Today’s Zippy:
“I’ll take names of birds in E for $200, Alex” (eagle, eider). Oh, that’s Alex Trebek, not Pat Sajak.
The 47th parallel N. calls up nothing special that I can see (Bern, Switzerland; Xinjiang in China; northern tier states in the U.S.; Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes), but then this is Dingburg and inscrutable.
The last panel does bring up the question of what counts as a proper insult in ritual-insult games. “Your momma wears Army boots”, yes, “Your mother wears mouse ears and a pair of neon ski pants”, not so much.
On to Boxing Day, St. Stephen’s Day, and 6 weeks since my surgery, all wrapped up in one.
December 25, 2012 at 4:59 pm |
When I was in high school (American military dependent high school in Germany in 1954, mostly white boys from the Southeast) we had a fine system of ritual insults. Worst thing you could call somebody was a Yankee. Next was “eats lizards”. Next was “nookie ration card stealer”. I done forgot it from there.
Tomorrow the 26th is St. Stephen Protomartyr. As Pogo observed, good King Sauerkraut looked out / on his feets uneven.
December 25, 2012 at 6:39 pm |
There’s a lot to be said about ritual insults. Sometimes they’re a small closed class used in a particular community. Other times creativity is valued, but within narrow limits. And so on.
December 25, 2012 at 6:44 pm
All of the above, in our case. We still do it, or did. Tom’s holed up in a big stone house around Uvalde. Jimmy was killed in a traffic accident a few years ago. Never did find Wally.
December 25, 2012 at 6:25 pm |
Oh! parallels of latitude! I simply didn’t get that panel when I read it this morning. Then again Zippy often leaves me scratching my head.
December 25, 2012 at 6:34 pm |
Nothing ensures that this sense of parallel is relevant here. It’s the magic of Zippy.
December 26, 2012 at 7:38 am
Hence the not-infrequent dialogue at our breakfast table:
J: Zippy is weird today.
R (glances out window): And the sun rose in the east…