Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for October 16, 2011

????????

I must be missing something, here…

Maybe Groupon is a mustard?

Groupon is one of those “group coupon” sites, but I don’t get what that has to do with Ludwig, a solo cat.

I also must be missing something. I just don’t get it!

its a portmanteau from coupn and group. two other comix used “frenemy” today;sally forth and doonsbury. maybe some sort of running joke among the cartoonist

“Groupon” is also the name of the spokescat (another portmanteau) at the Groupon site. Scroll to the bottom of the deal page. Still don’t get the connection.

It works as a portmanteau of either “group coupon” or “Grey Poupon”…

I’m pretty sure it’s a specific reference to “Groupon” as the internet coupon-sharing service, which I’ve been hearing about as the “Next Big Thing” for a couple of years now, but I don’t know enough about it to make the connection to the strip. If mwproto is correct (which I have no reason to doubt) and Groupon uses a spokescat, that would make the connection stronger, although I still don’t get the joke.

And contrary to RCMinor’s assertion, I find “frenemy” neither lazy nor idiotic; it’s a useful coinage for a recognizable phenomenon for which we have no better word: “Britney’s my person-with-whom-I-really-don’t-get-along-and-in-fact-we-share-real-antipathy-but-we-maintain-a-facade-of-politeness-and-amity-for-social-reasons” – Bad. “Britney’s my frenemy” – Good.

demanding customers who expect a lot and give little in return…

Tiltspace, I think you are on to something, I read recently many of the coupon sites are going under because customers are not living up to the merchants expectations i.e. they will come back and pay full price.

Just went over to Jimmy Johnson’s own arloandjanis.com site, and there’s some confusion and no info over there either. I’m accustomed to Jimmy’s cartoons making me work for the funny occasionally, but I’m not good enough at puzzles to fill it the crux of this one.

I figured the “Groupon crowd” was either people who use Groupon or the people who run it. I can’t see how to relate either crowd to a (fictional) cat named Groupon. I’m sure the gag must be related to the fact that the finicky Ludwig is eager to eat the product, but how that pertains to getting a coupon bargain is beyond me.

At least I’m not the only one who doesn’t get it.

Prefer when both are in the strip, especially on a Sunday. Seems to be inconsistent lately. Sorry.

Looks like JJ has stumped the band. I got nothing either.

Tiltspace and boots are right on.

That’s the problem with being so smart – sometimes what seems perfectly obvious to you is lost on the masses. (Like much of my humor)