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Cake day: December 11th, 2024

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  • m_f@discuss.onlineOPtoThe Far Side@sh.itjust.works2025-07-08
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    4 days ago

    Some context on this comic:

    Transcript:

    As I’ve indicated, before the public sees any syndicated cartoons, they’re first screened by an editor or two for potential problems. And editors, I’m convinced, have saved my career many times by their decision not to publish certain cartoons. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating when their decisions seem strangely arcane or capricious.

    My editor didn’t want to publish this cartoon. I can’t recall his exact words on the subject, but basically he felt that not many people would understand the reference to the Wizard of Oz. Eventually, I was able to convince him to let it go through, and, when all was said and done, I doubt there were really many people who didn’t understand it. (Strange, when you think of the weird, confusing cartoons they never hesitate to print.) Nevertheless, I can’t be critical of these events; my editor’s scorecard is still way ahead.


  • m_f@discuss.onlineOPtoThe Far Side@sh.itjust.works2025-07-16
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    4 days ago

    Some background on this comic:

    Transcript (sketch):

    Well, of course I did it in cold-blood, you nerd!.. I’m a reptile!"

    Transcript (commentary):

    This idea didn’t change much between the sketch and the final drawing, except I decided the attorney in this case was definitely an idiot, not a nerd. (These are important considerations.)

    I once referred to a character in one of my cartoons as a “dork” (a popular insult when I was growing up), but my editor called me up and said that “dork” couldn’t be used because it meant “penis.” I couldn’t believe it. I ran to my New Dictionary of American Slang and, sure enough, he was right. All those years of saying or being called a “dork” and I had never really known what it mean. What a nerd.


  • m_f@discuss.onlineOPtoThe Far Side@sh.itjust.works2025-07-16
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    4 days ago

    Some background on this comic:

    Transcript:

    When I originally wrote this caption, it read (in part): “…the coconut-like sound of their heads hitting secretly delighted the bird.” That’s the way it was first published.

    Then I got a letter from some fellow who suggested, in this case, the word “colliding” would be a better substitute for the word “hitting.”

    This was quite strange to me. First of all, I had struggled with this caption and never felt comfortable with the final outcome. And secondly, he was right. “Colliding” was a much better word, giving the caption an improved rhythm. So I changed it.


  • In a similar spirit, the Juicy Lucy was invented in MN, though two different bars claim to be the ones that invented it.

    A Jucy Lucy (or Juicy Lucy) is a stuffed cheeseburger with the cheese inside of the meat instead of on top, resulting in a melted core of cheese. It is a popular, regional cuisine in Minnesota, particularly in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Two bars in Minneapolis claim to have invented the burger, while other local bars and restaurants have created their own interpretations of the style.








  • m_f@discuss.onlineOPtoThe Far Side@sh.itjust.works2025-07-01
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    15 days ago

    Some background on this comic:

    Transcript:

    I submitted this for publication several years before it actually ran. My editor worried about its impact on some readers, although he personally loved it so much he kept the original on his office wall.

    And then one day there was a mix-up over the number of backlogged cartoons, producing a shortage, and this one had to be pulled off the wall and used.



  • m_f@discuss.onlineOPtoThe Far Side@sh.itjust.works2025-07-02
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    18 days ago

    If you’re wondering about the term itself, wiktionary has some background:

    Not known with certainty. Two long-held hypotheses are as follows: One describes combat soldiers wistfully wishing to go back home, buy a farm, and live peacefully there; later, after they had been killed in combat, their fellow soldiers would say that they had bought the farm (compare the established metaphor pattern of having gone to that big [whatever sort of nice place] in the sky). Another links the phrase to the idea that governments compensate farmers whose land is damaged by a military aircraft crash; a deceased pilot was thus said to have bought the farm, and the term eventually entered wider use.

    (idiomatic, US, informal, euphemistic) To die; generally, to die in battle or in a plane crash.

    This idiom is most often found in its past tense and past participle form bought the farm.