class where there are servants. However, other than the accent, I see nothing to suggest that this is a servant.
I wonder that no one mentioned to Truman Capote that it isn’t Tiffany’s, it’s Tiffany. Difficult to say, tho . . .
“be a big hen someday”? Was Hilburn thinking of a one-syllable synonym for “rooster”?
He originally wrote “Buddy you’re a chick” but he couldn’t think of a rhyme.
And it should have been “Hunny”.
Perhaps the accent wasn’t necessary(*), but I think the panel does need something to place the scene in England:
1. Copying Shepard’s vision of the Hundred Acre Wood would have been both too difficult and too obscure (not to mention too monochrome).
2. Tucking a Union Jack into the scenery would have been more colorful, but needless overkill.
3. Less subtle product placement might have helped: the low resolution(**) makes it hard to be sure, but it looks like there is a jar of “shaved pork” in the cabinet; I think a jar of Marmite on the counter would have been more effective.
4. It’s too bad that only half of the faucet is visible: the half we can see makes it nearly certain that it would have been a standard British model, with separate knobs for hot and cold water.
P.S. (*) – The reason the accent is so distinctive (or “low class”) is probably just because of the difficulty of rendering a refined (“posh”) accent in text form.
P.P.S. (**) – I would like to have seen the original, but Piraro’s website is just as useless as Larson’s in terms of (non-)searchability; it simply directs the reader to King Features, which immediately ends in a paywall (with absolutely NO information about how much the premium subscription will cost after the “free” trial). Twits. I refuse to sign up for a pig in a poke.
Boise Ed, do you mean Moon River, or the song Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
He means “We Will Rock You”.,/i>
When I first read the question, I knew the real answer, but did have a quick vision of “Moon River” at the hockey game. Then again, a popular tune there is “Country Roads”.
Blimey, stuffed up the HTML. Oh bother.
‘“be a big hen someday”? Was Hilburn thinking of a one-syllable synonym for “rooster”?’
I don’t think so. The original line is “Gonna be a be a big man some day,” so “hen” is much closer. They come close to rhyming.
I think he felt the need to make it English not so much because Pooh is English, but because Robin Hood is.
Another factor: punning “poor” and “Pooh” requires a non-rhotic dialect. Or I suppose it doesn’t require one, given how many horribly strained puns appear, but it’s better that way.
And then there’s this Breakfast At Tiffany’s (stuck in my head since it’s it’s been in the music rotation at work from time to time).
So what is Chicken a la King?
http://www.foodreference.com/html/artchickenalaking.html
Grawlix, this is what I was referring to.
Mitch4, I also enjoyed Brokenwood’s Kiwi accints, Apparently New Zealanders work sitting at disks, pay bills by chick and search the internit. Of course, we probably sound equally strange to Kiwi ears.
Ooten Aboot: and receive their mail from a litterbox!
And that coming from the standard stereotype of Canadian Raising! :-)