From the Theodicy Dept.The (still) “new” Nancy strip is many different things, to different people, from time to time. But here it seems to score a pretty direct LOL!
And in the “Nothing new under the Sun?” Department:
Hey Geezers, remember when U.S. foreign policy tensions were focused on Russia and China?
There’s hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain …
22 Comments
Theodicy: What Homer wrote after “Theiliad.”
The apostrophes are all high and mighty, but they’re no different from us. Now the single quote, that’s another story.
re: Beetle Bailey – Americans often seem to think there is a lot of anti-Americanism in the world at large, but I think most anti-Americanism really comes from other Americans.
But that sort of thing is often the case – the bitterest religious and political disputes, full of sturm and drang and hatred, are often between groups with tiny doctrinal differences. As in The People’s Front of Judaea and all that.
I remember listening to the Kingston Trio a fair amount as a kid… my older brother was given some of their albums in the late 60s. But I don’t remember that one.
I dunno, they look more like double quotes to me…
Maybe at the double quote convention we can have two single quotes in a trench coat trying to sneak in…
Thanks, Bookworm! I had not before seen (heard) that Sheldon Harnick version, and it was interesting to see what the Kingstons’ adaptations or styhlization were. I think this original has a stanza (or half) missing from the KT one?
I grew up with parents listening to the Kingston Trio and other folk revival bands and don’t recall that particular song. Here’s some interesting background info. It should be noted the KT may have learned the song through Tom Lehrer, and also that their version is a verse or two shorter than the original…
@ Grawlix – minutes and seconds? What about feet and inches… as per the Stonehenge set design confusion in Spinal Tap
I have a friend who gets the minutes and seconds markings backwards, and almost always uses them rather than spell out the word or even abbreviation. It can make for rough reading in some contexts. This is the same person who will text a question mark symbol for the word “question”, leaving the recipient to puzzle over such things as But i still have some? for the doctor.
People who have spent some time with math notations are used to the prime symbol creating a sort of altered or secondary version of something like a variable letter. So you might be using x, and also x-prime, and x-bar, and x-hat. But in ordinary usage it is also a top level grade of something being rated; like USDA meat ratings. Clearly it was the latter sense that Amazon wanted people to take for their Prime program. But with some other tech/culture things I’m not too sure. The local PBS channel has call letters WTTW (only very retroactively standing for Windows To The World) – on channel search and device setup etc there is also WTTW-Prime, and I don’t know if it’s actually meant as premium or more like shadowy-companion sense of prime.
Yes, thank you, Bookworm. I had never heard of Sheldon Harnick, let alone heard him. It was good to hear his version, but I do prefer the Kingston Trio’s stylistic additions to it, though. Ideally, IMHO, we’d have their style and all of his lyrics.
Ed, I thought I also didn’t know the name Sheldon Harnick, but reading further in that article it turns out I am acquainted with some of his Broadway work – Fiorello and Fiddler on the Roof – and then the name started to come back.
“Americans often seem to think there is a lot of anti-Americanism in the world at large…”
Living outside of the US, the most common anti-American sentiment I come across is sighing and shaking of heads.
That is, the article in Grawlix’s link.
Nancy cruises on “heh” for a lot of the time, but when Olivia Jaimes hits she hits a good one.
Urban, I would agree, with both aspects of your comment.
There are often fan controverseys when a new writer/artist takes over an established franchise, but my impression was that the blowback to Olivia Jaimes when she was starting it up was particularly tough.
If the answers to Nancy’s odd questions are in the back of the book – where are the answers to the even questions?
@Meryl A – left as an exercise for the student is I think the classical term. More realistically, in the teacher’s edition.
There definitely was a practice of giving answers in the back to some but not all problems, and one such pattern was indeed the odd-numbered ones. As Urban suggests, there would be more in a Teachers’ edition, though I haven’t seen how it is handled in contemporary textbooks. Back in the day, the Teachers’ Edition would differ in having more snow-your-work type notes for the problems, and in the main text more hints and suggestions for teaching. Or a little older, shows details of a proof that were skipped in the student edition.
snow-your-work
The Eddie Haskell method?
… and then in the cooking class you’re expected to show your wok!
And in the Tantric Sex class you are expected to slow your wank…..
Comics I Don't Understand 
Theodicy: What Homer wrote after “Theiliad.”
The apostrophes are all high and mighty, but they’re no different from us. Now the single quote, that’s another story.
re: Beetle Bailey – Americans often seem to think there is a lot of anti-Americanism in the world at large, but I think most anti-Americanism really comes from other Americans.
But that sort of thing is often the case – the bitterest religious and political disputes, full of sturm and drang and hatred, are often between groups with tiny doctrinal differences. As in The People’s Front of Judaea and all that.
I remember listening to the Kingston Trio a fair amount as a kid… my older brother was given some of their albums in the late 60s. But I don’t remember that one.
I dunno, they look more like double quotes to me…
Maybe at the double quote convention we can have two single quotes in a trench coat trying to sneak in…
Could minute and second marks sneak in unnoticed?
That’s one of my all-time favorite Kingston Trio pieces. Here it is by the author, Sheldon Harnick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvTntS1Mopk
Thanks, Bookworm! I had not before seen (heard) that Sheldon Harnick version, and it was interesting to see what the Kingstons’ adaptations or styhlization were. I think this original has a stanza (or half) missing from the KT one?
I grew up with parents listening to the Kingston Trio and other folk revival bands and don’t recall that particular song. Here’s some interesting background info. It should be noted the KT may have learned the song through Tom Lehrer, and also that their version is a verse or two shorter than the original…
http://compvid101.blogspot.com/2011/03/la-plus-ca-change-plus-cest-la-meme.html
@ Grawlix – minutes and seconds? What about feet and inches… as per the Stonehenge set design confusion in Spinal Tap
I have a friend who gets the minutes and seconds markings backwards, and almost always uses them rather than spell out the word or even abbreviation. It can make for rough reading in some contexts. This is the same person who will text a question mark symbol for the word “question”, leaving the recipient to puzzle over such things as
But i still have some? for the doctor.People who have spent some time with math notations are used to the prime symbol creating a sort of altered or secondary version of something like a variable letter. So you might be using x, and also x-prime, and x-bar, and x-hat. But in ordinary usage it is also a top level grade of something being rated; like USDA meat ratings. Clearly it was the latter sense that Amazon wanted people to take for their Prime program. But with some other tech/culture things I’m not too sure. The local PBS channel has call letters WTTW (only very retroactively standing for Windows To The World) – on channel search and device setup etc there is also WTTW-Prime, and I don’t know if it’s actually meant as premium or more like shadowy-companion sense of prime.
Yes, thank you, Bookworm. I had never heard of Sheldon Harnick, let alone heard him. It was good to hear his version, but I do prefer the Kingston Trio’s stylistic additions to it, though. Ideally, IMHO, we’d have their style and all of his lyrics.
Ed, I thought I also didn’t know the name Sheldon Harnick, but reading further in that article it turns out I am acquainted with some of his Broadway work – Fiorello and Fiddler on the Roof – and then the name started to come back.
“Americans often seem to think there is a lot of anti-Americanism in the world at large…”
Living outside of the US, the most common anti-American sentiment I come across is sighing and shaking of heads.
That is, the article in Grawlix’s link.
Nancy cruises on “heh” for a lot of the time, but when Olivia Jaimes hits she hits a good one.
Urban, I would agree, with both aspects of your comment.
There are often fan controverseys when a new writer/artist takes over an established franchise, but my impression was that the blowback to Olivia Jaimes when she was starting it up was particularly tough.
If the answers to Nancy’s odd questions are in the back of the book – where are the answers to the even questions?
@Meryl A – left as an exercise for the student is I think the classical term. More realistically, in the teacher’s edition.
There definitely was a practice of giving answers in the back to some but not all problems, and one such pattern was indeed the odd-numbered ones. As Urban suggests, there would be more in a Teachers’ edition, though I haven’t seen how it is handled in contemporary textbooks. Back in the day, the Teachers’ Edition would differ in having more snow-your-work type notes for the problems, and in the main text more hints and suggestions for teaching. Or a little older, shows details of a proof that were skipped in the student edition.
snow-your-work
The Eddie Haskell method?
… and then in the cooking class you’re expected to show your wok!
And in the Tantric Sex class you are expected to slow your wank…..