Iris? It’s a stretch. And I’ve always heard “ibid” pronounced with two short “i” sounds, making it even more of one. If it was “EYE-bid” it would almost make sense. AH, just looked: those crazy Brits do seem to say “EYE-bid”. Not sure that helps, as I’ve always thought this was an American strip.
I think “iris” is one good potential explanation, but I wonder whether Blazek might have been playing with flower “buds”. Either way, it doesn’t quite work.
I don’t think the joke requires an actual ibid flower to work. In fact, if there were such a flower, the joke would probably be too old and jaded to have any effect.
It might also be a “shut up” comment – “I told you all about these flowers, but you weren’t listening or don’t remember – so I’m going to say ibid.” They’re still the ones she mentioned before.
I think the cartoonists *did* think if you spelled out “ibids” it looks like a typical flower name. *Why* he thought that is debatable, but I think it physically reminded him of “irises” but they are supposed to be irises; they are only supposed to be flowers with a flower like name like “irises”.
In technical papers, ibid is used in footnotes and references to refer to a previously cited source (instead of repeating the source information over and over). The hook herein is the phrase “you referenced earlier”.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Probably no such flower name. But there is “iris”.
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Iris? It’s a stretch. And I’ve always heard “ibid” pronounced with two short “i” sounds, making it even more of one. If it was “EYE-bid” it would almost make sense. AH, just looked: those crazy Brits do seem to say “EYE-bid”. Not sure that helps, as I’ve always thought this was an American strip.
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Mitch4: GMTA. And at the same time.
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I think “iris” is one good potential explanation, but I wonder whether Blazek might have been playing with flower “buds”. Either way, it doesn’t quite work.
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Also, the flowers look nothing like irises.
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After a quick look through Soundex for “ibid”, I found nothing vaguely flower-like or plant-like.
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I don’t think the joke requires an actual ibid flower to work. In fact, if there were such a flower, the joke would probably be too old and jaded to have any effect.
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Not really “old and jaded”, Usual John: I don’t think a large enough percentage of the population (outside of CIDU) has any idea what “ibid” means.
Ir’s probably more obscure than “eg”.
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It might also be a “shut up” comment – “I told you all about these flowers, but you weren’t listening or don’t remember – so I’m going to say ibid.” They’re still the ones she mentioned before.
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I think the cartoonists *did* think if you spelled out “ibids” it looks like a typical flower name. *Why* he thought that is debatable, but I think it physically reminded him of “irises” but they are supposed to be irises; they are only supposed to be flowers with a flower like name like “irises”.
They look like impatiens to me.
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Ibid, i.e. they are called the same thing I called them in the earlier reference.
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“Ibid? But isn’t that the exact opcit of what you just told me the time before last?”
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Shrug wins the thread.
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B.A., while that may be true, I don’t count the part of the population for whom the joke doesn’t work anyway.
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The correct answer (what they’re called again) has been given, but I note irrelevantly that an ‘irid’ is a plant of the family Iridaceae.
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In technical papers, ibid is used in footnotes and references to refer to a previously cited source (instead of repeating the source information over and over). The hook herein is the phrase “you referenced earlier”.
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Working off the “eye-bid” angle, many botanists refer to experimental modifications in plants as hybrids. It’s a stretch, I know.
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We’re seeing crocuses now. But I just can’t wait for those impatiens!
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I don’t think it’s much more that “reference” and “ibid”, the later being often seen in footnotes or acknowledgments.
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Not only did Shrug win the thread, they made me wonder if I remembered the difference between Ibid and op.cit.
If you’re in the same boat, check https://libanswers.walsh.edu/faq/147784
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