Author / Kilby

by Kilby

Sometimes “translation” means moving to a different place

Here are two more instances of creative translation in “Macanudo”.

The Spanish dialog means: “I wish the leaves had eyes.” – “Ha ha ha! The things you say!“

In both cases the gag is a simple (auditory) pun: in English twofold on “leave(s)” (noun/verb); in Spanish threefold on “ojalá“=”wish”, “hojas“=”leaves”, and “ojos“=”eyes” (one verb and two nouns; all three words sound very similar).

In this second case the difference between the two language versions is more extreme:

In Spanish: “Do you like it when I call you a lunatic?” – “Yup.“

Perhaps the translator did not trust English-speaking readers to recognize the “lunar” etymology of “lunatic”, or maybe she simply loved the song lyrics more.

P.S. Several months ago I looked up the meaning of the name “macanudo“, discovering that it meant “a person or thing considered admirable or excellent because of its positive qualities“. Besides being an eminently appropriate name for the comic strip, this also explains why it is the name of a cigar brand. I was in Copenhagen (on vacation) just a few days before I created this post, and just happened to run into this shop:

by Kilby

Astronomical Golfing Errors

Jack Applin submitted this B.C. strip as a CIDU, noting that “Grog hit the ball to … Saturn? Let’s ignore the [80 minute] light speed delay [one way!]. What is that film around the planet and rings? Atmosphere? But Saturn is a GAS GIANT — all that we see is atmosphere inside the rings!“

The obvious astronomical destination would have been a black hole, but that would have been impossible to convey to readers, and the closest known black hole is 1500 light years away.

My guess is that Mason chose Saturn because it is the only planet that could possibly be recognized in comic strip resolution. Most papers that still print daily comics do so in monochrome, which could seriously deteriorate the carefully shaded images in the first three panels.

P.S. Just a week later, a very similar gag appeared in The Wizard of Id:

Both strips have a long history of using golf gags, but a little more temporal separation between these two might have been advisable.

by Kilby

Tundra links go ice cold

Boise Ed attempted to submit a Tundra comic, using a link from The Seattle Times. Reading between the lines of his comment (see below), the comic he meant was probably all or part of this one:

Here’s what Boise Ed wrote: He says “a while ago,” but I think the walrus joke appeared just a couple of days earlier. There doesn’t seem to be an accessible archive where I can check on that…. Is there any other source to see the Tundra strip?

The answer is (probably) “No, there isn’t.” The problem is that both The Seattle Times and the official Tundra website provide only the strip for the current day. Past Tundra archives are only available on a pay-to-view basis (to Patreon members). This means that any Tundra link sent to CIDU has an expiration limit of (at most) 24 hours, which renders those links useless for all practical purposes. Therefore, if you want to submit a Tundra comic, don’t depend on the link: send a screenshot, or attach a graphic file.

P.S. The same problem exists for all Arcamax comics. The Arcamax links are not quite so ephemeral, but they do expire after just a couple of weeks, so it’s not a good idea to use them for submitting CIDUs, nor for embedding any images in comments.

by Kilby

Getting progressively older

This Baby Blues strip was published back in early May (when the tulips really were in bloom), then MyActualRealName submitted it as a CIDU in early June, so it seems perfectly appropriate to post it here in early August:

M.A.R.N. commented: “Isn’t Hammie like six, and will have seen her like this about her tulips, and when toothpaste is on sale, many times?”

Perhaps, but I think the authors just didn’t have any other option, since the resident “baby” (Wren) is only about two years old, and thus far too young to deliver Hammie’s the reaction in the third panel. In addition, since the characters have been getting older (but only very slowly), it might be difficult to preserve exact consistency to their “current” ages. I don’t follow “Baby Blues”, so I can’t judge how well the continuity has been handled in the past.

by Kilby

The Mercenary Spirit

An anonymous contributor submitted this Argyle Sweater, commenting that “adding a Spirit sign would have made this funny. Without that, I’m just lost“, which was a comment that I didn’t understand.

For those who might not be able to intuit the Spanish, she’s saying “But, I am Dora“. Even without that, I thought the point of the joke was fairly clear, since many airlines now charge for all sorts of services that used to be automatic and complimentary. However, it turned out that Spirit Airlines (a no frills company with which I have never had the misfortune to fly) was the first airline to charge for carry-on baggage, even though there now are other companies that have adopted same the odious practice.

P.S. The Argyle Sweater really should get a prize for the MoSt AnNoYiNg FoNt in use by any newspaper comic.

by Kilby

The difference between the men and the boys…

Tim Harrod submitted this “Wizard of ID” strip, noting that “…the writer seems to think that Moses was a wizard“. I sure hope that the theology in B.C. isn’t starting to leak over into the Kingdom of Id.

I think the joke in the final panel is clear, but I don’t understand the gag in the second “throwaway” panel, unless it’s a topical reference to some scene in a movie. The part I liked best was the snide adjective in the fifth panel: “adult” appears to be referring to the juvenile wizards in Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books, who all use dinky little wands instead of “manly” staves. On the other hand, the Wizard’s traditional implement has always been one of those wands, as we saw in the “I’m stumped” post just last month: