Captions | Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Archive for the ‘Captions’ Category

Seeking a penguin caption

March 14, 2026

The New Yorker cartoon caption contest in the 3/6/25 issue features one of my totem animals, the penguin. Well, quite a lot of penguins:

The three finalists for the caption will be announced in the 3/30 issue

The caption — what the woman is saying to the man — could be about that pigeon (maybe the whole thing is stage-managed by the pigeon; or maybe it’s about a pigeon among the penguins, like a cat among the pigeons). Meanwhile, note the prevalence of penguins — driving a car, in the windows of a building, on top of the food truck; they’re everywhere.

Posted in Captions, Linguistics in the comics, Penguins | 5 Comments »

Jason Lloyd’s cartoon gay world

May 4, 2024

(or maybe his gay cartoon world. either way, this posting gets right into men’s bodies and sex between men, in plain talk, so it’s totally not for kids or the sexually modest)

Encountered on Pinterest some time ago, an item from the Jason Lloyd Art website, with a work much like this one, two men in the act (but without a visible penis, so I can show it to you here):

(#1) “Just Relax” — I think Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s 1983 hit song is an inevitable association here — is about taking pleasure in getting fucked, and it’s in JL’s least cartoonish and most realistic (but soft-focus) style, which can be either simply erotic (and touching) or actually pornographic (and arousing), depending on how you approach it

All of JL’s work is at least somewhat simplified in its lines, and most of it is straightforwardly cartooning, all of it skilled, some of it notable.

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Cartoonists, Gender and sexuality, Homosexuality, Language and the body, Language of sex, Linguistics in the comics, Male art | 2 Comments »

Captionless Psychiatrist II: 3 captions

August 13, 2022

In the August 15th issue of The New Yorker, on the cartoon caption contest page, stage 2 of the contest — three finalist captions, to be voted on by readers — for Carolita Johnson’s drawing of a cat psychiatrist with a dog patient on the couch:

(#1) Winning caption to be announced in the August 29th issue of the magazine

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Comic conventions, Gender and sexuality, Language and animals, Linguistics in the comics | Leave a Comment »

Between the glutes

July 18, 2021

(Some male body parts, depicted and discussed in plain, but not raunchy, terms. So not squarely in the Sex Zone, but not tasteful either. Caution advised for kids and the sexually modest.)

For me, it all started with a recent ad on Facebook for suit sets (sleeveless tank tops with bikini underpants) from the Fabmens company in a variety of intriguing patterns, including a (more or less) rainbow “color block” pattern seen here from the rear:

(#1) The design of the underpants strikingly accentuates the wearer’s ass / butt / bum cleft / crack / cleavage, in a way that in my queer fashion I (at least) find decidedly hot

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Dance, Language and the body, Language play, Linguistics in the comics, Music, Prosody, Signs and symbols, Underwear, Word aversion and attraction | 5 Comments »

Fired up for the grand finale

March 1, 2021

(A right-at-the-line Daily Jocks ad today, with text that takes it over the line for kids and the sexually modest.)

The ad copy from Daily Jocks:

NEW DJX CIRCUIT
Step up your party look with the reimagined black circuit look.
Pair matching Jockstrap, Harness & Shorts.

(The name of the DJX Circuit Collection is a reference to gay circuit parties — on which, see below.)

The image is of Golden Boy (from a 2/27 posting) — hyper-masculine, with a hairy, sweaty, oiled, gold-toasted body — here with a hand in his jockstrap, and posed against a golden car.

My title for the composition:

Fired up for the grand finale,
Golden Boy jams a hand in his jockstrap

To which I’ve added a salacious caption:

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Gender and sexuality, Gesture, Language in advertising, Underwear | Leave a Comment »

Golden Boy does a cock tease

February 27, 2021

(Hunky men performing suggestively in remarkable underwear, with a caption alluding to sex between men, so probably inadvisable for kids and the sexually modest.)

In an ad for a Daily Jocks late February sale, the model does a cock tease in his extraordinary golden shorts (DJX Liquid Shorts in gold, from the Circuit collection), with this ad copy:

Our ever popular Circuit Shorts, now available in metallic gold!

Stand out from the crowd in these unique liquid metal effect shorts, made from a premium foil-print fabric.

Featuring a secret pocket built into the waistband, perfect for storing your party essentials in. Also includes a drawcord at the waist for optimum fit. These shorts are designed to be form-fitting but still comfortable, with a light stretch in the fabric.

The ad’s image, with a caption of my own devising:

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Gender and sexuality, Language in advertising, Language of sex, Phallicity, Underwear | 1 Comment »

An offer of the body

September 30, 2020

(References to sex between men in plain language, so not suitable for kids or the sexually modest.)

The image from a steamy Daily Jocks ad on 9/28, with (under the fold) my caption.

(#1)

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Gender and sexuality, Underwear | Leave a Comment »

Waiting for my man

September 16, 2020

(Men’s bodies and sex between men, in street language, totally not for kids or the sexually modest.)

He’s never early, he’s always late
First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait
I’m waiting for my man

(from Lou Reed’s “I’m Waiting for the Man”)

Today’s Daily Jocks ad, for a jockstraps sale, has yet another model posed as offering himself for anal intercourse, something of a DJ specialty; these ads show really handsome male buttocks, minimally clothed, and right up against the line with porn. In today’s case, I’ve chosen to spin a whole sex story (in free verse, as a caption) about the man in the ad. Under the fold.

(more…)

Posted in Captions, Gender and sexuality, Homosexuality, Language and the body, Masculinity, Music, Underwear | Leave a Comment »

Duolingo’s Latin cheese

June 20, 2020

From Mike Pope on Facebook yesterday, this Duolingo exercise:

(#1) Mike’s note: “Duolingo is really great for learning those phrases you need every day”; word by word: ‘Marcus cheese greatly smells’ (with verb-final syntax)