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Happy Birthday from Hugging Hannelore!

13 (28.3%)

Lt. Potter disrupts the D'awwwwww

6 (13%)

"That's the first time you've willingly hugged me since you were a baby!"

3 (6.5%)

A little physical contact...

0 (0%)

Schtup MY daughter, eh?

3 (6.5%)

Observatory is up at the top of the spindle... in zero-g...

0 (0%)

"Wuh... wait." KISSSS HURRRRLLL Agh!

2 (4.3%)

ANGUS DID YOU LEAVE THE TOILET SEAT UP?

3 (6.5%)

That's the most stereotypical, sitcom thing you could possibly...

0 (0%)

...You fell in? I fell in.

1 (2.2%)

You better not be making fun of me.

1 (2.2%)

Francis told me you... he told me what happened. (I'm SUCH AN IDIOT)

0 (0%)

Someday, everything is going to go right for you, and it will be so wonderful you won't even know what to do.

10 (21.7%)

...Will there be cake?

4 (8.7%)

Total Members Voted: 43

[Technoir]

Never pegged an Ellicott-Chatham for usig Yiddish...

Doesn't everyone? Do you have the chutzpah to claim you've never used bagel, glitch, klutz, schmaltz, schmuck or schlep? Come on, be a mensch and admit it! If I can use Yiddish, anyone can! I will admit, however, that schtup is not a word I use...

If Dr. E-C holds his fists like that, I don't think Marten is in much danger. Marten has a reach advantage too.

I use "schmutz" all the time when cleaning gunk out of mouse buttons, keyboards and trackball sensors.  I schmuck occasionally, and throw out the odd schtupping. I don't eat bagels, schmear or no.

[NotsoAverageJoe]

hehe, once a dad always a dad.

[pwhodges]

It works for mums, too.

[Black Sword]

We are always the babies of our parents.

Or the Song of Fire & Ice series, forget exactly which book it was, but there was a a point of 400+ pages of text and the most exciting and active thing that happened was an army marched across a farmer's crop field into a village .

What in the world are you talking about? I just finished a re-read of the series (and have now added A Dance with Dragons to my completion list!) and have no idea what you're referring to.

[squab]

I recall a comic in which she said she poured boiling water on someone who tried to kiss her in 8th grade?

Which would put the timeline at 14 or so for her coming down to Earth, at the latest, and she had to have been functional enough to go to a school.

Edit: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=896

Maybe she lived on the station but commuted to Earth to go to school?

...

BEST. COMMUTE. EVER.

Also, here's a more recent strip for us to think about:

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2134

This one gives the impression that she moved down to earth much later. Also, it's known that she didn't get GOOD therapy until she moved down to earth; none of the therapists that came up station side particularly helped her. Rather, Station did. Not sure how the "8th grade kiss" fits in.

We need an official ruling from Jeph. I'm certain that he planned out an intricate back story for her character before he started writing her.

(click to show/hide)

"I still get people asking why Hannelore was so different in these early comics. She was on some really hardcore medication at the time. I TOTALLY WAS NOT JUST FIGURING HER OUT AS I WENT ALONG" -- Jeph Jacques[1]

1. ↑ Questionable Content, Volume 2, p. 109, TopataoCo Books, 2011.

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

In panel one Marigold looks like she's thinking "Gee, I wish someone would give me a hug."

[Madmartigan]

And out comes the Yiddish.

No, poppa Hanners......

I don't think Hanners is anywhere close to the sharing of the bodily fluids.

[jmucchiello]

As an asian-american, raised in jewish suburbia, I would rate the english-yiddish axis as:
Bagel<glitch<klutz<schmuck, chutzpah<mensch<shlep<schtup<schmaltz.  (tongue firmly in cheek)

So, yeah, an Ellicott-Chatham  using a very Yiddish expression was surprising, and funny. Protective dad is protective!

Well, bagels are ubiquitous in the Northeast US. Calling them Jewish is like calling pizza Italian. (the word is Italian, the food not so much)

Glitch is used in most engineering and computer fields so much it barely qualifies as jargon these days.

[Carl-E]

The same for Klutz, ever since the series of activity books came out (Juggling for the complete Klutz, etc) it's become common usage. 

And early everyoe kows what a schmuck is.  Chutzpah, not so much -  and from there, I think Throg has the right heirarchy of commonality of usage.  There are other cultural vulgarities for schtupping that people learn early enough in life that they come out in the heat of the moment. 

Hell, my mother's family spoke Yiddish at home, and I don't even use schtup regularly that way - though my wife and I used to make schmaltz when we were first married (you can't have good chopped liver without it)...

[Is it cold in here?]

It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary

Some Yiddish expressions are so common now they count as loan words.

[celticgeek]

Obviously Hannerdad does not know the appropriate man-code.

[SonofMog]

I think your hope is misplaced.  Check her uniform in the previous strips (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2132  for instance), they are most assuredly long-sleeved.

There is still hope that the good Ms. Potter is still somewhat clothed, to principle.


(Modified to fix the broken link - Method)

[Schmorgluck]

I now have a taste reference for "peaty" and "boggish". I can't describe them, but I know what they taste like, LOL.

Oh, so I guess you must love Islay whiskies, then, and Laphroaig in particular, the most peaty whisky in the world. (Important note to whisky lovers: it's a bad idea to buy a bottle of Laphroaig if you have never tasted it. It's taste is very, very peculiar.)

[celticgeek]

But delicious! 

[pwhodges]

Laphroaig in particular, the most peaty whisky in the world.

Lagavulin is peatier in my experience.

[Yarin]

I wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer.

futurama strikes again

[Throg]

"Loanword"! That's the very term.  Yeah, bagel, glitch and klutz are definitely loanwords now, whereas I hardly hear anyone mentioning schmaltz or schmaltz-y anymore. 

= = =

single malt of choice: Ardbeg. Extremely smoky / peaty.  Must compare with Lagavulin in the near future!

[iduguphergrave]

In panel one Marigold looks like she's thinking "Gee, I wish someone would give me a hug."

Actually I think it's her trying to sneak away to do some hugging with a certain science man...

[Is it cold in here?]

We really have a global communications system now. As all those Yiddish words were being coined, I bet the speakers never imagined a Chinese-Australian using them.

[celticgeek]

I believe that all of the Islay single malt distillers have a secret step in the process.  Instead of distilling their whisky and putting it in barrels to age, they pour it into another still filled with peat, let it set for a few days, and then distill it again. 

[Mordhaus]

Actually, his boxing stance is the same as the old bare knuckle boxing from the early days of prizefighting.

[Kenyahp]

Am I the only one that noticed Marten's puffed up appearance in the third panel? The sly smirk might have gone unnoticed by Hannerdad if not for the puffed out chest and the obvious eye contact. That made me giggle more than anything.

Also: Hey, I'm a newcomer. Please don't violently beat my comment and contribution into submission Enjoying reading about the timeline problems, they make me all fangirly inside.

[twitch532]

You guys know Hanner's father's name is just Elliot, not Elliot-Chatham, right? Hanner's Mother was named Chatham, that's why she's Elliot-Chatham. He's just Elliot.

As for the shipping, Hanners looks at Martin a little too friendly in the second to last panel and looks a bit more embarrassed in the last panel.

[DSL]

Ellicott, actually. And when we first meet him, the man himself states he can't remember whether it's Ellicott-Chatham or just Ellicott, since the divorce.

[jmucchiello]

I wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer.

futurama strikes again

Huh? That's an original series Star Trek reference.

[jmucchiello]

As for the shipping, Hanners looks at Martin a little too friendly in the second to last panel and looks a bit more embarrassed in the last panel.

I assumed the looks exchanged here involved thanks and pride.

[Kenyahp]

As for the shipping, Hanners looks at Martin a little too friendly in the second to last panel and looks a bit more embarrassed in the last panel.

I assumed the looks exchanged here involved thanks and pride.

Nah. We're talking about a webcomic. No matter how sophisticated or intelligent a webcomic, shipping always comes first. All looks are shipping looks.
I shouldn't say that, I actually do ship Hanners and Marten. But, I don't think Hannelore could ever actually get over her crippling anxieties enough to have sex with a boy and that would blue ball Marten to no end. Lose-lose, there.

[Redball]

Disagree. I think thanks and pride describe it, from all we've seen between those two. But I suppose if physical attraction is intended, we'll be the next to know. Speaking of which, whatever happened between Marigold and her scientist, I recall that she knows the booty dance, even if she hasn't yet had good reason to do it.

[Near Lurker]

I'd say chutzpah is more commonly used in English than schmuck nowadays.

[treyhawk]

I loved today's comic ...

... but now I really want to see kittenweight boxing.

Someone page ICHC...

[Kugai]

I wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer.

futurama strikes again

Huh? That's an original series Star Trek reference.

Confirmed.

[Redball]

I'd say chutzpah is more commonly used in English than schmuck nowadays.

My favorite is farblondjet, rarely understood in my part of rural Michigan. It means lost or confused, and it describes me trying to steer through some of the unfamiliar cultural references in the comic and the forum.

[jwhouk]

I don't know about you schmucks, but I'm all verklempt.

[Redball]

I don't know about you schmucks, but I'm all verklempt.

I didn't think we were THAT good.

[Schmorgluck]

Laphroaig in particular, the most peaty whisky in the world.

Lagavulin is peatier in my experience.

Color me puzzled on that one. Lagavulin is strongly peaty, definitely more than Bowmore. I can't really compare it to Ardbeg, because while I had Ardbeg recently, I haven't had Lagavulin in years. So I can't say which one is peatier among those two. But none of them come close to being as peaty as Laphroaig.
Unless, of course, you put at play various ages of whiskies, in which case I suppose some ages of Lagavulin can taste more peaty than some ages of Laphroaig. But I still find it unlikely.

[Milesb]

I highly doubt Jeph would ever write a Marten/Hanners love interest arc. Stranger things have happened in QC, but I think it's the kind of thing that would earn him massive complaints (not that he'd care hugely I hope, but it'd be a pain to deal with for him) and doesn't seem to fit my own personal understanding of the characters involved.

I think Hanners was just smiling at Marten because he's the closest friend she has, who has helped her to come to some kind of terms with a bunch of her issues. If anything I've always thought Marten was being a bit of a surrogate father when he helped Hanners. And Marten is proud of Hanners because she's pushing her boundaries and (I'd imagine) because visiting the station has made him realize just how far Hanners has come since she was last there.

Maybe Marten's overdoing it a bit - Dora, Faye and Marigold have all helped Hanners in their own ways as well, but he's the only person around to take some credit for it, so I think it's easily forgiveable.

I'm just really, really hoping that there isn't some ...silliness between Hanners and Marten in this arc. They seem a lot closer, and maybe it's easy to imagine that as sweet and stuff, but I suspect Jeph would turn anything vocalized or physically instigated into a prompt for a full on mental regression for Hanners and/or awkwardness between the two, and everything would be bad and we'd all feel bad.

 

Ed: That's in reply to Kenyahp, should have quoted - that'll be the exhaustion kicking in. Don't want people to think I just type up big reply style messages when there was no original post. I'm not that far gone yet.

[Blackjoker]

For some reason I imagine Marten sounding remeniscent of a 3 stooges soundboard in that last panel.

[Is it cold in here?]

The return address on the robot boyfriend was "John Ellicott Chatham".

[Kenyahp]

I'm just really, really hoping that there isn't some ...silliness between Hanners and Marten in this arc. They seem a lot closer, and maybe it's easy to imagine that as sweet and stuff, but I suspect Jeph would turn anything vocalized or physically instigated into a prompt for a full on mental regression for Hanners and/or awkwardness between the two, and everything would be bad and we'd all feel bad.

Heres the thing. I agree 100% with everything stated, especially your final paragraph which is why I posted it. And, of course, Marten would be just like crazy jumping women if he ever got with Hanners.

I get the awkward and the regression argument, too. But, dammit, I need a guilty pleasure and that guilty pleasure is imagining Hanners being normal enough and strong enough to try a relationship.

While I know it'll never happen unless the QC universe explodes similar to Sore Thumbs Universe, its still a nice idea to keep in the "If I ever go crazy and need to read irrational fanfiction" bank.

[Kenyahp]

The return address on the robot boyfriend was "John Ellicott Chatham".

Comic found: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1010

[Carl-E]

I wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer.

futurama strikes again

Huh? That's an original series Star Trek reference.

Confirmed.

Actually, it was used in a Simpson's episode - Deep Space Homer (the one where he eats potato chips in zero G).  Pretty close to futurama, I suppose. 

So there's now a secondary reference...

[DSL]

Re: Marten/Hanners:
Strangely enough for the way they met, I think Marten and Hanners are the two QC characters who respect each other the most. That ought to affect any future developments in their mutual relationship, in whichever direction Jeph takes it.

[Is it cold in here?]

I get the awkward and the regression argument, too. But, dammit, I need a guilty pleasure and that guilty pleasure is imagining Hanners being normal enough and strong enough to try a relationship.

I think Hannelore has some vague thoughts in that direction, and she's on a trajectory that might lead to good things in a future too distant to be visible from here. She has a good heart.

Something you and other new people haven't seen is a history of mistreatment of Hannelore's sexuality on the forum, and the incandescent backlash to it (things got spectacular for a while). Many people here are rubbed raw and may seem to overreact to Hannelore relationship forecasting.

(moderator)
You're doing fine! You're within the rules. You would have heard about it if you weren't.
(/moderator)

[lunakitten]

Oh, Marigold no.... 
And couldn't the good Doctor E-C just be a Mel Brooks fan? I learned a lot of Yiddish that way. Plus, Madeline Kahn... Sigh.

[Soulsynger]

I have never known awkwardness like this before. ... You'd think you've seen it all and along comes a Schlemihl like Jacques. °O

[Yarin]

New comic up aww poor marigold

[Torlek]

I wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer.

futurama strikes again

Huh? That's an original series Star Trek reference.

Confirmed.

Actually, it was used in a Simpson's episode - Deep Space Homer (the one where he eats potato chips in zero G).  Pretty close to futurama, I suppose. 

So there's now a secondary reference...

The quote originates in the ToS episode 'Gamesters of Triskellon'. Quatloos as a betting medium were again referenced in the Futurama episode 'Where No Fan Has Gone Before' which was nothing but an homage/send up of ToS. I guess Matt Groening loves him some Star Trek. So everyone wins!

[WAYF]

I just realized that Marigold was trying to hold it in for the sake of make-outs.
That only makes my cry of "Damnit, Jeph!" even more emphatic!

And now Hannelore has more evidence for her argument that kissing is gross.


...
You know, if QC continues on for another 2000 strips, literally every reply in the forums at that stage will be pointing out an in-joke or previously established trivia from the distant past.

[Y]

I guess the space janitor will have fun tracking down every vomit particle.

[jmucchiello]

I guess the space janitor will have fun tracking down every vomit particle.

They'll fall somewhere after a pretty short time. It is microgravity not zero-gravity.

The killer for me here is she knew going to microgravity was a bad idea and didn't warn him.