Thanks, UJ. That’s one where the explanation legitimately got a chuckle out of me. It’s a good comic. I was wracking my mind for a reference to the Iliad or an Aesop story or something.
It would have been clearer if the artist had put a significant angle between the two fingers. As it is, I’d say that he’s asking for Roman-numeral-two beers.
I’ve seen better versions of this cartoon that make the customer more ‘obviously Roman-looking’, either by making him a helmeted ‘Centurion’, or Julius Caesar, with a crown of laurel leaves.
Recalling an old Britcom involving ancient Greece. A troop of soldiers sound off: “I!” “II!” “III!” “IV!” “V!” “VI!” The fourth soldier is a bit put off because the officer keeps calling him “Ivy”.
Somewhere in the world there HAS to be a family that has done this:
1st kid = Monica or Monroe
2nd kid = Bianca or Dixon
3rd kid = Trinity or Trey
4th kid = Ivy or Quade
5th kid = Vivian or Quinton
@El Cucui, it was just in the last couple of years that I realized the nickname “Trey” was often for someone with a III (“the third”) after their name.
Comics I Don't Understand 
It’s Roman numerals.
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It is not Socrates, but a generic Roman making his fingers in the shape of a V to represent the Roman numeral.
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Thanks, UJ. That’s one where the explanation legitimately got a chuckle out of me. It’s a good comic. I was wracking my mind for a reference to the Iliad or an Aesop story or something.
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It would have been clearer if the artist had put a significant angle between the two fingers. As it is, I’d say that he’s asking for Roman-numeral-two beers.
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Also, why bother with the hand gesture when the bartender is facing away from you?
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I’ve seen better versions of this cartoon that make the customer more ‘obviously Roman-looking’, either by making him a helmeted ‘Centurion’, or Julius Caesar, with a crown of laurel leaves.
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Recalling an old Britcom involving ancient Greece. A troop of soldiers sound off: “I!” “II!” “III!” “IV!” “V!” “VI!” The fourth soldier is a bit put off because the officer keeps calling him “Ivy”.
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Somewhere in the world there HAS to be a family that has done this:
1st kid = Monica or Monroe
2nd kid = Bianca or Dixon
3rd kid = Trinity or Trey
4th kid = Ivy or Quade
5th kid = Vivian or Quinton
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bensondonald (7): That sounds like a good skit. I assume the soldiers said “aye” “aye aye” and so on.
I, too, saw this cartoon and took it to be a Greek philosopher.
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Steve Martin doesn’t get a tag?
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So how would a Roman ask for 2 beers? Inquiring minds, etc…
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I thought it was five beers in honor of the Olympics.
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Old routine from Canadian comic duo Wayne and Shuster, set in ancient Rome:
Detective: I’ll have a martinus.
Bartender: You mean a martini.
Detective: If I wanted two, I’d ask for them.
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@El Cucui, it was just in the last couple of years that I realized the nickname “Trey” was often for someone with a III (“the third”) after their name.
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The joke would be better if the bartender just said, “You mean ‘martini”.”
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prempahlaj (11): how would a Roman ask for 2 beers? Maybe hold up both index fingers. Three beers? Don’t ask.
Mitch4 (14): You’re not alone.
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Waiter: One scotch and soda, and one mar-tiny in a teacup.
Bartender: Oh Christ, is that nun here again?
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Oh, goodness, MiB, I remember hearing a shaggy-dog version of that when I was a kid, but the nun’s pronunciation was MAR-ten-eye.
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