Yesterday’s and today’s Bizarro strips:
(#1)
(#2)
(If you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoons — Dan Piraro says there are 3 in both strips — see this Page.)
Ice fishing. Two things: the synthetic compound ice fishing / ice-fishing; and what you need to know to understand the cartoon.
On the latter: you need to know the basics of fishing, with poles, hooks, lines, and bait; and that ice fishing involves fishing through a hole in the ice. You also need to recognize an ice cube tray for the freezer compartment of a refrigerator.
On the former: the usual sense of the synthetic compound ice-fishing is ‘fishing through (a hole in) ice’ (though there are the entertaining alternative possibilities ‘fishing for ice’ and ‘fishing with ice’). As is so often the case with frequently used synthetic compounds, a 2-part back-formed verb (to) ice-fish was created long enough ago for it to get an entry in NOAD2:
fish through holes in the ice on a lake or river: ice-fish for perch.
And there are plenty of cites, including a set of advice sites on How To Ice Fish for X, where X = Walleye, Crappie, Perch, Trout, Bluegill, …
Watch Repair. This one has to do with the texts on signs. A very common sort of sign has a NP text, where the NP supplies information about the place where it’s affixed — especially on shop signs, announcing the products or services supplied within: Manicurist, Title Loans, Children’s Books, …. and Watch Repair,
A less commpon, but well attested, sort of sign is an imperative VP: See the Elephant Man, Guess My Weight, Get Gas Here, and so on. Watch Repair would fit in here, an exhortation to watch the repair of something or other. As the folks in #2 are doing.
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