Frazz by Jef Mallett for June 15, 2014

Pun time again. Rare steak = Day in June. Good steak = Rare steak

It can work without the second meaning of “rare”. If you are poor, even if you eat them well done (like me), all steak is rare.

Very clever. It took Miss Plainwell a while to understand Frazz’s words, as he was referring to the day’s weather(It must be raining or it was too hot).

Good one Nos Nevets.And yup.

Meanwhile…“What is as rare as a day in June?” is actually a quotation from nineteenth century poet James Russell Lowell…

The long poem is about the quest for the Holy Grail… but the very next lines are about the wonders of summer.. People use it (well, the sort of people who go around quoting old-fashioned poets like Lowell) when exclaiming about good weather, not bad…Frazz’s pun, to me, is simply taking the word “rare” literally….“What else is this rare? Why, a good steak, that’s what else.”

Miss Plainwell doesn’t get it… or pretends she doesn’t…

When she sees the pink sky, she makes her own pun….a day is pink in the END, a steak, in the middle.

I had to look it up…. not being the sort of person who quotes Lowell….cos I had a vague memory of it…but indeed, the lines before that quote talk about how many things cos money, but gifts from God are free to all….including a perfect June day.

"For a cap and bells our lives we pay,Bubbles we earn with a whole soul’s tasking: ’T is heaven alone that is given away,’T is only God may be had for the asking;There is no price set on the lavish summer,And June may be had by the poorest comer.

And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days"

Sometimes it takes me a while to understand what Frazz says, too, Ms. Plainwell! BUT, when I get it, it’s almost always very good.

A rare good day indeed. It’s so humid right now I couldn’t strike a match outside.

a day in June is blue in the middle and pink at the end

This is always a great strip but the comments are a learning experience, too. You people are wonderful!

Stake isn’t rare. You can find it in almost any restaurant!!

A day in February is rarer than a day in June, there are fewer of them.

And television is a medium, because it is neither rare nor well done.

30 days in June, not rare at all, the line misses out an adjective, good, bad, wet, dry, humid, stinky, whatever.

A rare steak is red in the middle, pink is medium well.

rare steak is blasphemy. it should be well done.

If it’s pink in the middle, it’s medium rare and halfway to medium, at which point it starts to lose its flavor. One of my favorite restaurants had a disclaimer in its menu that read “We are not responsible for the flavor or tenderness of steaks ordered well done.”

“What is so rare as a steak in June?”“Everybody has a stake in June.” Pogo

I’m reminded of the “Arlo and Janis” comic where Janis asks Arlo for her steak well done. Arlo serves her a rare steak with the observation “that’s a steak done well.”

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