@ UV – I agree. I got misdirected by “dactyl” (“clause” or “foot”), and did not notice the “re-” until Darren mentioned it. I don’t think Wayraro intended this as a political aspersion, but given all the recent instances of redactions in the news, it is certainly possible that they formed the inspiration for, if not the target of the comic.
Can anyone think of six words, using only the letters “ a c e m n o r s u v w x z “, which would make sense when inserted into that sentence? All the other letters have ascenders or descenders, which do not appear in the dialog.
P.S. Dave – I’m still trying to figure out whether that “b” (before the comma) was intentional, or just a typo.
Kilby says: P.S. Dave – I’m still trying to figure out whether that “b” (before the comma) was intentional, or just a typo.
My take was that Dave thought he recognized some other commenter as a person he knows in real life (or anyway some other perhaps also virtual context), and was trying to ask without giving the whole game away, by using some private-joke references and abbreviations. Maybe someone was nicknamed “ambidexter”.
Personally, I thought Dave’s intended question (presumably directed at Whitey) was supposed to be “You am, is you?“, twisting both word order and verb conjugation in a way that would make Walt Kelly (if not Yoda) proud.
When I saw “Pteredactyl” I thought it would make sense if what he said were something like “All I can legally say is that I wasn’t there when the stuff hit the fan and I certainly wasn’t around at the time we are talking about, so I guess there is no more to say to you.”
P.P.S. Oops. I adapted Dave’s “aces” to form “ices” (to match “snow”), but I forgot that “i” is not in the letter set. So the second one doesn’t work, unless perhaps “ices” is changed to something like “rum“.
I apologize to any readers who were scratching their heads in response to Wednesday’s gag, and I tip my hat to those who pondered it long enough to find the punchline in the caption box.
Comics I Don't Understand 
“How can I hide the word ‘redact’ in this…?”
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Darren’s comment would explain the misspelling.
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I don’t think it’s a misspelling, I think it’s the joke.
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@ UV – I agree. I got misdirected by “dactyl” (“clause” or “foot”), and did not notice the “re-” until Darren mentioned it. I don’t think Wayraro intended this as a political aspersion, but given all the recent instances of redactions in the news, it is certainly possible that they formed the inspiration for, if not the target of the comic.
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Redactions aren’t political, they’re legal. OK, so most politicians are lawyers, but still… there is a difference.
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I’m putting my foot down on this h(e)ated conversation.
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You amb, is you?
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Can anyone think of six words, using only the letters “ a c e m n o r s u v w x z “, which would make sense when inserted into that sentence? All the other letters have ascenders or descenders, which do not appear in the dialog.
P.S. Dave – I’m still trying to figure out whether that “b” (before the comma) was intentional, or just a typo.
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*looking for the “b” before the comma
Did the file get switched?
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@ Voodoo Chicken – That “b” is in Dave’s comment, not in the comic’s dialog.
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Just being anapest…
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Kilby says: P.S. Dave – I’m still trying to figure out whether that “b” (before the comma) was intentional, or just a typo.
My take was that Dave thought he recognized some other commenter as a person he knows in real life (or anyway some other perhaps also virtual context), and was trying to ask without giving the whole game away, by using some private-joke references and abbreviations. Maybe someone was nicknamed “ambidexter”.
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Personally, I thought Dave’s intended question (presumably directed at Whitey) was supposed to be “You am, is you?“, twisting both word order and verb conjugation in a way that would make Walt Kelly (if not Yoda) proud.
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Maybe so, but the mystery now is to make use of Dave’s subsequent clue Just being anapest…
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The obvious assumption is that the cat is operating the keyboard unsupervised.
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Dave is just running with what Kilby started when he said, “I got misdirected by “dactyl” (“clause” or “foot”)”
Was no one paying attention in English class?
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Oh, and of course directly responding to Whitey when they said, “I’m putting my foot down”
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While I recognize anapest and dactyl as names for (poetic) feet, what would amb. be? Amphibrachic?
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Iambic Pentameter?
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Thanks, Wendy! Yes, of course a response to You amb, is you? could be Yes, I amb.
(Was there a trochee I missed along the way?)
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btw, one possible expansion is “ones and aces were over, but sevens mean war”, not that this makes a great deal of sense.
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When I saw “Pteredactyl” I thought it would make sense if what he said were something like “All I can legally say is that I wasn’t there when the stuff hit the fan and I certainly wasn’t around at the time we are talking about, so I guess there is no more to say to you.”
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“All I can say legally is life and love were great, but the meteor comes.”
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Holding to the letter shape limitation (as Dave’s did): All I can legally say is …
…eons and eras were omens,
but waves cause wars.
…snow and ice were crazes,
but savor ocean scum.
P.S. I put the set (acemnorsuvwxz) into the “Anagram Server” and it generated about 400 words with four to six letters.
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P.P.S. Oops. I adapted Dave’s “aces” to form “ices” (to match “snow”), but I forgot that “i” is not in the letter set. So the second one doesn’t work, unless perhaps “ices” is changed to something like “rum“.
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Looking at Wayno’s blog on Saturday, here’s what he had to say about this one:
I apologize to any readers who were scratching their heads in response to Wednesday’s gag, and I tip my hat to those who pondered it long enough to find the punchline in the caption box.
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Another ‘pt’ joke . . . which is also an ‘EW’ . . .
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Good one, Andréa!
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