(If you think the Carolyn Hax column where this appeared might explain it, you can try this freebie link and read it for yourself. But I thought the connection was barely discernible.)
Afterthought. — This had already been in the queue for about a week, with the title “Whatting their whats?” as still shown, when I happened on this Frog Applause and wanted to postscript it for the wording.
This seems to work from a double mis-aiming:
This one got a chuckle from Chemgal. While not really a CIDU, it does have me scratching my head to see if I can remember where “There can only be one” could come from. Oh, you say there are multiple sources? No, but there can only …
Thanks to Rob for this Stahler:
And Rob steps right back in with this 1-and-done:
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.
Huh? Two-way hostage?
The cartoon, like most of the Nick and Zuzu panels, was published to accompany a Carolyn Hax advice article at WaPo. (Hope you are not over your free-view limit!) In this case, while it doesn’t fully explain that phrase, it does give away the situation that could lead Nick to think of it that way.
In your circle of friends, child-raising experts, and ethicists, what generally is the next step in thinking from that kind of statement?
And this Whamond was picked up from Arnold Zwicky’s blog, which also discusses the “grammar police” construction for our convenience.
From Andréa.
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Somewhat slapdash Shakespeare but what the hey?
And here is the shocking exposé!
This time the cartoon should for sure be taken on its own, and doesn’t need the Hax column.
In this age of “Use your inside voice” it’s good to know where the range of voice options reaches.
A bit of a LOL-Eww:
When we first saw this, it was in the black-and-white version sent in the Bliss daily email, and our first thought was to look forward to the color version and see how the notorious Twitter “bluecheck” verified-user symbol would be rendered. Not blue, in the event.
And a bit of LOL-Cynical:
In case you didn’t know, the “Nick and Zuzu” comic panels run as accompaniment to an advice column by Carolyn Hax. Sometimes they really depend on the writing and are totally CIDU without it. Other times, the comic is quite independent of the column which sparked it; and that is the case here. And the cartoons appear elsewhere, where the column is not available or even mentioned, such as GoComics.
But in case you are interested: the Hax column which had this as its illustration was at this link, which has a paywall but should allow some free visits.
f
Both from Andréa.
A Halloween left-behind LOL.
If only!
In case you didn’t know, the “Nick and Zuzu” comic panels run as accompaniment to an advice column by Carolyn Hax. Sometimes they really depend on the writing and are totally CIDU without it. Other times, the comic is quite independent of the column which sparked it; and that is the case here. And the cartoons appear elsewhere, where the column is not available or even mentioned, such as GoComics.
But in case you are interested: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/advice/carolyn-hax-how-to-tell-dad-that-you-want-to-dispense-with-the-unpleasantries/2020/11/05/f85f3d90-1578-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html
Submitted by Kilby:
Comics I Don't Understand 