P.S. This Bizarro was discussed in some detail on the Arnold Zwicky blog.
I don’t know, wouldn’t it have been simpler and just as effective to go with the standard “minstrel” spelling?
Saturday Morning OYs – January 28th, 2023
P.S. This Bizarro was discussed in some detail on the Arnold Zwicky blog.
I don’t know, wouldn’t it have been simpler and just as effective to go with the standard “minstrel” spelling?
Comics I Don't Understand 
I wasn’t sure about “tension” until I discovered that Wikipedia redirects “premenstrual tension” to “PMS”. As for hormones, the minstrel bears a remote resemblance to the “ballchinian” from MiB2.
P.S. It is so refreshing to see a good joke in “Close to Home”, especially when there’s nothing in the artwork to diminish the experience.
Well, we do see that he (it?) is wearing a watch, which is all that is needed to complete the pun; even if the drawing isn’t meant to be detailed enough to show what kind of numbering there is on the face.
The Bizarro is worthy!
@ Danny – And the resemblance to Gene Wilder is no accident.
I think I’ve already told the story of seeing signs all over Australia for XXXX and thinking thinking it was adverts for . . . well, you know . . . but turns out to be a beer (Fosters?). So, now I’ve told it again. Stop me if you’ve read this one before.
Are these comic characters still a thing? Not being ‘up’ on popular culture, etc.?
“layers like an onion”;” trail of breadcrumbs”; “be a peach” . . . is today Talk in Clichés Day?
I think the creator simply misspelled minstrel.
And yes, Archie is still a thing. It has significantly broken out of the 1950s mold.
I think the creator simply misspelled minstrel.
Quite likely. Or perhaps “minstral” was intended, to let us almost hear “menstrual”. (Well, the “a” doesn’t really change the pronunciation, but it does something at the visual/aural interface ..)
In Pratchett’s “Discworld”, the Australia analog is “Fourecks”. According to Wikipedia, XXXX is brewed by Castlemaine Perkins (now a division of the Japanese-owned company Lion).
“Fourex” was also a condom brand. This museum record for them mentions that the box also said “XXXX” with a trademark symbol.
https://mhc.andornot.com/en/permalink/artifact9734
I haven’t been able to find proof, but I have a dim memory from decades back of a comedy sketch using the punchline “Pre-Minstrel Syndrome”.
Is this it?
If you google it, there are other sites with skits and/or songs.
@ deety – If you zoom in on the original image of the Lard comic, it is clear that the artist actually did inscribe the watch with Roman numerals:
Why, so it is! Thanks, Kilby.
Yes, but is the four “IV” or “IIII”?
@ larK – Well, the four appears to be “IV“,, but the left side of the watch is incomplete: the eight (“VIII“) is missing, as is the 10 or 11.
“Not on my watch” makes me think of the improbable article (appearing in a table of contents in a magazine parody within MAD Magazine): “Sex Before Marriage? Not In My Book!” by Noah Webster.