Category / Synchronicity

by EditorM

Saturday Morning OYs – August 13th, 2022

Thanks to Le Vieux Lapin for this one, which is some sort of word-play on language-related terms, so what is there not to oy?

For Argyle Sweater, one bad pun deserves another. The actual Pony Express is famous, but only existed for a short time, from from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861. Pricing didn’t help (The initial price was set at $5 per 1⁄2 ounce, then $2.50, and by July 1861 to $1. Normal mail service was $0.02 then.). The service continually lost money, and closed two days after the transcontinental telegraph connected Omaha with Sacramento.

Now we’ll segue into some that miss a bit. Kilby reminds us that Segway ceased production in June, 2020. One might ponder the various reasons why the Segway, introduced in 2001 to great fanfare, was a failure (and by the end, so out of mind it might have merited a geezer alert), while now e-bikes are flying off the shelves and electric scooters are commonly seen.

Well, there are some judgement calls here; let”s see if you agree. The “just ok” is enough to qualify it as a pun or Oy; but isn’t especially good, or enough to make it a funny Oy. However, the second shot, using the idea of “settling for [smthg]”, does make it work, and earns at least a chuckle. (No comment on the squirrel’s addition.)

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For those of us who’ve served as executor of someone’s estate that wasn’t tied up very well, this will bring back painful memories. Painful OYs here.

And just when we were making plans to officially retire the Synchronicity category, this pair comes along within a week of each other with the same double pun. One factor is that this one was already published here, in last week’s OY list:

But this one is fresh:

by phsiiicidu

Crossover Synchronicity

Thanks to Powers, who wrote:

Extra synchronic because they appear kitty-corner from each other in my Sunday paper.

And then there was Rubes from the very next day (Monday 20 June), which seemed to combine the two and made me wonder what was going on.

And just for a kicker, Monday’s Ziggy continued the theme: 

Editorial comment on “kitty-corner”: this Anglicism, also spelled “catercorner” and various other variations, apparently comes from the dots on a four in dice or cards being, well, kitty-corner from each other, plus the French word “quatre” for four, at one point also spelled “catre”. Given that the Brits have “centre” and the like, the mystery to me is why it’s not “catre-corner”.

by EditorM

Saturday Morning Oys – June 4th, 2022

This Mother Goose and Grimm is analyzed at Arnold Zwicky’s blog.

I also posted this F-Minus, with remarks, in a comment on that same Zwicky blog entry.

Several selections contributed by Andréa coming up:

“I KNEW IMMEDIATELY WHO THIS WAS, EVEN BEFORE READING THE CAPTION . . . DOES THAT MAKE ME A GEEZER??”

Synchronicity–

This Bizarro from Andréa is also taken up under the Arnold Zwicky analytical microscope. I like his term “a Desert Crawl cartoon” for the main trope here.

“SYNCHRONICITY – ABOUT *NOT* LEARNING A LESSON . . .”

And one final OY contribution:

by Mitch4

I always speak like this?

Thanks to Kilby, who saw the rerun Cul de Sac, was reminded of the recent Jesus and Mo, and was led to ask Jesus reads “Cul de Sac”?

If you enjoy Jesus and Mo?, then for some science?, and a lot of opinion?, you might enjoy the Why Evolution is True blog from retired University of Chicago Professor Jerry Coyne?, who often prints in the blog fresh Jesus and Mo strips he receives from them?

P.S. This ginger guy is Mo? He’s a big help with email?

by EditorM

A sync crossover

Andréa noted these two rerun strips appearing on the same day last week. Not exactly the usual synchronicity, where two comics make the same joke or take up the same (unexpected) topic. Rather, one is making a direct reference to the other.

This Boondocks comes at the end of a week series in which Grandpa expects Huey to help out with household chores, specifically mowing the lawn, and Huey likens this to illegal child labor practices and even to slavery. Here he returns to the child labor idea, and brings in the example of American companies using exploitative practices, including child labor, in their overseas facilities or those of their suppliers. And what is his news source? Another comic strip!

Here is the week of Doonesbury on this theme, concluding with the one appearing in rerun on the same day as the Boondocks above.

by EditorM

Barney & Clyde & Geezers & Zippy & Bill-the-Cat

B&C have been going in for geezer / boomer / retro references a bit lately.

The sender of the Spy v Spy one remarks Prohias stopped drawing “Spy vs. Spy” in 1987, and died in 1998. § Wikipedia claims that the series is still “ongoing”, but I still wonder whether the character in the fourth panel would be recognized by anyone under the age of 50.

Meanwhile, back at the Zippy, more geezer callout action:

William Bendix was among the actors I came to know of from 1950s or early 60s television sitcoms or sometimes drama series ; and found out later had been minor or major movie stars in the 1940s or early 50s. Fred MacMurray, Donna Reed, Raymond Burr…

And from Brian in STL we have a synchronicity of Bill the Cat references: