This is from a book, Otto: A Palindrama by Jon Agee. It was brought to our attention by (and we picked up the image from) an online book review by Gene Ambaum, attached to his Library Comic newsletter.
Pastis is trying so hard in this one, how can we pass up enjoying another look?
Unless it’s disqualified because one of the characters is consciously making the pun joke?
Falco titled this “The Red Hoodie” in his enewsletter. But do we accept that these characters would use the plain form “hood” for either of the meanings required here? Mebbe.
From Andréa, a sort of OY-Awww!
Comics I Don't Understand 
I was looking for a marquee:
Evil Radar
Live!
Thanks, Andrea, the Non Sequitur with “multi-basking” was funny and a well-executed Oy!
Sorry, Tom Falco, I can’t get myself to believe any of these guys would say it that way.
Good job from Cornered, doing what it does well.
So the Menagerie à Trois doesn’t involve a car at all?
These palindromes were well chosen!
Note that Pastis also included a Canadian province in that Pearls strip.
“These palindromes were well chosen!” Except the FEILERT one which is cheating. but *–t SAF(E) FAST is a good starting core for something bout (abritrary word spelled backword plus T to make a made up brand name)t SAFE(E) FAST (arbitrary word) doe not have enough core to justify the cheat (although sometimes with more such a cheat can work…. No lesseee
–t SAFE FAST….
NUT SAFE FAST un
–da ed NUT SAFE FAST UNDEAD….
Soda, Ed, Nut-Safe Fast Undead O.S.
…… okay….. It’s too early I need coffee
NOT SAFE, FAST ON…..
EMIT. NOT SAFE. FAST, ON TIME. (now…. something… anything won-now, pan-nap, star-rats, taxes-sex at….
Noon Taxes Emit. Not Safe. Fast on time Sex at Noon.
…. where’s that coffee?
“Note that Pastis also included a Canadian province in that Pearls strip”
Not counting ON I get 19.
So am I missing one or did he rely on ON?
It’s interesting the two letter words that aren’t state abbreviations (I’m assuming he isn’t hiding them within longer words): MY,GO, TO, AN, ON. (I’M not really fair as it’s not really a two letter word), BY, AT
Tho other two-letter words (19 of them??? or did I miss a two letter word) are state abbreviations.
“Thanks, Andrea, the Non Sequitur with “multi-basking” was funny and a well-executed Oy!”
They are having a Menagerie-a-trois.
“Sorry, Tom Falco, I can’t get myself to believe any of these guys would say it that way.”
I have no problem at all with them using Hood in both ways.
I’m 62, and I use “hood” instead of neighborhood, so I like it and get it. I guess it’s where you live and the language you pick up at the moment. Took me a minute to get “vanatee” and manatee.” Love that. And the “retire early” one is my fave of the lot. (I said “fave” instead of “favorite,” see what I did there?
Thanks, Nelson. I’m with you in sometimes saying “hood” for “neighborhood”. I’m still dubious, however, about “hood” for the red garment Sam is wearing. It has a hood; and it is a hoodie probably. (I can’t tell if it is a coat, or jacket, or sweatshirt, or anorak — but most if not all of those can be called “hoodie” when it does in fact have a hood — but I don’t think it could be shortened to “hood”).
Mitch, but you could still say that Sam is in the other person’s hood. The hood he/she is in belongs to the other one. What garment it’s attached to does not matter. That’s why the artist drew the hood up over Sam’s head.
Okay, Carl, I suppose you could still say that. But are they “hanging out in” the hood? Or just the hoodie?
Woozy, I guess you can take a half a point off for the name “Feilert”. While it’s not a common name, neither is it unpronounceable, or for some reason unbelievable as a personal / family name (thereupon used for their brand). Your recorded efforts to get around it would be nice for a time when we would be doing long-sentence palindromes, but otherwise show (as perhaps you intended) the difficulty of getting a nice punchy one for a billboard.
Now I’m getting curious what the rest of the book would be like!
I liked the “vanatee” largely because he drew the manatee as hairy and wrinkled as possible. Plus the joke reminded me of a neighbor’s license plate that said YTINAV, which was too clever by at least half.
Some good ones today. Now I’ll have to go off and listen again to Weird Al Yankovic’s “Bob”.
TWO-LETTER STATE AND TERRITORY ABBREVIATIONS
STATE (TERRITORY)
STATE (TERRITORY)
STATE (TERRITORY)
Alabama
AL
Kentucky
KY
Ohio
OH
Alaska
AK
Louisiana
LA
Oklahoma
OK
Arizona
AZ
Maine
ME
Oregon
OR
Arkansas
AR
Maryland
MD
Pennsylvania
PA
American Samoa
AS
Massachusetts
MA
Puerto Rico
PR
California
CA
Michigan
MI
Rhode Island
RI
Colorado
CO
Minnesota
MN
South Carolina
SC
Connecticut
CT
Mississippi
MS
South Dakota
SD
Delaware
DE
Missouri
MO
Tennessee
TN
District of Columbia
DC
Montana
MT
Texas
TX
Florida
FL
Nebraska
NE
Trust Territories
TT
Georgia
GA
Nevada
NV
Utah
UT
Guam
GU
New Hampshire
NH
Vermont
VT
Hawaii
HI
New Jersey
NJ
Virginia
VA
Idaho
ID
New Mexico
NM
Virgin Islands
VI
Illinois
IL
New York
NY
Washington
WA
Indiana
IN
North Carolina
NC
West Virginia
WV
Iowa
IA
North Dakota
ND
Wisconsin
WI
Kansas
KS
Northern Mariana Islands
CM
Wyoming
WY
@padraig Also because the vanatee could be both the abstract/mental vanity of the manatee admiring himself, and the concrete vanity table furniture.
deety,
No disagreement. I was expending on the idea that –t SAFE FAST is a nice core. Yes, the short palindromes are gems.
We could do SMART SAFE FAST RAMS or BUTT: SAFE FAST TUB or PITT: SAFE FAST TIP
How about Snubt as a family name of a bakery… okay, my original applies….
EV’REST: SAFE, FAST SERVE (no, that’s not good)
WEST: SAFE FAST SEW (doesn’t scan and not sure the product)
If we are making up names: ERUCET: SAFE FAST SECURE. (GNORTST: SAFE FAST STRONG) or SWENT: SAFE FAST NEWS
Or RACECAR– WENT SAFE! FAST! NEW!– RACECAR!
Of course if we are not doing our own palindromes. (and he did not invent REGAL LAGER) there’s always classics of TACO CAT, TUNA NUT, LEG GEL…. which come to think of it Agee maybe did invent those)
Hmmm…. maybe the next home-brew batch of hazy IPA I’ll call “A PIG OF A FOG: IPA”
“Now I’m getting curious what the rest of the book would be like!”
Knowing Jon Agee, probably really good. The guy’s a champ. A real natural.
“Agee’s (I Want a Dog) graphic novel fantasy adventure is written entirely in 200 palindromes created by himself and “a variety of sources”—from the names of white-skinned protagonist Otto and his little dog Pip, to a billboard advertising Lion Rock Corn Oil, to the passerby who remarks “No jazz. I prefer pizza, Jon.” The offbeat story launches when his father’s hypnotic-looking soup (“Nosh, son!”) causes Otto to imagine that he and his family have been transported to a dreamlike world largely populated by toys from his bedroom come to life. When Pip runs away, Otto pursues on a trek filled with incident—and undeniably inventive palindromes—until Otto’s roused from his dining room daydream. Otto is more wandering tabula rasa than lead player, and the paneled, muted-palette drawings feel very much in service to the what-will-they-come-up-with-next wordplay. But the concept fulfills its offbeat premise in sequences that gleefully underline the fun of a good palindrome, and the joy of finding wordplay wherever one looks—whether Otto’s visiting an art “mueseum” (“Koons nook”) or wandering through a cemetery (“Del was awled”), the results are supremely strange and funny.”
HI AL MO MA PA LA AK ME ID OR IN OH MD CO DE OK CT VA WY IL GA
but I had to use a computer to find them all – kept reading
“Oh, yeah? … OK, fine.” with two “Oh”s and not “OK”.
Great job, D McKeon! And you didn’t need to use Canada!
From a site recommended by Boise Ed, this may reflect on the Baldo:
It’s tough being in the ‘M’ or ‘N’ states, because there just so many. Lots of people think “MO” is “Montana”, for instance.
“more wandering tabula rasa than lead player”. That’s pretty much a comic tradition. Little Nemo in Slumberland is the best example. Mr. Mum in “The Strange World of Mr. Mum” is another.
I didn’t initially notice that Pig used a two-letter abbreviation as a substitute for the three-letter word “ill”. The comic could have used some of the older three-letter abbreviations for even more fun.
Brian in STL – Yes, there are 8 states which begin with M and 8 states which begin with N, although all but two N states (Nevada and Nebraska) do so because of North or New.
I have trouble falling asleep at night and memorize lists to recite in my head to keep my mind from wandering while I am trying to do so, I use how many states begin with which letter to help me keep track (and I recite the states by forward or backward alphabetical order or by location Northeast to Hawaii or Hawaii to Northeast.
(Other lists used for same – Presidents in forward and backwards order, Presidents’ wives ditto – not First Ladies as not all First Ladies are wives and not all wives are First Ladies – and of course monarchs of England/GB/UK from 1099 on – again in both directions.) Some nights I run thru all of them and am still awake.
Meryl, what was 1099 that the list starts then? How about 1066 with the Norman Invasion?
One thing I know about the states: Northernmost state: Alaska. Southernmost state: Hawaii. Westernmost state: Alaska. Easternmost state: Alaska.
Mark in Boston: Technically, that’s four things.
Or two things…
“Easternmost state: Alaska.” Only if you define the prime meridian as the eastern border. And if you did that, why on earth would anyone else feel any obligation to accept that definition.
Based on a short internet search, hat actually seems to be a contentious point. Some accept the Alaska answer, others places like the US Virgin Islands or Maine (if you want a state vs territory).
Palindrome fans should also know about this book:
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol19/iss3/5/
Dr. Awkward and Olson in Oslo
by
Lawrence Levine
Just trying to catch up — my ISP had problems and I was not able to access the net from August 1 until the evening of August 11th.
O that pesky Internet!
Dana K – Yes, of course 1066 – I have work on my brain and 1099, of course is the number on a number of IRS forms giving people’s income – have to start putting together the paperwork for our senior citizens partial real estate exemption and I have to copy the 1099 forms….