
Trying to tell me those are the only choices?

This next one depends on remembering when Lars von Trier and friends declared the Dogme 95 principles for filmmaking. (And probably does not require remembering the Kevin Smith film Dogma.)
With this December 2011 Brevity, we’re getting a bit into OYs.
And we interrupt our parade of Oldies to drop in a Duffy Lug Nuts on the same theme from current GoComics publication:
Is that a child? Is that an elf?? What is he doing, at all? What is that teal-blue highlight on the truck-tractor?
No, really, who is the Santa, and who are the critters? And what are they taking turns at?
(And is this one of those “It would be perfectly clear to you if you just had the first clue about popular culture” cases?)
Yes, this appeared on Christmas Sunday. Yes, I know there is a performer named Mariah Carey. Is this what she looks like?
We start off with a twofer on the same pun idea:
That’s sticking it to them! (or not)
We picked up this Wiley Miller one from the Why Evolution Is True website where it was sent in by a reader.
This Rubes from Andréa makes a deprecated usage exactly right for once!
Birthday note!
Today is the 200th for César Franck.
Here is a performance of his Violin Sonata in A:
Usual John provided this mystery from Six Chix. Why robots? Why “back to the land” when their ancestors weren’t farmers? Much to puzzle over here.
Thanks to Bill R, who says “It’s like they’re daring us to figure it out”. Which is why there is a CIDU category (“tag”) on this, along with the “(Not a CIDU)” for the OYs list in general. Look, don’t question it too hard. Oh, and it’s not a pun really, but gets an OY as a language-related item. Also this list was sitting bare too long …
The usage they’re disputing over was taught in my schooldays as one of “those common mistakes to be avoided”.
OK, I think (but am not positive) that I get the alternate meaning the joke depends on — from too many crime shows, the best deals a defendant’s lawyer might hope to extract from a prosecutor would involve setting no additional jail time, so the defendant gets to “walk away” or “take a walk”.
First I thought the outside guy was wearing an odd bathrobe; but throw in his laurel wreath and I guess he is at a toga party. But not the inside guy. Oh well, it doesn’t seem to affect the joke.
Possible cross-comic banter, based on spelling of the name?
Maybe it’s a genuine CIDU? But I think that punch line is all there is.
I think we all can sympathize with Duane’s motivations for his … little prank. And that’s the main joke, which is not in need of explication; so this isn’t quite a CIDU. But if we wanted to get into it a little, we could ask whether he’s getting revenge more on the kid or on the mom. And at the practical level, what does it mean that he still has the barber’s customer-apron as he’s leaving?
I guess this Working Daze fits an offshoot of the “CIDU-Quickie” category, where the joke is utterly incomprehensible until you are shown (or realize you already know) an instance of something-that’s-going-around, and then that entirely exhausts the mystery.
Linked here is a compilation of what lies behind the joke. (I can’t watch this all the way thru.)