A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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Subtle Distinction

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Sorry to have been gone so long! I have been working on other projects. I guess there’s just no way to avoid the “remember when” factor on this site, try as I might. Today’s classic A&J is yet another example of swift cultural change. First, “casual Friday” was introduced, when white-collar workers were allowed to dress down from coats and ties and the equivalent ladies’ apparel. Today there are coats and ties still out there, but the daily norm for what remains of the white-collar work force is distinctly casual. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Hey, I’m a cartoonist! I can work in my underwear if I want, although I never do. Well, not in just my underwear. You know, I get asked that question a lot, which I think is kind of weird.

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233 responses to “Subtle Distinction”

  1. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Happy birthday, GR. ( : I)~~

  2. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I believe that I have shared my casket story before, but I fly between Norfolk and Detroit a lot and I think because Detroit is a hub, everyone is in a rush to get off the plane. One time as the plane taxied to the gate the attendant asked that we remained seated until members of the military could deplane in order to carry some precious cargo from the plane.

    The plane was silent as we watched the flag draped coffin being placed in the hearse. Not only was everyone quite but I have never left a plane in such an orderly fashion. A few older gentlemen left with red eyes. I waited until I got in the car to give thanks.

  3. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    Is our Ghostly wostly having a birdday? Happy one GR6. Live long and prosper.

  4. Llee Avatar
    Llee

    🙂 Ghost!

  5. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Thanks for the birthday wishes, one and all.

    Debbe 😉 Yes, this group is as diverse as the one in the video “bar”, if not more so, and quite often even a good bit more fun.

    I love this Village.

  6. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Debbe 😉 By the way, hon, the $50 word for someone who uses $50 words is “sesquipedalian”.

    “Harmless”, huh? 🙂

  7. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    SIL said only that the hearses were fueled before services. Perhaps we haven’t seen it because that would be a time when most of us are at work or otherwise not out. She also mentioned that their company had a rule against the hearse drivers stopping at restaurants; she once saw another funeral home’s hearse in a burger drive-through.

  8. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    Related point, Ghost: I have heard it said that the use of the word “ostentatious” is itself ostentatious.

    And Happy Birthday. 🙂

  9. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Happy Birthday, Ghost!

  10. Trapper Jean Avatar
    Trapper Jean

    Happy Birthday, Ghost Sweetie!

    I’ve flown out of PDK once, back in the 70s. My college room mate was getting married down in Waycross, and her dad flew his Cessna up to get me. I do love flying in small planes. 🙂

    Evan, my husband feels the same way about ties. It started when he was a technician for Scientific Atlanta in their cable tv division and he had to go on-site to fix a problem. He says he walked into a room full of guys in suits and the company president said “thank goodness, someone in jeans and no tie. now we can get this thing fixed.” He hasn’t worn a tie since then.

    Debbe, my uncle Jim was known to say the sun’s over the yardarm somewhere, which is about the same thing, I suppose. 😉

  11. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Friend said they fill up at half full – they use Kwik Trip
    She also said she is driving today and people do double take at female hearse
    driver.

    My hearse was “Fat Albert”
    She was Forest Green

    Happy Birthday Ghost 😉

  12. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    My, our birthday fellow is long wonder today. 😉

    Really wishing we had emoji, could do so much more with the birthday wishing.

  13. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    ????????????

  14. emb Avatar
    emb

    FRIDAY THE 13TH FALLS ON A FRIDAY THIS MONTH! HELP: ASTEROID! EARTHQUAKE!
    FLOOD! CHIGGERS!

    [In memory of Walt Kelly, and in honor of Churchy LaFemme.]

    Peace,

    Evan

  15. emb Avatar
    emb

    Whoops. Peace, emb

  16. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    Hey, I will take all the peace I can have conferred! 😀

  17. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    emb, good memories. Thank you.

  18. Marje Avatar
    Marje

    Now that Flossie has chimed in, I wonder how many other “lurkers” there are out there. Would be fun if they would just type one word or so and let everyone know they are there.

  19. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Marje, Flossie, et al.:Better yet, don’t just lurk, chime in. I believe I can speak for most everyone here when I say we’d love to hear from y’all (as in “you all”).

  20. Chris in South Jersey Avatar
    Chris in South Jersey

    Coming out of lurkdom. Happy birthday, Ghost.

  21. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Hearse drivers not being allowed to stop at restaurants reminded me of a pickup flight to one of the second-tier airports in the DFW area. When I parked on the ramp, I was a bit surprised to be met by the Airport Manager Himself, who asked me if I were there to meet a hearse. When I confirmed I was, he told me to crank up and taxi around the back of the General Aviation terminal building to meet it.

    Himself went on to explain that there was an upscale, glass-fronted restaurant on the second floor of the terminal building overlooking the ramp, and that it would spoil the appetite of the patrons if they saw a body being loaded into my aircraft. Unwilling to be responsible for a group of Ladies Who Lunch™ not being able to enjoy their Baked Alaska or crème brûlée desserts just because someone had been so inconsiderate as to die, I did as instructed.

  22. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Hi, Chris! And thanks. I was thinking about you just the other day. I haven’t made it back into the Civil Air Patrol fold yet, but it’s still on my Toodledo list. Perhaps after the first of the year.

  23. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Ghost: in recognition of both the date and your “$50 words” I’ll borrow a phrase a friend of mine uses – “Joyous gestation completion and uterus eviction commemoration!”

  24. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Thanks, RA, although I’d probably have to term that “a $100 phrase”. 🙂

    Yesterday I was x years old; today I am x+1 years old. Seems a mighty long journey to have taken just one day.

  25. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    The true $50 dollar word is the one I ran across in an almanac when I was in junior high school and taught myself to both spell and pronounce. Accepted as the longest word in the English language, it is “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”. (Take that, Evyl Speelchek!) If anyone needs a really strong password for their devices…

    It’s funny what sticks with you over the years.