Today, I’ve chosen another really old A&J for you, from 1987. I talk a lot here about the evolution of my drawing and sometimes about the evolution of the writing, but I don’t think enough is made of how much the personality of the characters has evolved over time. Arlo and Janis both have become familiar, knowable individuals. In the early days, as in this cartoon, nothing defined the players beyond an air of whimsy that always has existed within the strip and married-couple banter, hopefully from a fresh perspective—mine—but still married-couple banter. The development of the characters is, of course, a reflection of growth in drawing and in writing, yet it’s more: while a sum of the whole, it almost is a separate metamorphosis, the satisfying outcome of the cartoonist’s craft.
Punch Line
By Jimmy Johnson
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252 responses to “Punch Line”
Yes, Ruth Anne, to me it’s a perfect example of the sounds-racy-but-isn’t genre of joke.
Jackie, your tenant is a win-win-win find for you!
Jerry – Yes, and “Sprawl-mart” and “McDoodles” are planning increases in their base pay very soon. The small puddle keeps getting drier.
Mark, Not sure about anywhere else, but our Meijer gas station has one of those. It apparently was not cost effective because they are closed at night now.
Honestly, my current store hadn’t been robbed in quite some time. This girl essentially brought a lot of this on herself. Attentiveness is key in this industry. I’ve worked midnights at the three “scariest” stores in town. Never been robbed or had a serious issue. (Crazy guy playing with his gun was on days!) But then, I am known all over town as “the greetings girl” because that is my standard LOUD welcome. That isn’t a fail safe, and I know this, but it goes a LONG way.
Getting caught up.
Very funny Loon.
Mindy, just a thought, the “never looks up girl” could be the inside member of the team.
Some years ago, when driving I-65, I’d normally exit at Culman AL, eat at the Cracker Barrel store, and then drive up the street to refuel. The convenience store I stopped at once had a setup I’ve never seen elsewhere…the cashier area inside the store was completely enclosed and barricaded, and looked like a drive-up bank teller’s window, right down to the bullet-proof glass and drawer you used to pass through your money.
The cigarettes and other pricey merchandise were behind the glass with the cashier and the register, and I imagine the entry doors had remote locks to keep grab-and-dash thieves from making off with other items. It took me about three seconds to realize that eventually some strung-out tweaker or other criminal mastermind was going to come in, pull a gat, hold it to some innocent customer’s head, and threaten to blow out said customer’s brains if the cashier didn’t push the register cash through the drawer. I paid for and pumped my gasoline, left, and never stopped there again.
Ghost, the same thing could be done in a bank. Perhaps you never go inside a bank, but I like the more personal service and usually do. When I was a leo I believe that I spoiled a robbery in the making when I was in the parking lot and saw a very suspicious person on foot taking a circuitous route to the bank. I jumped out of my car and followed him without trying to hide myself. He walked right on by the front door and kept going.
Banks instruct their tellers to do whatever it takes to get the robber out of the building ASAP and without hurting anyone. Which usually means giving them stacks and stacks of cash. The special stacks of cash. The ones with the explosive dye charges that blow up in the parking lot. Along with the ones with the GPS trackers hidden in them. Maybe I shouldn’t have told that, but I seriously doubt we have any bank robbers in the Village. Or if we do, they are smart enough to already know that.
If I were in a bank that was being robbed, and it was obvious the robber simply want to get of the bank ASAP with his special stacks of cash, I’d just shine him on. But if it became obvious he was about to hurt someone, or take someone hostage when he left…well, I’m no sheepdog, but I might have to give that some thought.
sand, wondered if you’d ever run across this…
“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. ‘He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,’ is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers…a man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice.
“He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.”
– G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Debbe 😉 High heels! Sexy legs! High kicks! What’s not to like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOLtTGvsbM
Ruth Ann
What is round and hard and sticks out of a mans pajamas?
His neck.
Jerry
40 years ago McD was paying $6.00 (when I was making $2 – not on Cape Cod) on Cape Cod,
busing kids from the mainland paying bus time, because they could not get
local kids to work.
Dearest Ghost, I wonder if G. K. Chesterton was ever actually in combat? I heard a lot about this from my late husband, a WW 2 Combat Infantry veteran. He would have laughed, or maybe groaned, at this bit of mysticm. What I got from his stories was, that he was brave, and stayed alive by being very quick, intelligent, and alert — super attentive to his surroundings. Ghost, you have recommended the exact same things in previous post, and I respect you for that.
… previous posts …
I have been saying this for years-
15 years ago we were warned in a small engine class that some gas at the pump had
30% because of separation.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/ceW9Nc1hVHU?feature=player_detailpage
I will add to this – do NOT use any ethanol product in a small engine. Lawn mower,
snow thrower, blowers, trimmers.
Small engine producers also will not warranty fuel problems.
The alcohol separates in as little as 1 week – the alcohol attracts moisture in the air
that changes to acid that eats the hard parts of the fuel system. The ethanol eats
the soft parts – in as little as 24 hours.
Even E-10 gives 15% less gas milage so you start with a negative gain without figuring the cost
of producing the alcohol.
Back in the day – engine not start, change spark plug =$1.00
Today – engine not start, replace Carburetor = $100+
Keep 1 Gal (with fuel stabilizer) on hand and replace at the end of a month.
Use the Non Ethanol if you can get it.
Rant over – for now
Charlotte, I believe the nearest Chesterton ever came to combat was likely a spirited debate with H. G. Wells.
Last non-ethanol I saw at the pump was 60 cents per gallon more than the 10%. And my 2011 Ford Crown Vic has averaged 1.5 MPG less than my 2005 one, with identical driving patterns. I noticed a drop in average MPG as soon as the 10% became prevalent.
GR6
When buying for small engines the volume is small – don’t think I would put it in
a camper (except at end of season).
It is a case of pay me now or pay more later.
The store where I work used to do small engine repair – 80+% problems were fuel
related.
Many people related – and my own observation – the difference of MPG while traveling
from an ethanol state to a non ethanol state.
Once the subsidies came off most ethanol come from Brazil (MO)
Much of the good alcohol comes from Canada
Back when I was young my wife trying to discourage my drinking took me to a spot
overlooking the Segram’s distillery –
“You can’t drink it as fast as they are producing it” she said.
“Yah, but I got them working nights” I said.
(Just kidding)
Good morning Villagers…..
GR 😉 foolishness, nah, never….you may have used ambient before here, and I (in my morning stupor) may have overlooked it. The written word, I sometimes have to reread, but in speaking and listening, I try to stay totally focused….I hate to say ‘huh? Oh, and I knew you would have high specs on the refugees… 🙂
Ursen, are you serious? About that being your cat? Sometimes I can be gullible 🙂
Cxp, can you email eMb?
Old Bear, that was funny, got them working night shifts…..almost believed you until I read ‘just kidding’.
Indy Mindy, while reading your post yesterday about your nite time clerk, the thought also crossed my mind (as it did Sandcastler’s) that she could be an accomplice. Stay safe lady.
And it got up to 92 degrees yesterday, and it was an ambient event!!! Got to start drinking water, and power aide with electrolytes….came home drained. And I do know better, just need to apply it.
Ya’ll have a blessed day
=^..^=
Jackie, $4 for a dozen eggs!!!!!???? Hmmm, think I know how to supplement my income 😉
How much do you want to bet that there’s a little ‘nip in that there cup!
https://i.imgur.com/N2wBrqJ.webm
I actually had that inside job conversation (sort of) with her yesterday. I’ve have watched both robberies several times, and no, she was not part of a “team” either time. She is not particularly liked by my customers, is a bizarre cross of Wednesday Adams and Rob Schneider, and has poor people skills. However, she is bluntly honest to a fault. She is just a poor employee. She is now actively seeking other employment. Woohoo, another body to replace, and I can’t find the first to fill my roster.
Mindy from Indy, you and your company are better off without that kind of employee. They will end up costing more than just their salary. When the guy who drove the car into the pond told handed in his resignation because he wanted to apply for sherriff’s deputy, I took it quietly, then celebrated later. And when he failed to get the deputy position, I refused to rehire him.
Debbe 😉 Yes, the thought of these three displaced ladies not having a place to stay just tugs at my heart strings.
http://cdn4.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/brunette-blonde-redhead.jpg
“Save the Refugees!”
A soldier would take the redhead.
The fly boy the blonde.
A Marine the brunette.
A sailor all three.
Ghost: That’s another oldie but goodie. Oddly enough, I remember some details of the first time I heard it – at a high school football game my senior year; one of the guys sitting behind us (who told the joke) was the class president from the year before; he died in Vietnam not many years later.
Anonymous: Go Navy!