I recently ran into not just one, but a pair of (independent) comics that I just happened to completely misinterpret when I first read them. Both readings were humorous, just, well, “different”.
At first glance I thought the woman was trying to trick innocent candidates into volunteering (only first-timers would be so silly as to actually raise a hand; anyone with jury experience would know that maintaining a low profile is the best strategy to escape selection). Then I re-examined the artwork and realized that the gag was just a simple pun. Ooops.
The author wasn’t making any unusual wordplay with “a star is born“, but I mistakenly identified a joke that was not there. The German term for “cataract” is “grauer Star“, and I forgot that it’s not called that in English, and was expecting the “googly eye” to go blind in the next day’s strip. Ooops again.
Feel free to chime in with similar experiences, if you like.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I’m not sure the puzzlement has been lifted, for me. The guy with the swim gear, how did he end up there? Was it a postcard telling him “We need you for the jury pool. Report to the courthouse on such-and-such date.”? And he took note of “pool” but not “courthouse”? Or was he just here by accident, walking around looking for a place to take a swim and happening by a door in the courthouse with a sign “Jury Pool here”?
For comparison, the term in the Spanish edition is “ojito de plástico”, something like “little plastic eye”. Does anyone know whether that is just a description given for present purposes, or might be semi-standard terminology for googly eyes?`
For those interested in following the story (that can’t be what I mean), here are embedd the adjacent strips.
No, wait, those were Spanish. Here, hopefully in order, are the English ones, with the Googly Eyes. (BTW, does the term come from Barney Google and that song?)
Mitch4, “googly eyes” goes back at least to 1901, while Barney Google was not introduced until 1919.
Thanks, Usual John!
For anyone in doubt about what song I meant, here is a recording:
And a rendition accompanying an animated cartoon:
In the first one the guy is just reporting to the pool, without paying attention to what kind of pool. What if he reported to the steno pool? Or the pool parlor?
The Googly Eye thing remains a mystery to me, although I did enjoy being reminded of the song.
According to Roger Miller, you can’t go swimming in a baseball pool.
Regarding the Googly Eye, I think the comic might be referring to the plastic craft product.
Yes, I am pretty sure that the Googly eye was referring the one used in crafts and on dolls/stuffed animals.
As a child I had an Uncle Barney. Of course I always wondered if he was the one in the song with the “goo goo googly eyes” as his wife, my aunt was not twice his size.
(Actually great aunt and uncle – she was my grandmother’s sister, but they did not have children, they lived a block further from us in Brooklyn than my grandparents did and functioned as an extra grandmother/father – and she was the one who taught me my life long hobby – embroidery – back when I was 4 years old.)