by EditorM

¿Qué quiere decir esta palabra “significa”?

I.e. , What does this word “means” mean? Or maybe What does this Spanish word “significa” mean?

In the Spanish version, Baldo’s question in panel 3 ¿Qué significa eso? he speculatively answers for himself with sort of paraphrases of Sergio’s [Papi’s] saying from panel 2, but tending more toward argumentative applications to his current situation. When Sergio answers in panel 4 by just repeating the saying verbatim and asserting that is the meaning, he is bringing down Baldo’s flights of fancy and special pleading by just repeating the idea, for an “it is what it is” effect. All of this makes easy sense.

In the English version, Sergio’s saying in panel 2 is originally presented in Spanish, then repeated in panel 4 in English translation. So It means … in panel 4 amounts to It would be translated as … . Then when we look at Baldo’s What does that mean … in panel 3, is he still only asking for significance and situational applications (which he then supplies, sometimes ironically)? Or is he in any part asking for help in translation? (Since a translation is what he gets.)

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, September 26th, 2021 

This Bliss is something of an LOL-Eww.

Sent in as a LOL or semi CIDU-LOL by Chak, who asks “And do we think the bowling bag is important here?”

How annoying, to be mis-speciesed!

by EditorM

Dressed to Protect

From Chak, who asks “Is this missing a caption?  Is he her father or her witsec protector?”

For anyone who hasn’t seen this info before, the “Nick and Zuzu” comics by Nick Galifianakis are published first as illustrations for a Washington Post advice column by Carolyn Hax. And they don’t have captions there, nor when appearing in GoComics or other comics outlets; though the Hax column headline is sometimes close enough to work as a title for the comic. However, his drawings don’t always adhere closely to the content of the column.

So viewing the column with this illustration in place will spoil enough to answer one of Chak’s questions, but will not explain everything about the scene and the characters’ appearance. CIDUers who don’t mind a half-spoiler could check out the original column with illustration, or if that presents paywall problems then try this alternate link.

by EditorM

Illustrated songs Dept.

Hopefully a step above demonstrative-gestural lip syncing, the illustrated song comic can combine the best features of geezer nostalgia, punning, and comic drawing. A nice touch here is that Rubin combines the song’s key line that everyone remembers with its somewhat less-familiar title.

Bonus! On Twitter they provide a bit of animation with another line from the song. Actually, one in the tweet text, and another as an animated header – it may be lost to the crop here. But try clicking *once* on the “play” icon and it may show properly.

by EditorM

No shift, Sherlock

Sent by Michelle, as a LOL/OY maybe (she says “Love this one!”). But it is sort of unclear to me! Yes, of course I recognize the underlying pun on the modern expression for dismissing something as obvious. But I don’t quite get the “No shift” as applied in context to this scene.

Sadly, I’m missing something. I don’t see what the mystery or investigation is here – when Holmes says “We must get to the bottom of this”, what is the *this*? And if “no shift” is meant to be part of the answer, is it that the car was built leaving out the transmission; or that the transmission has been stolen; or just that the driver failed to shift when they should have? Also, why are the wheels splayed? Is that just his stylization of “very old model car”? Or is it meant to show there was an accident?

Maybe I’m just expanding on “Comic I don’t understand” to carp on aspects of the cartoon. Sorry, but that happens sometimes, I guess.

BTW, there are no spoilers for my questions at the Tomversations blog entry, but there is an amusing background note about his previous attempt to use this idea, and reliance on a different meaning of “shift”.

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, September 19th, 2021

Ah, so young to be falling into the essence of Meta!

Cul de Sac
Mannequin on the Moon

And thanks to Shamie F who sent it in and says: “I think it has something to do with a flying cup looking for a flying saucer. If that’s the whole point then OY!  I’m thinking I must be missing something though.” We think the default tag here would be LOL moreso than OY (a flying saucer is called that just because of resemblance to an ordinary saucer), but how does the gang weigh in on the “is that all there is?” factor?

Adult Children
Tomversations

Here’s one from BillR:

Sp;eedbump
Andertoons

Very smart to use Peter’s name – the others are more easily identifiable.

But on the griping side of things, the wolf I think did not emerge a winner from any of their encounters. Maybe it depends on versions of the stories.

Thanks to Michelle for this LOL bit of pained irony:

Batch Rejections
And a LOL from Michelle:
In the Bleachers
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