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Poll

Which are the most probable apartment hunting shenanigans?

Kevin the bank teller turns out to be their neighbor
Brun and Reneé can only find 3 bedroom apartments and end up with Elliot as a flatmate
Brun and Reneé can only find 3 bedroom apartments and end up with Clinton as a flatmate
Brun and Reneé can only find 3 bedroom apartments and end up with Emily as a flatmate
Brun and Reneé can only find 3 bedroom apartments and end up with Roko as a flatmate
Brun and Reneé find Corpse Witch acting as a building manager
Clinton, Eliot, Brun and Reneé all unwittingly move into the same floor of the same apartment complex
Brun and Reneé become neighbors with Melon and Arthur
Brun and Reneé rent Mrs. Augustus's basement not knowing she's Clinton and Claire's mom
Their new apartment is "haunted". Turns out it's just one of Melon's sisters being stuck in a wall or something.
other speculation (please elaborate)

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Author Topic: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)  (Read 26763 times)

cybersmurf

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #50 on: 26 Feb 2019, 13:45 »

Seeing this strip made me speculate about AnthroPC morning routine. Do they clean their chassis daily? Do they put on makeup?

Bubbles has been known to use lipstick and style her hair on occasion; I think that AnthroPCs have as much vanity as humans when it comes to appearance, especially if there is someone towards whom they want to 'look good'. We've also seen Momo shower so some of them at least have a routine of exterior hygiene. There are also likely things that are unique to them with no obvious human equivalent - Topping up on the pine-fresh coolant is the most obvious example.

It's not a neckbeard.

I think Momo took that shower simply because she could at that point - I guess since she had a full sized humanoid chassis, she wanted to be a bit more humanoid and less ... toy. Also, she's very particular about her hair, not looking too punk.
Bubbles HAS used lipstick, and is still working on her own hairstyle. Although only a little bit I guess.

Yes, they DO care what they look like. In varying degrees. Depending on what they can do about it. Like heatsinks and mod jobs.
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TheEvilDog

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #51 on: 26 Feb 2019, 16:21 »

I would imagine that Momo showers not because she can, but because even though her skin is sealed, dirt or other contaminants getting into the mechanical aspects of her chassis would have a damaging effect on her. We've seen the effect of poor maintenance has on an AI chassis, May's disaster with half her face falling off. Yes, we can attribute some of that to age, but a chassis is still a finely tuned piece of engineering and needs a degree of care.

As for Bubbles using lipstick, that would definitely be attributed to her trying to connect to the world. She's gone from a highly traumatic experience losing her team, to effectively being homeless and feared by both humans and AI. In going to the party, she possibly read up through an outdated book, or looked up for a more formal occasion. The lipstick was her trying too hard to fit in, especially combined with the fact that she was still in her combat armour.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #52 on: 26 Feb 2019, 18:05 »

Her social protocol database probably said not to remain muddy after a nature hike.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #53 on: 26 Feb 2019, 19:13 »

Dammit, am I going to have to go through the archive now to see if there were actually some Melon strips with a secret drawn on navel? It's probably just an offhand joke but it also feels like the sort of statement that could be used to cover some continuity errors, or just a long slow buildup for minimal payoff, like Community's Beetlejuice gag.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #54 on: 26 Feb 2019, 19:21 »

New comic...

And I made the mistake of assuming Melon's line in panel 4 actually had something to do with what Roko was saying, and I found myself wondering how, yeah, Roko is unemployed right now, but bread isn't THAT expensive, right?  :psyduck:
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #55 on: 26 Feb 2019, 19:52 »

If it does do damage, we may see Melon bawl.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #56 on: 26 Feb 2019, 19:53 »


As for Bubbles using lipstick, that would definitely be attributed to her trying to connect to the world. She's gone from a highly traumatic experience losing her team, to effectively being homeless and feared by both humans and AI. In going to the party, she possibly read up through an outdated book, or looked up for a more formal occasion. The lipstick was her trying too hard to fit in, especially combined with the fact that she was still in her combat armour.

She may have tried to check with Winslow's friends.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #57 on: 26 Feb 2019, 20:07 »

'You can leeeave your bread on ...'
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #58 on: 26 Feb 2019, 20:31 »

I hadn't considered "will a new body affect my fetish?" as a concept, before....

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #59 on: 26 Feb 2019, 20:53 »

I was just thinking yesterday "enough of the Brun and Clinton stuff, what's happening with Roko?". And now I know. :)
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #60 on: 26 Feb 2019, 21:12 »

'You can leeeave your bread on ...'
Came here for the vintage Randy Newman reference.   Leaving satisfied.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #61 on: 26 Feb 2019, 23:24 »

What makes this strip stand out to me is the way Jeph basically merges two separate strips in a way that should seem confusing but instead is funny. He simultaneously reminds us just how difficult a time Roko is having and also reminds us that Melon really needs close supervision at most times. After panel 1, both ladies go off in their own ways, Roko thinking aloud and Melon going on what I'm worried may be a fairly typical free-association chain of thoughts leading to a very bad decision.

I did wonder how Melon came to blow her butt off that time and now I think I know. Someone said the phrase 'explosive fart' and she decided that an explosive device under her posterior plate was the way to do it.

I do have to agree with Roko in one important way. Sitting at home, moping and over-analysing everything will only help intensify her sense of dislocation. If she's got a different focus for her day, it may help. I think it will be useful for her to see if she's still worrying about having a new body after a day of doing other stuff.

I also really, really want this arc to end with Roko visiting The Secret Bakery.
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brasca

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #62 on: 27 Feb 2019, 02:05 »

I thought that vertical line on Roko’s abdomen as well as other AIs was their navel or do they refer to it as something else?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #63 on: 27 Feb 2019, 02:13 »

The longitudinal line is the central division between the two sides of the abdominal musculature but they don't have a 'navel' - a distinct scar tissue feature (be it flat, innie or outie).
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #64 on: 27 Feb 2019, 02:30 »

I have a vague recollection of a character having their USB port where a navel might be; but I may be imagining it.
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traroth

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #65 on: 27 Feb 2019, 04:48 »

Melon seems to have a real masochistic inclination...
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #66 on: 27 Feb 2019, 05:04 »

I'm not sure its masochism in the classical sense of the word. I just think that she has difficulty in connecting bodily injury to actually being a bad thing for her personally. Isn't that a kind of dysphoria too?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #67 on: 27 Feb 2019, 05:36 »

I'm not sure its masochism in the classical sense of the word. I just think that she has difficulty in connecting bodily injury to actually being a bad thing for her personally. Isn't that a kind of dysphoria too?

This is the very substance of nightmares. And in a later comic, she said she enjoys it. Even so she's screaming!
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traroth

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #68 on: 27 Feb 2019, 05:37 »

Poor Roko has really a bad time coping with her new body. Time to find a bakery...
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #69 on: 27 Feb 2019, 06:16 »

I'm not sure its masochism in the classical sense of the word. I just think that she has difficulty in connecting bodily injury to actually being a bad thing for her personally. Isn't that a kind of dysphoria too?

Asimov's robots were prohibited to harm themselves (or allow themselves to be harmed) by the Third Law. The kind of AI he envisioned presupposed both 1) incapacity (a robot can't bring itself to harm itself, much like we can't stop our own heart by willing it), and 2) acumen (a robot would always be able to discern if protecting itself from harm would violate the first or second law). From what we think we know about AI today, it seems that Doctor A's non-fuzzy positronic brains are unrealistic.

The AIs in QC are very individual and often eccentric (they would be, it's a comic after all): lewd, proper, deferential, combative, bitter, carefree, conniving, straight-laced. Some of them have exceptional "talents", some of them have exceptional  limitations as well.

One shouldn't anthropomorphize and think that intelligent beings must be like humans. But how different is it reasonable to expect them to be? These are minds that aren't directly generated by an evolved wetware brain. Their designers have still modeled the human brain, in a trial-and-error process that is bound to include some weird wiring. If one were to create a graph of human and AI traits, I would expect them to cover roughly the same area, but at the same time be visibly different in the particulars.

But the differences might still work the same way: Roko and Agent Scully might be similar due to having the same kind of brain couplings. Steve Rogers and Bubbles too, and Station and Tony Stark, for that matter.
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Mark7

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #70 on: 27 Feb 2019, 06:27 »

How can Melon even eat cereal?  How does she even process it?

Are there AnthroPCs that are actually powered by organic matter?
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cesium133

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #71 on: 27 Feb 2019, 06:32 »

You could have an AI powered by burning organic matter, though they wouldn't be safe to have indoors, considering the emissions.

So, yes, Melon is probably powered by organic matter.
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Mark7

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #72 on: 27 Feb 2019, 06:48 »

You mean robot farts are deadlier than all other farts?

Also... I am officially in love with Melon :D
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #73 on: 27 Feb 2019, 07:20 »

The longitudinal line is the central division between the two sides of the abdominal musculature but they don't have a 'navel' - a distinct scar tissue feature (be it flat, innie or outie).

Well technically speaking they couldn’t since they never had umbilical cords, but they have imitations of the real thing.  Momo has one that when pressed changes the color of her hair.  You’d think that’s a wacky feature Melon’s chassis would include or maybe she opted for the detachable butt.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #74 on: 27 Feb 2019, 07:36 »

"Would you like some toast?" and waiting for someone, anyone, to put a bagel in her slots.  Even if Spooky knows she escaped and is hiding out, they may well just let her sit there with nothing more interesting to do than heat up a frozen waffle.

I think you cracked it. She turns up in Red Dwarf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #75 on: 27 Feb 2019, 07:49 »

Poor Roko has really a bad time coping with her new body. Time to find a bakery...

What if her new sensorium has the opposite effect and she turns out to be completely overwhelmed by bread ?
See Pratchett's Thief of Time and true 'death by chocolate'.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #76 on: 27 Feb 2019, 08:19 »

I think you cracked it. She turns up in Red Dwarf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec

I think that Lister had the right idea.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #77 on: 27 Feb 2019, 08:22 »

I have a vague recollection of a character having their USB port where a navel might be; but I may be imagining it.
That was Hannelore: Winslow and Pintsize was checking if she secretly was a cyborg by sticking cables into her navel and seeing if they connected. 1175 They didn't mention USB, but the way the cables was drawn it was almost certainly USB.
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cybersmurf

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #78 on: 27 Feb 2019, 10:35 »

I thought that vertical line on Roko’s abdomen as well as other AIs was their navel or do they refer to it as something else?

My guess is: newer/more expensive chassis have a more human build, like abdominal "muscles". May be for agility, and/or more power. I think Melon's and May's chassis may have more like static builds, with classic motors and actuators. Momo, as well as Winslow could be a hybrid solution in my eyes, with some artificial muscles, and some 'classic robotics'.


'You can leeeave your bread on ...'

This actually hurts me. It's so bad, it could be one of MY jokes.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #79 on: 27 Feb 2019, 19:55 »

So, two questions. Why does Roko have a melon baller? Why does Melon know this?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #80 on: 27 Feb 2019, 20:23 »

Roko has a melon baller for scooping bread dough for mini-breads.  I use mine for cookies.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #81 on: 27 Feb 2019, 20:53 »

I have a vague recollection of a character having their USB port where a navel might be; but I may be imagining it.
You might be mixing up Baron Mistycorn being a dick to Nick with that plug punch to the gut. IDK.

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #82 on: 27 Feb 2019, 23:16 »

New Comic Up!

You know, I'm really starting to worry about Melon. I wonder how often she injures herself out of curiosity or a simple lack of understanding of what is and is not good for her continued functioning? There is this incident, the exploding butt and the incredibly traumatic hallucinations she gives herself by huffing toxic mixtures at Coffee of Doom. I might be being too down here but I really think that she needs a live-in carer!

This is the first suggestion Jeph has made that Roko isn't so much feeling disconnection from her new body as she's suffering from an ongoing low-level sensory overload that makes it difficult for her to adapt. She is either going to go into The Secret Bakery and faint due to the smell or start acting crazy because of the sensations. I'm not sure which option is worse at this point, given what she said about how desperately she still needs bread to turn her on!

Meanwhile, I think that Faye speaks for Jeph in her suspicion of 'expert opinions' on the Internet and we learn that Bubbles just doesn't indulge Melon's whimsical nature at all! :laugh:
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cybersmurf

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #83 on: 27 Feb 2019, 23:32 »

Meanwhile, I think that Faye speaks for Jeph in her suspicion of 'expert opinions' on the Internet and we learn that Bubbles just doesn't indulge Melon's whimsical nature at all! :laugh:

IIRC either Bubbles or Roko mentioned that model of chassis is typical for a certain kind of AI. Roko probably is just jaded, and to Bubbles it's just "another variation of AI".

Also, I consider the whole thing a rather... ballsy move on Melon's side.
I'll show myself out.


Union robotics could offer melon a flatrate on work time, and a reduced prize on parts, since she'll probably be a returning customer.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #84 on: 28 Feb 2019, 00:41 »

SynthShine 420 is the QC AI equivalent of "high end" audio cable.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #85 on: 28 Feb 2019, 00:51 »

Roko already wants to polish her butt emblem? Isn't that a bit premature?
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TheEvilDog

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #86 on: 28 Feb 2019, 01:08 »

Not really, she's got a new body and she quit her job. Money could be a bit tight. That's going to need proper maintenance. Or at least, that's what she thinks. Really, butt polish is just like all those other unnecessary products.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #87 on: 28 Feb 2019, 02:03 »

SynthShine 420 is the QC AI equivalent of "high end" audio cable.

Like the difference in perceived bass biasing isn't worth paying ten times as much? oh, I agree.

Union Robotics could make themselves a name by creating their own, cheap more moderately priced alternative. It may get weird when Pintsize helps them creating the formula.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #88 on: 28 Feb 2019, 02:49 »

'You can leeeave your bread on ...'

This actually hurts me. It's so bad, it could be one of MY jokes.

I'm the Uwe Boll of punning.  8-)

Srsly, though: Do we have a Germanophone equivalent to the Anglophone punning-culture? We do puns, too, but methinks it doesn't play that much of a role in German/Austrian/Swiss humor? .


P. S.: Yes, German humor does exist, it's just that it is pretty dark, very fond of the surreal and absurd, and a lot of it is deadpan & tongue-in-cheek. Monthly Python is right up our alley.

P. P. S. :And it's distinct from post-1990s German comedy, which is a crime against humanity.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #89 on: 28 Feb 2019, 04:40 »

New Comic Up!

You know, I'm really starting to worry about Melon. I wonder how often she injures herself out of curiosity or a simple lack of understanding of what is and is not good for her continued functioning? There is this incident, the exploding butt and the incredibly traumatic hallucinations she gives herself by huffing toxic mixtures at Coffee of Doom. I might be being too down here but I really think that she needs a live-in carer!

This is the first suggestion Jeph has made that Roko isn't so much feeling disconnection from her new body as she's suffering from an ongoing low-level sensory overload that makes it difficult for her to adapt. She is either going to go into The Secret Bakery and faint due to the smell or start acting crazy because of the sensations. I'm not sure which option is worse at this point, given what she said about how desperately she still needs bread to turn her on!

Meanwhile, I think that Faye speaks for Jeph in her suspicion of 'expert opinions' on the Internet and we learn that Bubbles just doesn't indulge Melon's whimsical nature at all! :laugh:

Perhaps Melon has a similar issue to what Roko is going through?  Reason she can carve into herself, blow her butt off etc, is because she doesn't see the body as "her".  As long as the AI lattice is in tact, they're OK, so I would hazard a guess that some AI's might feel that the chassis is a simple vehicle, able to be modified and transformed to fit the personality, much the way we view a car or truck.  The chassis or car is a simple vehicle to get us from point A to point B while we travel along inside it. 
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SpanielBear

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #90 on: 28 Feb 2019, 05:29 »

'You can leeeave your bread on ...'

This actually hurts me. It's so bad, it could be one of MY jokes.

I'm the Uwe Boll of punning.  8-)

Srsly, though: Do we have a Germanophone equivalent to the Anglophone punning-culture? We do puns, too, but methinks it doesn't play that much of a role in German/Austrian/Swiss humor? .


P. S.: Yes, German humor does exist, it's just that it is pretty dark, very fond of the surreal and absurd, and a lot of it is deadpan & tongue-in-cheek. Monthly Python is right up our alley.

P. P. S. :And it's distinct from post-1990s German comedy, which is a crime against humanity.


It's a very small sample I know, but I thought Rammstein lyrics were largely pun based. It feels* like German heavy metal in general uses a lot of wordplay. It's one of the reasons I like it, it takes a genre known for its aggression and violent imagery and uses humour to turn a gaze back on itself. It's self aware, playing up the pantomime. It can be downright clever sometimes.

(Also industrial bass riffs, oh my God take me now...)

*My German is pretty bad, and this is definitely a perception from a foreign perspective rather than an objective observation.
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Stoutfellow

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #91 on: 28 Feb 2019, 07:28 »

Roko has a melon baller for scooping bread dough for mini-breads.  I use mine for cookies.

Do we have any evidence that Roko actually bakes, as opposed to haunting bakeries?
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Thrudd

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #92 on: 28 Feb 2019, 08:21 »

Just injecting a sampling of one variety of German humour that a cousin sent a link to me - NICHTLUSTIG - the name translates as NOT FUNNY
(click to show/hide)
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cybersmurf

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #93 on: 28 Feb 2019, 08:44 »

'You can leeeave your bread on ...'

This actually hurts me. It's so bad, it could be one of MY jokes.

I'm the Uwe Boll of punning.  8-)

Srsly, though: Do we have a Germanophone equivalent to the Anglophone punning-culture? We do puns, too, but methinks it doesn't play that much of a role in German/Austrian/Swiss humor? .


P. S.: Yes, German humor does exist, it's just that it is pretty dark, very fond of the surreal and absurd, and a lot of it is deadpan & tongue-in-cheek. Monthly Python is right up our alley.

P. P. S. :And it's distinct from post-1990s German comedy, which is a crime against humanity.


It's a very small sample I know, but I thought Rammstein lyrics were largely pun based. It feels* like German heavy metal in general uses a lot of wordplay. It's one of the reasons I like it, it takes a genre known for its aggression and violent imagery and uses humour to turn a gaze back on itself. It's self aware, playing up the pantomime. It can be downright clever sometimes.

(Also industrial bass riffs, oh my God take me now...)

*My German is pretty bad, and this is definitely a perception from a foreign perspective rather than an objective observation.

A certain circle of my friends knows me for my capability of occasionally brilliant, but mostly blunt to really bad puns.

I think, to an extent, Austrian humor is partially very similar to a certain British humour. We can be quite dark, even morbid, and I have certain self-deprecating tendencies. and we're not afraid to turn on clichés.

I think German humor used to be extremely dry. Like one-liners needed a gallon of water to rehydrate, and still be dry.


Just injecting a sampling of one variety of German humour that a cousin sent a link to me - NICHTLUSTIG - the name translates as NOT FUNNY
(click to show/hide)


Some of them are spot on.
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Perfectly Reasonable

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #94 on: 28 Feb 2019, 10:09 »

This brought to my mind the image of a chicken running around with its head cut off -- which I have seen. Then I looked up the cartoon...
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #95 on: 28 Feb 2019, 11:17 »

Srsly, though: Do we have a Germanophone equivalent to the Anglophone punning-culture? We do puns, too, but methinks it doesn't play that much of a role in German/Austrian/Swiss humor? .

It's a very small sample I know, but I thought Rammstein lyrics were largely pun based. It feels* like German heavy metal in general uses a lot of wordplay. It's one of the reasons I like it, it takes a genre known for its aggression and violent imagery and uses humour to turn a gaze back on itself. It's self aware, playing up the pantomime. It can be downright clever sometimes.

(Also industrial bass riffs, oh my God take me now...)

My Heavy-Metal phase can be accurately summed up as 'short & unhappy', and the only German Metal bands on my radar at the time were Accept, Scorpions and Rammstein (Never really looked into Warlock, for some reason). Accept were pretty niche even in their heyday and Scorpions ... took cringeworthy and turned it into a printing press (Those poor, poor Russians ... ).

I'm not too familiar with Rammstein - back then, they had a strong following in the far-right and Neonazi-scene, and were regarded with suspicion in my social circle - but now that you mention it ... Yeah, I think you make a good point.

I mean, their name is a play on words of sorts to begin with - it's both a cultural reference to the tragedy during the 1988 air show at Ramstein Air Force base, as well as a neologism meaning 'Ramming stone '. I thought "Mann gegen Mann" was pretty clever - the title is a colloquialism for single (mortal) combat, but they turned it around into a homoerotic reference. The lyrics are a veritable double-entendre fest, pretty much in the vein you mentioned (The German Wiki has some good textual analysis). Yeah, you're probably right about Rammstein. I'm afraid that's the extent of my knowledge of German metal, though.

And yes, Germans do appreciate a good play-on-words, especially in artistic contexts - it's just that I have a feeling that Anglospherean punning is more of an un-selfconcious  'Fun for the whole Family'-thingy, while ours is a bit more 'verkopft' ("(over-)cerebral" ).

Could be completely wrong about that, though. Wouldn't be the first time. I also can't really speak for the Austrians and Swiss.

Quote
My German is pretty bad, and this is definitely a perception from a foreign perspective rather than an objective observation.

Whelp, mine is just an opinion, too, you know? And as I said, I think it's a good point. Also: Outside perspectives can be immensely valuable, in an 'Emperor's new clothes'-kind of way.
« Last Edit: 28 Feb 2019, 11:30 by Case »
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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #96 on: 28 Feb 2019, 11:18 »

Union robotics could offer melon a flatrate on work time, and a reduced prize on parts, since she'll probably be a returning customer.

Do AIs get medicare ?
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OldGoat

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #97 on: 28 Feb 2019, 12:25 »

I highly recommend Der Tatortreiniger ("The Crime Scene Cleaner").
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SpanielBear

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #98 on: 28 Feb 2019, 12:34 »


My Heavy-Metal phase can be accurately summed up as 'short & unhappy', and the only German Metal bands on my radar at the time were Accept, Scorpions and Rammstein (Never really looked into Warlock, for some reason). Accept were pretty niche even in their heyday and Scorpions ... took cringeworthy and turned it into a printing press (Those poor, poor Russians ... ).

I'm not too familiar with Rammstein - back then, they had a strong following in the far-right and Neonazi-scene, and were regarded with suspicion in my social circle - but now that you mention it ... Yeah, I think you make a good point.

I mean, their name is a play on words of sorts to begin with - it's both a cultural reference to the tragedy during the 1988 air show at Ramstein Air Force base, as well as a neologism meaning 'Ramming stone '. I thought "Mann gegen Mann" was pretty clever - the title is a colloquialism for single (mortal) combat, but they turned it around into a homoerotic reference. The lyrics are a veritable double-entendre fest, pretty much in the vein you mentioned (The German Wiki has some good textual analysis). Yeah, you're probably right about Rammstein. I'm afraid that's the extent of my knowledge of German metal, though.

And yes, Germans do appreciate a good play-on-words, especially in artistic contexts - it's just that I have a feeling that Anglospherean punning is more of an un-selfconcious  'Fun for the whole Family'-thingy, while ours is a bit more 'verkopft' ("(over-)cerebral" ).

Could be completely wrong about that, though. Wouldn't be the first time. I also can't really speak for the Austrians and Swiss.

Quote
My German is pretty bad, and this is definitely a perception from a foreign perspective rather than an objective observation.

Whelp, mine is just an opinion, too, you know? And as I said, I think it's a good point. Also: Outside perspectives can be immensely valuable, in an 'Emperor's new clothes'-kind of way.


That's really interesting. Thinking about it, I think you have a point about British wordplay being... classless? Insofar as anything here is. But you're as likely to find stupid puns in light entertainment like Ant and Dec or The Paul O' Grady Show, as you are in some Oxbridge double act like Mitchell and Webb or Fry and Laurie. A bit of that is also connected to our attitudes towards sex- Although it's relaxed, there's still some taboo so there's a lot of double-entendre. Puns are used to turn innocuous phrases into salacious ones.

In contrast, talking about German puns being over-cerebral... Well, off the top of my head I can't think of many English heavy metal songs that turn on a phrase like Du Hast or Mein Teil. Not only that, but you seem to have bands that use more word-play in general (Eisbrecher) or reference back to literary classics (ASP, Rammstein again (Dalai Lama is a great track, and based around a Goethe poem)). Happy to be corrected though!

(As an aside, I know Rammstein have a lot of... unfortunate (shitty) fans, but in the bands' defence they have gone out of their way to repudiate that association as best they can, and on multiple occasions. They wrote a whole song about being left-wing, politically (Links 2,3,4). This is almost certainly common knowledge, but I like them so thought I'd mention it!)

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Re: WCDT Strips 3946-3950 (25th February - 1st March 2019)
« Reply #99 on: 28 Feb 2019, 12:44 »

Cockney rhyming slang is also wordplay, and has given phrases to the rest of the anglosphere.
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