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30 seconds before Hanners runs off in fright.

4 (5.3%)

3 and a half minutes before they get booed off for no lyrics.

4 (5.3%)

Maybe they get through the first song.

2 (2.7%)

15 to 17 minutes, tops.

3 (4%)

20 minutes, including an epic guitar solo with Marten.

3 (4%)

30 minutes, including dueling guitar vs. bass with Marten and Amir.

7 (9.3%)

A full hour - Hannelore goes NUTS on the drums!

30 (40%)

They play covers the rest of the night .

4 (5.3%)

Zero. They're never going to play live.

10 (13.3%)

Never say never!

1 (1.3%)

Waffles and Guitars!

1 (1.3%)

Spathe Ham and Drums!

0 (0%)

Opening Act: Emily and the Whirled Peas!

2 (2.7%)

More Claire bonding with Faye and Dora!

3 (4%)

MOAR PINTSIZEEEE!!!!

1 (1.3%)

Pics of Roswell snacking on Yelling Bird!

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 71

[Masterpiece]

I like how the polls this week create an almost perfect Gaussian distribution.

[CleoKat]

I'd like to see Faye at least try living in the city without going on The Bus. She can visit at weekends, or folk can visit her, it might make for a fun diversion even if it leads to Faye deciding she wants to move back. Maybe Angus will be unhappy there if work doesn't happen for him. Either way, I'd hate for the rules of comicking to mean that Faye won't leave and all this is a foregone conclusion.

Also, Claire honey, that was rude. You should definitely apologise, especially as Faye was the one to invite you for pizza and beer in the first place. Grr, to the naughty step with you and think about your behaviour!

While I was distracted 23! freaking replies have been posted, can you be arsed to read them? Meh, I scanned. New roommates potential! Yes please! Marigold and Hanners! Marten and... hmm... I'd like to see him room with a bloke so Steve!

[Masterpiece]

but Steve already moved in with Cosette Hurlbutt

[CleoKat]

but Steve already moved in with Cosette Hurlbutt

They live together? Wait... when did that happen? Hmm, I have a vague recollection of a drunken bar conversation where Hanners told them both off but I can't find it in the archive. Was it then?

[Masterpiece]

nope. It was shortly after the Dora/Marten breakup, when they were out drinking.

I think they met Padma on the same night?

[CleoKat]

nope. It was shortly after the Dora/Marten breakup, when they were out drinking.

I think they met Padma on the same night?

Yup, you're right. It was only on one page and Steve says, "So I think Cosette is going to move in with me in the summer" and as we're still in the midst of summer it's still uncanonified (totally a word) and yet to happen. My hopes of roommate Steve aren't down and out but I'd hate for that to come at the expense of their relationship.

[TinPenguin]

I like the idea of the Deathmole mask. I'm seeing it looking something like this:

[Valdís]

So Deathmøle were real mainstream centuries ago?

[TinPenguin]

Well, time does run differently in the QCverse...

[Zebediah]

or just start qc: New York

And then QC:Miami, and from there the sky is the limit  QC:Space

And then QC:NTSF:SD:SUV::, starring Zachary Quinto as Marten. It would feature Deathmole performing from the back of a SUV, obviously.

All culminating in Questionable Content Into Darkness.

[Masterpiece]

or just start qc: New York

And then QC:Miami, and from there the sky is the limit  QC:Space

QC: Middle Earth Orbit?

[GarandMarine]

I could see Jephizba putting Angus and Faye on the bus to New York (please give us Faye's mother's reaction to that bit of news) and either just having her pop back now and then or pulling a Lagace and doing a spin off. I don't see our favorite southern belle leaving us any time soon... Personal prediction: At the end of this arc Faye and Angus decide to get a place together, thus leading to the above mentioned and incredibly awesome Marigold/Marten/Hanners set up. You lot did however forget the final bit of awesome to that set up. More Momo!

I also find it kinda funny that people are calling out Claire for giving Faye a proper roflstomping in today's strip, so Faye can dish but she can't take it now? and she has to resort to physical violence just for a damn solid piece of insight followed by the type of snarky jab of the sort that Faye herself has offered and would be offering if the shoe was on the other foot. Faye's brutal wit is WELL known and documented in this comic, she doesn't need defending.

Warning - while you were typing BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

[KOK]

I like the idea of the Deathmole mask. I'm seeing it looking something like this:

As far as I can find in a web search, there is no word "möle". In German the word "Mühle" can become "möle" in compound place names. So Death Mill could be "Todmöle". This is the closest I can get to assigning a meaning to this word.

[Loki]

...or, you know, it could mean any member of the Talpidae family.

[GarandMarine]

I don't think it's actually using a German word, the umlaut there is just for metalness.

[Valdís]

I know that's the trope, yes, but dangit, English-speakers, it's not an Umlaut. Nor is the Scandinavian ö/ø. They're letters in the same way O and Q are different.

[ankhtahr]

Umlauts are separate letters in German as well, at least in most definitions.

[Smallest]

I'd like Faye to go and come back, it seems like there could be some interesting character exploration there, which might make her more relevant to the comic again.

I also think Claire's comment was more silly than rude (although that is my kind of silly and my jokes often get interpreted as serious and not nice). My opinion is disputable since she didn't make the Claire face, though. In fact, she made a rather Clinton face.

Also, I read Dora's last comment in RuPaul's voice. "Oooh girl, I hope you got your runnin' shoes on!"

[GarandMarine]

Umlauts are separate letters in German as well, at least in most definitions.

It's a quirk of German education in the United States that umlauts are taught as a "modifier" instead of a separate letter. At least in my personal experience.

[toffee-skye]

i am so glad for Claire right now, because in my opinion Faye did miss the point with Angus. thank you Claire for saying exactly what i was thinking.

[DSL]

or just start qc: New York

And then QC:Miami, and from there the sky is the limit  QC:Space

And then QC:NTSF:SD:SUV::, starring Zachary Quinto as Marten. It would feature Deathmole performing from the back of a SUV, obviously.

All culminating in Questionable Content Into Darkness.

Would that  just be an alternate-universe take (perhaps written by David J.J. "Damn You" Willis?) of the original "QC II: The Wrath of Winslow"?

[Smallest]

Forgot to mention, it's also nice to see that Faye wasn't being deliberately obtuse or anything.

[Mr_Rose]

I don't think it's actually using a German word, the umlaut there is just for metalness.

Adding ümłäütš is so metal, it's even got a wiki page not to mention the inevitable troperoll.
In fact it's almost inevitable now, like pseudo-mandarin tattoos, or bad English on T-shirts in Japan.

[Loki]

I should be thankful they aren't using Backwards R.

[TinPenguin]

I remember watching an interview with an Icelandic band talking about their name and having to stress, "that's a real word, we actually have those letters".

[GarandMarine]

I don't think it's actually using a German word, the umlaut there is just for metalness.

Adding ümłäütš is so metal, it's even got a wiki page not to mention the inevitable troperoll.
In fact it's almost inevitable now, like pseudo-mandarin tattoos, or bad English on T-shirts in Japan.

Is it sad I'm really looking forward to seeing some of those? I'm hoping to meet a girl with a tattoo in English for something like "Enlightened Dawn" as well.

[Smallest]

I don't think it's actually using a German word, the umlaut there is just for metalness.

Adding ümłäütš is so metal, it's even got a wiki page not to mention the inevitable troperoll.
In fact it's almost inevitable now, like pseudo-mandarin tattoos, or bad English on T-shirts in Japan.

Is it sad I'm really looking forward to seeing some of those? I'm hoping to meet a girl with a tattoo in English for something like "Enlightened Dawn" as well.

"Enlitened Down"

[bhtooefr]

I also find it kinda funny that people are calling out Claire for giving Faye a proper roflstomping in today's strip, so Faye can dish but she can't take it now? and she has to resort to physical violence just for a damn solid piece of insight followed by the type of snarky jab of the sort that Faye herself has offered and would be offering if the shoe was on the other foot. Faye's brutal wit is WELL known and documented in this comic, she doesn't need defending.

The thing is, though, it wasn't like the normal half-humorous/half-serious snark, it seemed like a blunt (I mean, that's about as blunt as getting whacked in the face with an oak 2x4) put-down. There would've been some pun face or SOMETHING if there were some humor behind it (see the Cicero comment from the wedding arc).

[Loki]

Maybe Claire is severely lacking in social protocol database entries.

Okay, new fan theory: both of the siblings are actually robots! Clinton just couldn't stop bragging about how much he was superior to puny humans, so someone at some point said: "Fine, you can show off ONE of your robo hands. Just stop bragging."

We need to put Hanners on the case.

[Smallest]

We need to put Hanners on the case.

I imagine she already is, and at the very least attempting to figure out who is the evil twin.

[pwhodges]

Umlauts are separate letters in German as well, at least in most definitions.

It's a quirk of German education in the United States that umlauts are taught as a "modifier" instead of a separate letter.

Well, not that odd given that they can also be written ae, oe, and ue.  And in Norwegian and Danish (not in Swedish) you can still come across aa used for å.

[KOK]

In German ö is an o with an umlaut, and is alphabetized as oe. In Swedish ö is a letter in its own right, the last letter of the alphabet.

It was Natasha who came up with the name. I doubt she knows what those dots mean.

[Pilchard123]

bad English on T-shirts in Japan.

I read somewhere that the bad English actually sells better than corrected English. Either way, the intent is partly the same as not-mandarin tattoos - to look 'exotic'. (There was a guy in my Maths class that had a shirt with...something on it. The two people that could read it thought it was hilarious.)

[ankhtahr]

In German ö is an o with an umlaut, and is alphabetized as oe.

The German word Umlaut is not the description of the modifier, but describes the three letters "Ä", "Ö" and "Ü". A "O with Umlaut" would be something like "OÖ", which is not being used in the German language.

Yes, if the letter Ä, Ö or Ü are not to be used (for technical reasons) you're supposed to write ae, oe and ue, but in the same way the letter ß can be transcribed as "ss", but ß is still a separate letter.

[Pilchard123]

So how do you distinguish Ä, Ö and Ü? "It's an Umlaut!" "Which one?"

Or does "Umlaut" describe a class more like vowel/consonant?

[ankhtahr]

Interestingly enough the German and English Wikipedia article about the German Alphabet have contradictory statements.The German one explains that it contains 30 letters, the English one explains that it has only 26 letters.
In German "Umlaute" (plural) are indeed a class of vowels. For a German native speaker the word Umlaute means all three, Ä, Ö and Ü. The little dots are only called diacretics.

[Loki]

Afaik, the letters are taught as "a-umlaut", "o-umlaut" and "u-umlaut" to non-native language speakers, respectively.

German Wikipedia, however, is once again inconcludent on the matter.

• The article on Ä says "it is used to display an A with Umlaut or A with trema". "The A with Umlaut is not part of the German alphabet".
• The article on Ö says the same.
• The article on Ü says "it consists of an U with trema and is an Umlaut".
• The article on the German alphabet says that "it consists of the 26 basic letters of the Latin alphabet plus the umlauts (Ä, Ö, Ü)". Which would indicate that Ä,Ö,Ü are Umlauts and not A/O/U with Umlauts. Note this is in direct contradiction to the article on the letter Ä.
• The article on Umlauts says that "the expression is used [...] for special symbols of the German alphabet, which depict the respective sounds of New High German, that are linguistically-historically i-Umlauts: ä, ö, ü (and the diphtong äu)."

So apparently it can mean either the sounds, or the graphemes, which are part of the alphabet, but aren't. 



....and I got ninja'd by ankh. I am gonna post this anyway.

[pwhodges]

And so we are reminded that Wikipedia is only as authoritative as the last person to edit it...

[Soulsynger]

All of the three letters Ä Ö Ü are Umlauts. (Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. )
They actually ARE in the German alphabet, same as ß (the Buckel-S) just not usually recited.

Ä can be written as AE
Ö can be written as OE
Ü can be written as UE
ß can be written as SZ, it is most commonly used to elongate the vowel preceding it.

[Redball]

My dad came back from Germany after WWII with a typewriter which had separate keys for Ä Ö and Ü, which left me with the impression that they could be seen as separate letters. The fact that there are no separate keys for those characters in my computer, that at least in the U.S. they're created by using the A, O and U with other amending keys makes them look like variations of those keys, those characters, instead of separate characters. Does that make sense?

As for speaking them, in singing music in German, I recall that those sounds were formed by adding kind of an R sound. I know, I know, I should be googling for a word with an umlaut and listening to it.

[ankhtahr]

soulsynger: well, ß is called ss (Eszett), and originated as ligature of the long s (ſ) and the z, which was written as "ʒ" in Fraktur. This ſʒ ligature became a separate letter as ß, but is transcribed as ss.

Redball: the sounds are different. Try "Bäcker" and "backen" as an example for the difference between a and ä, "grüßen" and "Gruß" for ü and u, and "öffnen" and "offen".

[Akima]

It's a quirk of German education in the United States that umlauts are taught as a "modifier" instead of a separate letter. At least in my personal experience.

I think that's just because English hardly uses diacritic marks, so we concentrate on the unadorned letter. The diaeresis in Zoë, naïve perhaps. The accents and circumflexes in French loanwords like café, cliché, fiancé(e), pâté probably don't count, nor accents in romanisations of other languages like Pokémon.

The Pinyin romanisation of Chinese uses the diaeresis or "umlaut" to distinguish u from ü. We think of the latter as a separate vowel, and apply tones to it in the usual way. It is a hassle on most computer systems because typing it requires two diacritic marks over the same letter. We often get round it by using the letter v (which does not exist in the Pinyin alphabet) to represent ü but that is far from perfect because most keyboards won't let us place a tone-mark over the letter v. Learn Mandarin pronunciation in six minutes. 

In English, I've been using ss for the eszett in place of ß ever since a new colleague kindly pointed out that his name was not pronounced Kebbler...

[ZoeB]

I think that's just because English hardly uses diacritic marks, so we concentrate on the unadorned letter. The diaeresis in Zoë, naïve perhaps.

I don't use it - it comes from the Greek Ζωή anyway. Zeta Omicron Eta(acute). English, as you say, often dispenses with such things.

Re Pinyin to English - A significant number of students in my class are from China, and others from Chinese families resident in SE Asia (2/3 of them). Only 10% are native English speakers.

There's a Xian Zhang and a Jian Zhang. And a Jingwei Zhang too, but at least that's spelt differently. I'm seriously considering doing a short Mandarin course, as it's unfair to expect no give-and-take in the communication. They all are fluent in English, it's just a matter of courtesy on my part to be able to greet them, congratulate them on a good mark, ask how they are etc. As I do in Arabic, Thai, Spanish, German etc. Oh yes, and Afrikaans. Even knowing 10 words and phrases of a language can be useful.

[westrim]

It's a quirk of German education in the United States that umlauts are taught as a "modifier" instead of a separate letter. At least in my personal experience.

It's deliberate, not a quirk. Few enough of the words in introductory courses use them that they can get away with it, and leave their more extensive use as a hurdle to jump later in favor of grammar like genders and conjugation.

In English, I've been using ss for the eszett in place of ß ever since a new colleague kindly pointed out that his name was not pronounced Kebbler...

Unless you saw his name spelled with it before hearing his name (or of eszetts), how did that happen? For that matter, how often do they come up in your writing?

[Kugai]

Ooooh Claire

Treading dangerously there.

[hakko504]

Oh, God, he wouldn't put Faye on a bus, would he?

So he puts Faye on a bus, which means Marten needs a new roommate. Claire, perhaps?

That would get the shippers going...

edit -- on second thought, both Marten and Marigold would need new roommates...

I called it!

• Faye and Angus get serious and get a new apartment together, forcing Marigold to move in with Marten

[GarandMarine]

Awww poor Claire! She looks so cute when she's scared of an emotionally disturbed southern woman handing her a smack down. Though with her build vs. an experienced brawler like Faye that fight would go about as well as a gerbil in a speed bag full of glass.

So Hanners, Marten, Dora, Claire, beer, what will happen next!?

We'll cut to Faye and Angus duh.

[Loki]

Where is Faye headed?

• To the batmobile
• To the forums
• To Emily

[Sorflakne]

Not sure how what Claire said was mean, it's a logical question.

[Tova]

Not sure how what Claire said was mean, it's a logical question.

"Logical" and "mean" are far from being mutually exclusive.