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NO

Yes

He is a chill bro

No, but the Arbor Day Giraffe is

Clearly not, because townies hate waffles

[Deadlywonky]

I do beleive it was a cement block to the head and a shovel through the heart.

I think it was actually a spade, and through the sternum, subsequently going through the head of another

[Black Sword]

[...]

EDIT: Is it just me, or is Padma more bosomy in this strip than she normally is?

Jeph has NEVER been consistent about THAT.

At least he isn't like certain manga artists, where the bosoms are proportionate to the character's confidence level at a given point (thinking of the Hellsing manga, specifically, though there are others).

Er, what? Seras was busty from the start, wasn't she? Integra was pretty small in comparison...

[Tiogyr]

[...]

EDIT: Is it just me, or is Padma more bosomy in this strip than she normally is?

Jeph has NEVER been consistent about THAT.

At least he isn't like certain manga artists, where the bosoms are proportionate to the character's confidence level at a given point (thinking of the Hellsing manga, specifically, though there are others).

Er, what? Seras was busty from the start, wasn't she? Integra was pretty small in comparison...

Depends on how much attention you pay to the actual drawings over the course of the series. I mean, compare how huge they were when Seras was first turned to how absolutely gigantic they are when she's wielding the dual artillery machineguns (or the progression from huge to small for Zorin when that fight starts out compared to when she gets her head ground off all over the inside of Hellsing Headquarters).

[SirDudley]

Except Pintsize.

Thank you for giving me the image of Pintsize with boobs. Between that and Microsoft's pathetic E3 press conference earlier, I may have to puke on you like a Boomer.


I so hope Marten doesn't start having 'Nam flashbacks because of the coffee.

[iduguphergrave]

You people act as though we've never seen Pintsize with boobs.*



*Yes I know it's a guest strip whatever

[mike837go]

Didn't Hanners have a bad dream where Marten had boobs?

Edit: Yeah, she dreamt that everbody was calling her Marigold.

Now I gotta find that strip, damn you!

Edit again: Yup, Marten with breasts!

[pwhodges]

Marten  also had a dream in which he had boobs.

[Method of Madness]

You mean...this chocolate cake strip?

[Is it cold in here?]

Marten's dream.

[cesariojpn]

EDIT: Is it just me, or is Padma more bosomy in this strip than she normally is?

Kleenex. 

[Kugai]

"I sense a great sadness in you young Marten."


I think Padma definitely has a different thought process than everyone else in the QCVerse.






God help us if she and Raven were ever to get together.

[Boomslang]

God help us if she and Raven were ever to get together.

Oh man, that would be awesome. Bystanders would probably lose brain cells from the conversations, though.

[cesariojpn]

I think Padma definitely has a different thought process than everyone else in the QCVerse.

So, we need to throw her into the mental asylum?

[Akima]

I so hope Marten doesn't start having 'Nam flashbacks because of the coffee.

Flashbacks to what? The rush-hour in Ho Chi Minh City*? Pretty girls in ao-dai? Surely not to a war that ended while his Dad was still in high-school...

*I love the smell of two-stroke in the morning!

[gprimr1]

If Faye invents a time machine to go back in time and kill herself instead of her dad, she will no longer exist in the future, but if does not exist in the future, she could not have invented a time machine to go back in time and kill herself.

Paradoxes.

[Kugai]

If Faye invents a time machine to go back in time and kill herself instead of her dad, she will no longer exist in the future, but if does not exist in the future, she could not have invented a time machine to go back in time and kill herself.

Paradoxes.

Paradoxes can be Paradoctored.

[Method of Madness]

I prefer paraboxes.

[The Duke]

A drink or two once in a while is fine, but I don't see the appeal of drinking until you're sick, or getting so loaded you have no memory of the party.

Word.

...and Padma misses the point again.

I read it as deliberate humour, albeit possibly to avoid Marten's point.

[Is it cold in here?]

That is definitely possible.

[jwhouk]

I prefer paraboxes.

Either way, there's a cream for that.

[Sorflakne]

I just noticed it now, but damn, Padma seems a little too excited to see Marten.

[Carl-E]

Scripting is moving slowly tonight. I am overthinking Padma. Might take the dog for a walk to clear out the cobwebs.

It's easy to overthink someone who thinks differently than you do. 

And Padma is a different sort of thinker, whether differently clued or just avoiding the personal life of our favorite tSB customer. 


Wait, have we ever seen anyone else (other than Faye doing reconnaissance or Hanners accompanying Faye and Marten) actually be  a customer of tSB? 

Maybe the coffee really was  that bad.  Or Renee drove them all off. 

I just noticed it now, but damn, Padma seems a little too excited to see Marten.

Just excited to try out the new beans...

[snubnose]

The funny part of the poll is btw that there is no RETURN OF THE RAVEN option. 

THAT was the option I would go for about last week ... well, the "Raven sciency" option was a sufficient replacement, but Raven already left sciency.

[CompSarge]

Hit the nail on the head with that one there, Renee. Townies come in all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, and they almost always never think that they are townies.

[Tova]

----> today's comic




---> more space than I feel comfortable trying to accurately render in a forum




----> my head

edit: A definition of "townie" that makes the last panel make sense would be good.

[Carl-E]

I gotta say, I don't like Renee's hair.  I watched Jeph do it on the ustream, I thik he was rushing to finish.  

But yeah, townies... I've been in enough college towns to know better than argue with Renee.  Marten's a townie, he was dating a townie, all his friends are townies, and this is the drama that the college students miss out on because they're so busy drinking and trying to pass enough courses to come back next year... which is their own drama, not to mention the flighty college relationships.  

You know it's spring when every building on campus is decorated with couples making out by an entrance or in a hall because they have to part ways for a class or two.  It's cute, in a pathetic, needy/horny sort of way.  

God, I need to destress.  

[Carl-E]

A definition of "townie" that makes the last panel make sense would be good.

But the next to last panel is  a definition of townie! 

Seriously, a townie is anyone in a college town that's not a college student. 

Definition (College town); a small town or city whose population and economy is dominated by the students from one or more colleges or universities.  So a small place like North Hampton, with several local colleges qualifies.  Larger cities that have many colleges and even big universities don't qualify, because they have other reasons for their existance.  College towns exist to serve the students, and many businesses are predicated on that assumption! 



Watch "Breaking Away". 

[TheoGB]

Here in the UK a 'townie' would be a derogatory term for an urban working class person, specifically one who is likely to be fairly closed-minded and somewhat hostile to outsiders. These days it's fallen away in favour of the even grimmer term, 'chav', but townie never really had the nastiness that term has. Certainly you wouldn't ever describe someone like Marten as a 'townie' over here.

[pwhodges]

Agreed; the OED and its North American counterpart have distinctly different definitions, and the OED ones are marked "usually derogatory".  The first citation has the phrase "townie thugs".

[Tova]

Seriously, a townie is anyone in a college town that's not a college student. 

Definition (College town); a small town or city whose population and economy is dominated by the students from one or more colleges or universities.  So a small place like North Hampton, with several local colleges qualifies.  Larger cities that have many colleges and even big universities don't qualify, because they have other reasons for their existance.  College towns exist to serve the students, and many businesses are predicated on that assumption! 

I figured out that much via googling and the comic itself, but beyond that there are so many descriptions of a "townie" that I can only assume that is has simply become a generic insult doled out by people who live in college towns for any reason whatsoever. Including not going back to the cafe owned by your ex-girlfriend.

And I still don't get what makes Marten's drama "townie drama", except that he's not a student, but that seems neither here nor there to me. Obviously there's a lot of "college town" subtext I'm just missing.

It doesn't make sense to me on several levels, but I guess I'm as close as I will get to understanding it.

[iduguphergrave]

It was a bit unclear to me at first, but I'm gussing mostly uppity college kids use the term "townie" and that's why Marten doesn't like being called that. I'm not saying Padma's uppity; she's not, but if I heard the term come mostly from over-privileged university douchebags I'd object whenever anyone else said it too.

Is this even close to being correct, Carl? Like I was saying earlier (in the stream, not here), I'm from a (kinda) big city and I've almost never heard the term before tonight.

[VonKleist]

Good thing urbandictionary offers 32 pages of definitions on "townie".

I was a townie in the town where I grew up, because it had a private art-college. But the joke was more on the students because they payed to go to college in the hinterlands rather than a place with any kind of culture or "night life".

Also it had more of the british kind of "townies"..

[Tova]

Good thing urbandictionary offers 32 pages of definitions on "townie".

It's also a good thing that wikipedia offers a definition of Segal's law.

If a man with two watches is never sure, then a man with 32 pages of definitions has no chance.

[VonKleist]

Yeah, then again

a person living in an urban environment where the concept in question doesn't apply shouldn't really bother with it 

[Platypodes]

It was a new word for me too, but googling townie stereotype brought me a number of articles from college papers about college students' perceptions of "townies" (and college-town residents' correspondingly negative perceptions of students).

The description that seemed to me to most fit the comic was from a University of Virginia student who wrote, "the term 'townie' comes with a stigma that often refers to a person who should be looked down upon, a person who is either uneducated or just too flat-out unmotivated to get their shit together, get out of town and go someplace 'real,'" and illustrates it with the image of "the freelancing unemployed 'poet' who hangs out on the mall all day thinking deep thoughts." -- http://www.thedeclaration.org/article/gownie-townie

Using this stereotype, the the phrase "townie drama" does fit a guy hanging around in a coffee shop being angsty about how his romantic woes are keeping him away from the other coffee shop where he used to spend copious amounts of time hanging around.

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, new person!

That makes sense.

Does this mean Padma is a student? First we've heard of it.

[pwhodges]

I assumed from what she said that tSB is in or by a college area, so she's used to having students in (there's been no sign that CoD is like that, and this strip makes it clear that CoD is in the town centre).

[Tiogyr]

It was a new word for me too, but googling townie stereotype brought me a number of articles from college papers about college students' perceptions of "townies" (and college-town residents' correspondingly negative perceptions of students).

The description that seemed to me to most fit the comic was from a University of Virginia student who wrote, "the term 'townie' comes with a stigma that often refers to a person who should be looked down upon, a person who is either uneducated or just too flat-out unmotivated to get their shit together, get out of town and go someplace 'real,'" and illustrates it with the image of "the freelancing unemployed 'poet' who hangs out on the mall all day thinking deep thoughts." -- http://www.thedeclaration.org/article/gownie-townie

Using this stereotype, the the phrase "townie drama" does fit a guy hanging around in a coffee shop being angsty about how his romantic woes are keeping him away from the other coffee shop where he used to spend copious amounts of time hanging around.

Guess the coffee is making tSB more like CoD than Marten thought.

[rje]

One of the places I lived a townie was only a derogatory term amongst the college students and it usually meant someone college-aged who grew up in the place the college was located but went from high-school immediately to a job (or no job) - and usually did blue-collar work, or had a McJob like fast food. The local kid who went to work at his uncle's car shop as a mechanic, for instance, right out of high school, was a townie. And you don't date the townies, for that way lies a dead-end.

Of course college kid / college boy was also derogatory, but the other way around. Equal oppourtunity dislike, naturally! (Though college kids sure could be jerks to the locals, well enough.)

It seemed to be a more East Coast thing, I never heard the term in the south or Midwest. I don't know if it means the same thing these days though.

[DSL]

"Townie" can be used to refer (usually in condescending manner) to the permanent popuation of any pace with a sizable temporary population. It's used by college kids/faculty, etc. But also tourists and "summer people" in a tourist area. Corollary: The permanent residents plave a premium on being "from here."
On another note: I think Padma's approach to clue-ishness will evolve into her becoming the "perspective character" -- her role wil be to remind our self- absorbed protagonists it's not all about them. I like how she's depicted as going about her job while giving half an ear to Marten's story. Drama's all well and good, but life goes on, is what could be on Padma's T-shirt.

[mike837go]

Paradoxes can be Paradoctored.

Applying for work with the Circle Of Ourbourghs, are we?

[Tiogyr]

"Townie" can be used to refer (usually in condescending manner) to the permanent popuation of any pace with a sizable temporary population. It's used by college kids/faculty, etc. But also tourists and "summer people" in a tourist area. Corollary: The permanent residents plave a premium on being "from here."
On another note: I think Padma's approach to clue-ishness will evolve into her becoming the "perspective character" -- her role wil be to remind our self- absorbed protagonists it's not all about them. I like how she's depicted as going about her job while giving half an ear to Marten's story. Drama's all well and good, but life goes on, is what could be on Padma's T-shirt.

To make a 90's Sitcom reference, Padma is going to be QC's Wilson (except you'll get to see the lower half of her face).

[TheEvilDog]

I thought it was more Marten was thinking along the lines of that scene in Jaws where the Brody family are on the beach with their friends and Ellen asks when does she become an islander. But she can never be considered as one, because she wasn't born there. Same thing with Marten, he knows he wasn't born there and by his definition he isn't a townie.

Incidently, does anyone know what part of California Marten is from?

[Black Sword]

Comments on today's strip:

1) Padma's bust size is consistent with yesterday's! Yay!
2) Bonding with the Secret Bakery staff! Also yay!
3) What in the world is a townie? This was answered above me.
Related to 3, I'd have to say Marten is not a townie. He may have roots in town now, but he could always get up and leave to chase something else, if the correct conditions occur.

[...]

EDIT: Is it just me, or is Padma more bosomy in this strip than she normally is?

Jeph has NEVER been consistent about THAT.

At least he isn't like certain manga artists, where the bosoms are proportionate to the character's confidence level at a given point (thinking of the Hellsing manga, specifically, though there are others).

Er, what? Seras was busty from the start, wasn't she? Integra was pretty small in comparison...

Depends on how much attention you pay to the actual drawings over the course of the series. I mean, compare how huge they were when Seras was first turned to how absolutely gigantic they are when she's wielding the dual artillery machineguns (or the progression from huge to small for Zorin when that fight starts out compared to when she gets her head ground off all over the inside of Hellsing Headquarters).

I don't doubt you, but visual citations, please?

[Tiogyr]

I'm not going to violate copyright law just to win an internet argument. Go buy the books and read them yourself.

[ChicagoTed]

The description that seemed to me to most fit the comic was from a University of Virginia student who wrote, "the term 'townie' comes with a stigma that often refers to a person who should be looked down upon, a person who is either uneducated or just too flat-out unmotivated to get their shit together, get out of town and go someplace 'real,'" and illustrates it with the image of "the freelancing unemployed 'poet' who hangs out on the mall all day thinking deep thoughts." -- http://www.thedeclaration.org/article/gownie-townie

Using this stereotype, the the phrase "townie drama" does fit a guy hanging around in a coffee shop being angsty about how his romantic woes are keeping him away from the other coffee shop where he used to spend copious amounts of time hanging around.

Being a UVA student in the process of becoming a townie (because Charlottesville is awesome) I have to say that view is pretty accurate for the average UVA student (White upper-middle class with a sense of privilege).  I'd take the article with a grain of salt though, as many of the writers for The Dec are hipsters trying to be ironic.

But yeah, it certainly isn't an endearing term.  Like "hipster" its not necessarily well defined, but it is something you DO NOT want to be called.

[jwhouk]

RJE: I think the term itself is more Northeast US than anywhere else, but I could hear it being used in the city where my alma mater is located. A lot of the UW system campus cities are geared towards catering to the the college kids, but the locals tend to see the kids as only business opportunities and/or nuisances.

Of course, that doesn't mean that someone graduates from the school and tries to start a pizza place or a bar downtown. Usually, these things end in failure, unlike CoD and tSB.

[Carl-E]

Well, CoD would be the exception, but Jim seems to be a townie. 

And Dora's parents live nearby, so she's probably one as well! 

Which brings me to Pama...  using the word townie, she was probably a stuent who stayed.  Butthere's another inteeresting possibility - a faculty brat.  Born (or at least raised) in town by a faculty member (or two*), she's never be considered a "townie" at home, but clearly is one, and knows many, straddling both worlds. 

* college towns like north Hampton, with several smaller colleges, are often the only solution to the "two-body problem".  This is when two academics make a couple and both need a job.  It's rare that one school has openings in both disciplines (or worse, two openings if they're the same discipline), so each getting a job at a different college is often the only answer. 

I get the feeling Padma's folks are professors... making her a native, but still an outsider.  When I was at Purdue in the 80's, the circles I wound up moving in were mostly professor's kids - locals, but they got a free education, and all their folks were "outsiders".  Even though they went to school all their lives with the "real" townies, and had several as friends, they were still an "outsider" group that stuck together. 

Society is bizarre, at best.  And class systems are real, even in America. 

[mike837go]

Well, CoD would be the exception, but Jim seems to be a townie. 
Which brings me to Pama...  using the word townie, she was probably a stuent who stayed.  Butthere's another inteeresting possibility - a faculty brat.  Born (or at least raised) in town by a faculty member (or two*), she's never be considered a "townie" at home, but clearly is one, and knows many, straddling both worlds. 
I get the feeling Padma's folks are professors... making her a native, but still an outsider.  When I was at Purdue in the 80's, the circles I wound up moving in were mostly professor's kids - locals, but they got a free education, and all their folks were "outsiders".  Even though they went to school all their lives with the "real" townies, and had several as friends, they were still an "outsider" group that stuck together. 

Society is bizarre, at best.  And class systems are real, even in America. 

I have to totally agree with your last statment.

But, uh, where has it even been suggested that Padma's parents are anything but a complete mystery? I can't recall any of tSB's staffers mentioning any relations outside of work yet.

[jacjyd]

But yeah, it certainly isn't an endearing term.  Like "hipster" its not necessarily well defined, but it is something you DO NOT want to be called.

I'd rather be called a hipster than a townie. But whenever I heard townie being used it was by college students (including myself at the time), and college students are pretty obnoxious.  But our townies were sort of notorious for stealing our stuff on move in/move out day and forming bike gangs (like, bicycles) and terrorizing us overprivileged kids.  So it was a condescending term, out of fear...