I agree with deety. I guess one’s lol is another’s meh.
Is the superman one a geezer reference?
Woozy, that’s in a way up to you to say. Did you do or did you don’t easily come up with “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” ?
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Well, I get this is supposed to be a little silly, but it does take me longer to write a short letter than a long one.
“Did you do or did you don’t easily come up with “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” ?” Yeah, but I am a geezer. As is every single person here apparently. I thought we figured that out a long time ago.
The “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” thing doesn’t mention model aircraft.
That said, at seven and a half feet, the one in the lineup is most impressive.
In related versions, it is a semi-famous quotation. Attributed to Mark Twain, or earlier Voltaire.
And yes, it is good to hear it strikes you as fairly true-to-life! I expect in the original context(s) whiile it was meant to have the air of “paradox” it was also supposed to strike readers with recognition.
This past summer, I was crafting a letter to include with the check for my niece’s HS graduation. I have some decent stationery, with 6×8 sheets. I wanted the message to fit on one sheet, front only. That took some work and practice to craft a message that would fit nicely and say what I wanted.
“In related versions, it is a semi-famous quotation. Attributed to Mark Twain, or earlier Voltaire.:
Shrug: I object! How can they attribute the quote to Pascal. Looking it over, there’s not a single word of overlap:
“Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.”
Thanks, Shrug. I also looked it up a week or so ago, and was misremembering Pascal as Voltaire.
re
Shrug: I object! How can they attribute the quote to Pascal. Looking it over, there’s not a single word of overlap:
“Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.”
D’oh. Don’t know — it’s all Greek to me.
(But I notice that several letters overlap…)
I didn’t see that at first, I thought that she saw something flying, and she’s trying to identify.
It does take effort to stay calm. Related to this is something I read once about drug addicts. It is said that addicts keep using illegal drugs because they have a lack of will power. But the fact is that it takes a lot of will power to spend half your day looking for someone to buy the drugs from.
I guess this shows how my mind goes. I knew that birds and planes are known for dropping waste products in flight; but I couldn’t figure out why the Big Blue Boy Scout would be a suspect.
Man #1: Look, Up in the sky.
Kid: It’s a bird.
Man #2: It’s a plane.
Woman: It’s a frog.
Man #3: A frog?!?
Ahhh, fond childhood memories!
I like the nesting dolls one as well, but I am concerned. They’re not wearing their masks now, clearly, and they’re not social distancing. Seems to me they’re just asking for trouble.
“It’s a bird …” is certainly a geezer reference. The star of the last TV show to use that line died before I was born, and I’m old enough to retire from certain jobs.
“In related versions, it is a semi-famous quotation. Attributed to Mark Twain, or earlier Voltaire.”
“Its a bird; its a plane; its Superman” is attributed to Mark Twain?
“I didn’t see that at first, I thought that she saw something flying, and she’s trying to identify.”
You didn’t see what at first? That is what she is doing.
Are you just playing with us, Woozy? The quotation attributed to Mark Twain or Voltaire [should have said Pascal] was the bit about I wrote a long one because I didn’t have the time to write a short one. And several commenters gave examples of how we still experience this.
“Are you just playing with us, Woozy? ”
Yes. I am playing with you.
But you must admit, you talking about “it” without reference after a few jokes about the superman tagline made the juxtaposition pretty funny.
Was it Pierre de Fermat who said: “I wrote you a truly remarkable letter which this margin is too small to contain.”
“I wrote you a truly remarkable letter which this margin is too small to contain.”
Yes, that was Pascal’s buddy Fermat.
The letter was finally delivered in 1994.
Why the dynamite on the phone in the Superman spoof?
Comics I Don't Understand 
The Maryoshkas and the Superman made me happy. The others … no thanks.
Hey, no “Hax column” note on the Nick & Zuzu this time?
I particularly like the Superman one… I wonder if anyone else has thought of it since “bird-plane-superman” became a thing (apparently 69 years ago – https://www.shmoop.com/quotes/look-up-in-the-sky-bird-plane-superman.html )
I agree with deety. I guess one’s lol is another’s meh.
Is the superman one a geezer reference?
Woozy, that’s in a way up to you to say. Did you do or did you don’t easily come up with “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” ?
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Well, I get this is supposed to be a little silly, but it does take me longer to write a short letter than a long one.
“Did you do or did you don’t easily come up with “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” ?” Yeah, but I am a geezer. As is every single person here apparently. I thought we figured that out a long time ago.
The “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” thing doesn’t mention model aircraft.
That said, at seven and a half feet, the one in the lineup is most impressive.
In related versions, it is a semi-famous quotation. Attributed to Mark Twain, or earlier Voltaire.
And yes, it is good to hear it strikes you as fairly true-to-life! I expect in the original context(s) whiile it was meant to have the air of “paradox” it was also supposed to strike readers with recognition.
This past summer, I was crafting a letter to include with the check for my niece’s HS graduation. I have some decent stationery, with 6×8 sheets. I wanted the message to fit on one sheet, front only. That took some work and practice to craft a message that would fit nicely and say what I wanted.
“In related versions, it is a semi-famous quotation. Attributed to Mark Twain, or earlier Voltaire.:
But incorrectly so; it’s actually by Pascal:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/
Shrug: I object! How can they attribute the quote to Pascal. Looking it over, there’s not a single word of overlap:
“Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.”
Thanks, Shrug. I also looked it up a week or so ago, and was misremembering Pascal as Voltaire.
re
Shrug: I object! How can they attribute the quote to Pascal. Looking it over, there’s not a single word of overlap:
“Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.”
D’oh. Don’t know — it’s all Greek to me.
(But I notice that several letters overlap…)
I didn’t see that at first, I thought that she saw something flying, and she’s trying to identify.
It does take effort to stay calm. Related to this is something I read once about drug addicts. It is said that addicts keep using illegal drugs because they have a lack of will power. But the fact is that it takes a lot of will power to spend half your day looking for someone to buy the drugs from.
I guess this shows how my mind goes. I knew that birds and planes are known for dropping waste products in flight; but I couldn’t figure out why the Big Blue Boy Scout would be a suspect.
Mark in Boston: it takes willpower to keep smoking: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/13
The Superman quote goes all the way back to 1940, from the radio series, and the Fleischer cartoons shortly thereafter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Superman_(radio_series)
Man #1: Look, Up in the sky.
Kid: It’s a bird.
Man #2: It’s a plane.
Woman: It’s a frog.
Man #3: A frog?!?
Ahhh, fond childhood memories!
I like the nesting dolls one as well, but I am concerned. They’re not wearing their masks now, clearly, and they’re not social distancing. Seems to me they’re just asking for trouble.
“It’s a bird …” is certainly a geezer reference. The star of the last TV show to use that line died before I was born, and I’m old enough to retire from certain jobs.
“In related versions, it is a semi-famous quotation. Attributed to Mark Twain, or earlier Voltaire.”
“Its a bird; its a plane; its Superman” is attributed to Mark Twain?
“I didn’t see that at first, I thought that she saw something flying, and she’s trying to identify.”
You didn’t see what at first? That is what she is doing.
Are you just playing with us, Woozy? The quotation attributed to Mark Twain or Voltaire [should have said Pascal] was the bit about I wrote a long one because I didn’t have the time to write a short one. And several commenters gave examples of how we still experience this.
“Are you just playing with us, Woozy? ”
Yes. I am playing with you.
But you must admit, you talking about “it” without reference after a few jokes about the superman tagline made the juxtaposition pretty funny.
Was it Pierre de Fermat who said: “I wrote you a truly remarkable letter which this margin is too small to contain.”
“I wrote you a truly remarkable letter which this margin is too small to contain.”
Yes, that was Pascal’s buddy Fermat.
The letter was finally delivered in 1994.
Why the dynamite on the phone in the Superman spoof?
Stuart: It’s one of Piraro’s “Secret Symbols”: https://www.bizarro.com/secret-symbols/