Tag / Weingartens & Clark

by EditorM

The Pillsburys on the TWSS trope

Okay, I get the general plot of how they’re both mutually surviving (or evading) some sort of sincerity tests. But no, what is the role of the TWSS trope? Is it a save? But in panel 2 it seems, on the contrary, to deepen the trouble, since Lucretia seems not to know the trope … or does she? But in panel 5 she provides a perfect set-up line for the trope as comeback, so she must know it. (And BTW what in fact is the bit about Fiddler getting at? What / how much is the supposed quote?)

I was going to attribute the original TWSS pattern to somebody, but didn’t know who. The entry at dictionary.com includes a surprisingly discursive article illustrating the usage and tracing the origins, after providing the basic compact definition: “That’s what she said is a form of innuendo that takes innocent statements out of context and makes them sound lewd or sexual.” They first find it in a 1973 book, which however calls it an ancient one-liner.

by EditorM

Firsts

This is the “Semi-CIDU” marked for this post. It’s Cynthia’s friend who says “Lots of firsts that day” but mostly it was Cynthia herself experiencing those firsts.

BTW, what do you think of the drawing techniques used to show us the girls are their younger selves in the last two panels?

[This was a Friday strip. The Saturday strip that follows continues the flashback, and gives an explicit answer to the Semi-CIDU question we posed; so we’re withholding that one until people have had a chance to comment on this post, and then will put it in comments.]

Bonus Barney. This is the “CIDU only because of a cultural reference you may not already know” marked for this post.

If you’re familiar with the story of Boggs, do you think the summary in the fourth panel is seriously in need of some amplification/clarification?

by multipleciduers

Saturday Morning OYs – December 3rd, 2022

Let’s see, where is the checkbox for category “Food Neurosis Puns”?

The reader sending in this Barney & Clyde wrote: Heh heh, she said “stern”!

Vintage Funky from this week, recycled from when it was a gag strip.

Callback to Bizarro’s “Casual Frida” from October?

by multipleciduers

Saturday Morning OYs – November 12th, 2022

And here’s another Lard for you for this week!

I wanted to say something like “This is not just a pun, but etymologically correct!”. It turns out something like that is justified, but not quite so simple and direct. Both Etymonline and Dictionary.com recognize a verb maze or amaze meaning “to daze, perplex, or stupefy” or “overwhelm or confound with sudden surprise or wonder,” but seem unclear on how it is related to the noun meaning  “labyrinth, baffling network of paths or passages” . But yes, it is related, some way.

Oh gosh, and here’s this entry mazy (adj.) “like a maze, winding, intricate,” 1570s, from maze (n.) + -y (2).! Brings back writing a paper on Book 9 of Paradise Lost, full of narrative about “the mazy serpent”.

The pun is not new, but as an oldie it is a goody!

Truss didn’t make it as prime minister long enough to outlast a head of lettuce, or the lead time for this comic.

by zbicyclist

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, November 6, 2022

Kilby sends this in, wondering why it was run on September 11, 2022. There are some standard characters (Ahab, Diogenes, Napoleon), among others. I’ve earnestly tried to figure out the two characters in the upper right corner of the 2nd panel, but frankly I don’t get it.

Kilby also notes that November 6th is the 50th anniversary of Frank and Ernest. Their Wikipedia entry has some interesting notes. The strip is distributed in Spanish as Justo y Franco. The strip depends so heavily on wordplay that I wouldn’t think it would translate well.

But by hitting the random button at GoComics, I see many that are understandable in any language.

This Frank and Ernest is a CIDU to me. 8 isn’t straight.

For obsessives who feel you need to see the Carolyn Hax column this accompanied, here is a guest link. For the rest of you, the connection to the cartoon is just that the advice question involves parent/child conflict.

Don’t you want to hear a few more rrrrr’s in that?

Ludwig is such a patient little guy! This semi-LOL is in truth mostly an Awww for the ailurophile crowd. And the White Meat Chicken Florentine from Fancy Feast Medleys in the 3oz can with green label is a standby in the Mitch4 household.

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, October 23rd, 2022

As we have asked a few times before, Does this Bliss cartoon work better in b/w or in color?


(As we probably have not asked before, Would this comparison slider presentation work better in this side-by-side format or in a vertical division?)

Our own Zbicyclist mentions the resemblance of the b/w paintings above to some works his family saw on a visit to the Fundació Joan Miró (Museum) in Barcelona, which features work by Miró as well as other 20th and 21st Century artists. This shot from the #FundacióMiró Foundation’s Instagram shows a work which was also shown in Zbicyclist’s family visit photo; the dot in the museum is either black or a very dark blue.

But then, don’t you also think “Such peacefulness”?

Perhaps a bit CIDU-LOL?

And another food-centered cartoon (older – you may have seen before):

I can forgive mispelins in comic strips, but the sloppy editing in the regular news (and the sloppy headlines) depress me.

Andréa sends in this update about Mutts:

Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts has a new look: “MUTTS might look a little different to you this week and in the future. If so, it’s because I’ve loosened up my art style, using very little preliminary pencils (in some cases none) and going straight to drawing in ink. It gives the strip more of the power and intimacy of a preliminary sketch, which I love. I’m also freehand lettering the dialogue”

Refusal with very good reason! (Awarded Arlo)

And here is the effect of his overactive pineal:

Back to Bliss!

by EditorM

Saturday Morning OYs – September 10th, 2022

Several OYs from Andréa who says “Today must be Pun Day, rather than Labor Day . . . altho some of these puns could be considered quite labored . . .”.

Pedants / experts, have at it!

And another batch stamped “From Andréa” :

by EditorM

Saturday Morning OYs – September 3rd, 2022

We’ve previously complained about how they use Horace and his characterization to get away with not managing to find the right level to pitch to. But that objection aside, this is a pretty nice pun!

My friend Alice used to … oh never mind!

Dilbert Classics has been running a storyline about a new employee without a head (Microsoft hired his head, which is in a jar at their headquarters). But he has a name.

by EditorM

Saturday Morning OYs – August 20th, 2022

Thanks to Targuman for this homonym-based OY. And for anyone who might not catch the almost-quotation, he offers these tips: See Mark 6:36 // Matt. 16:26.

The squirrel gives one popular musical association to this city. But some of us would go for “Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again!”.

Hmmm …

Kilby sends this one in, with a panel by panel dissection.

Panel four is definitely an OY (and the raccoon agrees).

Panel three is misinformation:

cross-species transmission is widespread.

See, for instance, here:

> > https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/08/05/1114357154/how-many-animal-species-have-caught-covid-first-global-tracker-has-partial-answe

Panel two is borderline Op-Ed.

Panel one is just plain INSANE!