Seattle sends this in: “Not too familiar with Plato & Socrates, but I believe it was hemlock that did one of them in. Five beers? I’ve got nothing…”
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It’s Roman numerals.
It is not Socrates, but a generic Roman making his fingers in the shape of a V to represent the Roman numeral.
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.
Also, why bother with the hand gesture when the bartender is facing away from you?
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”.
Comics I Don't Understand 
It’s Roman numerals.
It is not Socrates, but a generic Roman making his fingers in the shape of a V to represent the Roman numeral.
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.
Also, why bother with the hand gesture when the bartender is facing away from you?
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”.