Another balloon-free classic featuring teenage angst from 1999. Sometimes, when you’re a cartoonist, you just have to laugh. Laugh ruefully, I mean. This cartoon reminds me of another I drew a few years back. Arlo is working a crossword puzzle and is groping for a four-letter word that means Hawaiian folk dance. Through four panels, he’s stumped, and oblivious to Janis gyrating in the background, similar to Arlo in the second panel above. After the cartoon appears in newspapers, I get a snippy email from someone who writes, “I don’t know what that woman in the background is supposed to be doing, but it sure isn’t the hula.” As Steve Martin might have said at one time, “Well, excuuuuse me!” What is about comic strips that make some people so serious?
153 responses to “Comforting Thought”
OK, I get it now.
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2010/04/30#.U0gF0WdOX5A
Gotta love the way the usual suspects reacted to Janis being in her underwear under a sheet. Funny, Janis is not drawn voluptuously like, say, Jen or Brandy in “Liberty Meadows” but she seems to get the guys hot and bothered.
@ Lilyblack – She’s a woman. That’s about all it takes for many.
Since there are Villagers from all corners of this continent I am hoping someone can provide enlightenment regarding a comment from the Dark Side regarding today’s A&J. Does anyone have a clue what “dooryard” means?
In East Texas, a dooryard is a grass-less, raked area in place of the front yard, sometimes enclosed. I suppose some could have grass, but I have never seen one so described.
Webster just days “a yard into which a door opens,” but that is not how it is used here.
A Maine term for front yard or driveway.
Boy: Who drove into the dooryard?
Girl: Its my folks!
Boy: Oh no!
Girl: Quick! Put your clothes back on before they come in!!
It was in use in the Eastern states in the mid 19th century. See Walt Whitman, 1865, ‘When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d’
Me again: low key tech to be grateful for: Moments ago I looked at the time in the LR corner of this screen. 3:11 pm. Oh, no. Friday Favorites has already started. Maybe Steve Staruch has already played my request! Went to MPR site, clicked classical, clicked Playlist, no, the second piece had just finished and neither of the two was mine. [Mine is a G&S chorus.] Nice to be able to check things like that.
Nodak Wayne. Thanks for that info. I knew Dave was retiring but did not know the other two names. Wife used to watch the program often.
Lilyblack. Janis has curves when JJ thinks she needs them.
Lily, how do you know there is underwear being worn under the sheet? That was why I asked Mindy what she normally wears while aerially assaulting dug-in bamboo positions. 😉
And as far as Janis’s VQ (Voluptuousness Quotient) is concerned, remember that, at least in the male brain, what is imagined can be even more exciting than what is seen.
Along those lines…does anyone remember what tattoo Mary Lou has…and where on her body it is located?
Damn you GR, now I have to search for something else!
I’m still using the word “dooryard” here in NH, and didn’t see anything odd about it. Maybe I’m behind the times … better ask my friends if they speak of their dooryards. eMb, you are right on the ball with your very appropriate quotation.
“Little flowers growing in the dooryard,” “the small children were playing in the dooryard”. Can be front door or back … but implies a small, homey house and yard. A mansion wouldn’t have one, but a farmhouse or log cabin would, or would have years ago.
Thanks for all of the dooryard info. It’s a term I don’t recall ever hearing before, coming from Midwest stock and living most of my life in the Southwest. I may have read some of those literary quotes at one time but I don’t remember having done so. But then the ole’ rememberall ain’t quite what it used to be.
Ditto, eMb & Charlotte/NH; you have increased my vocabulary that much. My total time in New England falls short of a year and was composed primarily of vacation trips as a kid…and I do not recall hearing the term.
This can be a truly eclectic site as when we swing from Janis’ underwear (or possible lack thereof) to new vocabulary….
Nodak Wayne 🙂 Hint:
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2010/06/30#.U0hzfmdOX5A
It must have been really small, judging by the fact that Janis had to put on her glasses to see the tattoo.
cxp… that is why we keep coming back!
Checking in.
Seeing situation is normal.
Checking out.
sandcastlerâ„¢ –
Indy Mindy checking in.
How would you like to be alerted if the situation goes FUBAR?
Indy Mindy checking out.
P.S. Have a great weekend!
Check out on Aisle Four, twelve items or less, please.
Galliglo, I’ve played with chat off and on for several years and this is by far the most appealing and interesting. It does get flirty at times, but it doesn’t get dirty, and as often as not it’s really educational. I’ve actually seen quotes from St. Augustine in here! And I’ve learned to use Urbandictionary before showing total ignorance.
Mindy from Indy, just strike a five minute red.
I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
Francis of Assisi
I can’t believe that no one has noted the death of Archie. RIP. Who remembers the murmuration of starlings? Maybe I spelled that wrong, but it was on the weather channel tonight. Still fascinating.
This seemed appropriate after Mickey Rooney’s passing, but didnt have a chance to post it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5VYH1qV17k
On the dooryard discussion. Grew up mostly in Alabama and other parts South. Outside of the Whitman poem, didn’t use dooryard growing up. Here, you were out in the yard. Could be front yard, back yard or around the side of the house.
Silly rabbit, doors are for houses.
Me backpack is much lighter thanks to e-words.
My dictionary is much closer thanks to e-readers.
Still I mourn the loss of many great bookstores.
I miss browsing the shelves seeking a new treasure.
Thank you Ghost! I wonder what happened to my tshirt? Lost in a move, I suppose.
I’ve never heard “dooryard” growing up in Georgia.
sandcastler, that’s life in the Village-SNAFU!