cdward and eefarhi,
In some respects, English is too ‘pliable’ to suit me. The language is gradually deteriorating. Wrong usage often becomes acceptable because it’s spoken regularly in ‘everyday conversation’. Like means ‘similar to’. Would someone correctly say, ”Similar to I told you”? I’m with eefarhi on this one.
BTW eefarhi, bravo to you for saying “I resent your using” instead of ‘I resent you using’. “Using and diffusing” is a clever term, also.
I would have had my mouth washed out with soap, a paddling and still had to clean the room had I spoken to my mom that way! Love Mom’s expression….I use the same one in the classroom!
N7326 Foxtrot,
That’s a good line. Did you ever figure out why?
Maybe it’s because if you put the cars into the carport and the ‘junk’ into the driveway, you wouldn’t be able to drive the cars into the street through the junk. :o) I’m just joshing!
deepfrieddrippingrag said,
“Do you know what’s worth going to the ends of the earth to accomplish?”
“To the ends of the earth, I’ll follow that star
To the ends of the earth, JUST TO BE WHERE YOU ARE.”
Is it to avoid having to clean your room?
Have you gone to the ends of the earth? Did you accomplish your objective? “All’s Well that Ends Well!” Did the ends justify the means? How many ends of the earth are there? What’s beyond the ends of the earth?
TN-REDD,
Have we opened a Pandora’s Box? This could go on indefinitely.
There are at least several other words like iterate and reiterate that mean the same thing, such as flammable and inflammable.
‘Fat chance’ is used ironically/facetiously. Slim chance is straight-forward, but they ARE similar in meaning.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall CLEAVE unto his wife: and they two shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24
“…What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matthew 19:6b
When a man and a women marry each other, they cleave together, but when they separate, they cleave apart.
When they marry, they adhere to one another, but when they separate, they are put asunder from one another. Cleave applies in both cases. The English language has many strange aspects.
Calvin I think it’s time mom got rid of your way extra stuff. To much of a good thing and no where to put it.
Just like me I like books, have a lot of, when finish I give away. I go to sales so there used books and pay very low.
Sad part at sales people are charging more so I don’t mind not buying. To high I pass up.
eefarhi said, ….. say “AS” I told you and not ‘LIKE” I told you ?
Good on you. I agree and am sorry life doesn’t work that way. Most writing is done for a targeted audience. Most cartoons are not written for intellectuals. Advertisers are huge offenders of grammar. Military manuals are written at the seventh grade level (maybe less now that so many military members are citizens of other countries.) Lawyers say ‘now at this point in time.” But I am pleased there has been some evolution of grammer. Trying to read Shakespear as he wrote and pronounced his words is a real chore for me.
BTW … English is a second language for me. My first is Appalachian and I can’t understand one word the fine folks of Mass. have to say :~)
It was like this! Would you like to buy a vowel (e)?
Hamlet said to Ophelia, “Get thee to a punnery! Oh wait; I mean nunnery.”
Juliet: “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?”
Romeo: “I’m down in the bushes; the rose trellis broke.”
And here I thought I was the only kid that cleaned his room that way! Bever worked for me either. But alas that was more than 50 years ago. Happy days and happy memories (mostly).
speaking of Shakespeare and puns: Romeo and Juliet is full of puns and wordplay, i.e. the scene where Romeo and Juliet flirt about him kissing her hand. Also Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech.
Mercutio is a great punster, even when reacting to a fatal sword thrust:
“No, ‘tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door, but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”
eefarhi,
Exactly the point of grammar that you raise today received a lot of attention in the USA in the early 1960s. At that time, most people did know that “as” is correct and “like” is incorrect, but a leading brand of cigarette decided to use the slogan “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” It was everywhere, every day. It reflected common usage among half of Americans, but the other half resented the promotion of an error. The company did not yield, and the usage has grown so common that the majority of Americans today are not aware that “as” is correct.
Next will be the misuse of “I” and “me.” It’s unbelievable, yet true now, that probably almost half of Americans sometimes use “I” as a direct object (incorrectly) in order to be “correct,” as in “The gift was given to my wife and I.”
(American) English is my first language, but I believe that those who learn it as a second language are even more upset by its mis-use than its native speakers are.
I have seen Watterson draw people in impossibly stretched or contorted shapes, and I have even seen him depict people in Cubist style. But this position Mom is in looks outright brutal - her head is severed and appears to rest in her lap.
I’ve heard of “having your head handed to you” by an angry family member (usually a teenager!), but this is awfully graphic.
Avon: That’s cartoon physics, pure and simple. Mom’s body is severely contorted, with her torso and hips buried and her thighs pressed against her torso, but her lower legs and feet are visible.
“I don’t care what universe you’re from - that one’s gotta hurt!” (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)
I remember laughing at this one when it first ran. But upon further reflection, Calvin’s just a little * in this one. And when Calvin crosses that line, the strip’s not really funny, or entertaining.
I remember laughing at this one when it first ran. But upon further reflection, Calvin’s just a little * in this one. And when Calvin crosses that line, the strip’s not really funny, or entertaining.
I remember laughing at this one when it first ran. But upon further reflection, Calvin’s just a little * in this one. And when Calvin crosses that line, the strip’s not really funny, or entertaining.
I didn’t like that element of this day’s strip either, mikenassour. Mom had better not let that degree and kind of disrespect go by.
The problem with playing with the darker elements of human nature as a source of humor is that it’s hard to know where the line shouldn’t be crossed, and even Bill W. sometimes crossed it. I agree this is one of those times.
Who is the authority to decide whether the grammar is correct or incorrect? I have been studying German for the last couple of months and it really looks like the whole English system, both European and American is a bastardization of many languages. I don’t think we have any room to decide what is correct and what is not correct after studying another language that is the root of the English language. Let us enjoy the cartoon and not worry about “correct English”. It don’t make no difference as to what you’re sayin as long as the meanin is gittin across’t.
@Avon, between you and I, I just can’t stand that usage! (said with sarcasm). I’ve even seen it in cartoons, sadly. We would never say, “Between he and you”–it’s “between him and you”, so it takes me rather than I.
I also like to freak people out by using the correct term of who or whom…
Perils of a Classical education (id est, Latin and Greek).
Calvin’s being a twit today with all his back-talk to mom. For once in his life, I hope to see a spanking in his future!!!
By the way, Mom & Dad: Calvin is only 6 years old. How much cr@p does a child his age need? Learn to say “NO!” to everything he asks for and quit buying him so much stuff when there’s absolutely no place in his room to put it!
margueritem over 14 years ago
He’s cruisin’ for a bruisin’…
deepfrieddrippingrag over 14 years ago
Do you know what’s worth going to the ends of the earth to accomplish?
Everything changes, nothing stays the same.
pouncingtiger over 14 years ago
Calvin does have a point, but he can’t win this battle.
rentier over 14 years ago
Back to work!
Frankr over 14 years ago
It keeps the closet monsters at bay.
The Duke 1 over 14 years ago
Sailin’ for whalin’? Achin’ for a breakin’?
ladywolf17 over 14 years ago
Yeah mom, you clean it up, since you made the mess. Get to work mommy.
eefarhi over 14 years ago
My mother tongue is not English, but I resent your using and diffusing bad English. Should notone say “AS” I told you and not ‘LIKE” I told you ?
E. E. FARHI, Ph.D., LL.B. Mistaken pedan t ???
eefarhi over 14 years ago
eefarhi said, less than a minute ago
My mother tongue is not English, but I resent your using and diffusing bad English. Should notone say “AS” I told you and not ‘LIKE” I told you ?
E. E. FARHI, Ph.D., LL.B. Mistaken pedan t ???
horizon1129 over 14 years ago
Now Calvin plays Mom!!!
harrietbe over 14 years ago
A place for everything, and everything in its place… in the closet! What’s a closet for, after all?
tirnaaisling over 14 years ago
Quick run! While she’s still incapacitated.
moronbis over 14 years ago
He should start singing like a sparrow. Mom will surely throw him out. Best way to evade cleaning room.
florchi over 14 years ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9FGC68YcwM
cdward over 14 years ago
eefarhi, English is a pliable language. In US usage, “like I told you” is acceptable, certainly in everyday conversation.
As for Calvin, I think moronbis has the right idea.
Frogman_tg over 14 years ago
That looks more like Fibber McGees closet! Maybe he should clean it up??? I love all the posts, keep it up gang!
Puddleglum2 over 14 years ago
cdward and eefarhi, In some respects, English is too ‘pliable’ to suit me. The language is gradually deteriorating. Wrong usage often becomes acceptable because it’s spoken regularly in ‘everyday conversation’. Like means ‘similar to’. Would someone correctly say, ”Similar to I told you”? I’m with eefarhi on this one. BTW eefarhi, bravo to you for saying “I resent your using” instead of ‘I resent you using’. “Using and diffusing” is a clever term, also.
lewisbower over 14 years ago
CDWARD People also use vulgarity a lot. Does that make it acceptable?
Calvin–Have I not told you for days, THE WINDOW!
GROG Premium Member over 14 years ago
That was funny. Calvin, you’re not going to win this battle, either.
Good Morning, Marg, Mike & ♠Lonewolf♠!
COWBOY7 over 14 years ago
You’re going to need a lawyer on this one, Calvin.
G’Morning, Marg, Mike & Grog!
larney45 over 14 years ago
I would have had my mouth washed out with soap, a paddling and still had to clean the room had I spoken to my mom that way! Love Mom’s expression….I use the same one in the classroom!
tomtweit over 14 years ago
harrietbe said, about 4 hours ago
A place for everything, and everything in its place… in the closet! What’s a closet for, after all?
I believe Will Rogers said ” The great American tradition - to have a place for everything and keep it somewhere else”.
agpeter over 14 years ago
Calvin, have a garage sale. Make some $$$.
linsonl over 14 years ago
I always wondered why we kept two new cars in the driveway so we could protect $200 worth of junk in the carport.
TN-REDD over 14 years ago
Linda Arney . I think that I too would of been disciplined much the same way had I been a jackanapes like our Calvin here.
bonnevilledriver over 14 years ago
Hope Calvin lives to see tomorrow after that not-so-smart remark to his Mom!!
Puddleglum2 over 14 years ago
N7326 Foxtrot, That’s a good line. Did you ever figure out why? Maybe it’s because if you put the cars into the carport and the ‘junk’ into the driveway, you wouldn’t be able to drive the cars into the street through the junk. :o) I’m just joshing!
Puddleglum2 over 14 years ago
deepfrieddrippingrag said, “Do you know what’s worth going to the ends of the earth to accomplish?” “To the ends of the earth, I’ll follow that star To the ends of the earth, JUST TO BE WHERE YOU ARE.” Is it to avoid having to clean your room? Have you gone to the ends of the earth? Did you accomplish your objective? “All’s Well that Ends Well!” Did the ends justify the means? How many ends of the earth are there? What’s beyond the ends of the earth?
Puddleglum2 over 14 years ago
TN-REDD, Have we opened a Pandora’s Box? This could go on indefinitely. There are at least several other words like iterate and reiterate that mean the same thing, such as flammable and inflammable. ‘Fat chance’ is used ironically/facetiously. Slim chance is straight-forward, but they ARE similar in meaning. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall CLEAVE unto his wife: and they two shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24 “…What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matthew 19:6b When a man and a women marry each other, they cleave together, but when they separate, they cleave apart. When they marry, they adhere to one another, but when they separate, they are put asunder from one another. Cleave applies in both cases. The English language has many strange aspects.
kab2rb over 14 years ago
Calvin I think it’s time mom got rid of your way extra stuff. To much of a good thing and no where to put it.
Just like me I like books, have a lot of, when finish I give away. I go to sales so there used books and pay very low. Sad part at sales people are charging more so I don’t mind not buying. To high I pass up.
lewcook over 14 years ago
DON’T OPEN THAT CLOSET, McGEE!!
Rakkav over 14 years ago
His closet may be the only place he can store everything.
lupescupe over 14 years ago
This will be me today. :D
fran650 over 14 years ago
Hi, Mike. Woof, Loki.
eefarhi said, ….. say “AS” I told you and not ‘LIKE” I told you ?
Good on you. I agree and am sorry life doesn’t work that way. Most writing is done for a targeted audience. Most cartoons are not written for intellectuals. Advertisers are huge offenders of grammar. Military manuals are written at the seventh grade level (maybe less now that so many military members are citizens of other countries.) Lawyers say ‘now at this point in time.” But I am pleased there has been some evolution of grammer. Trying to read Shakespear as he wrote and pronounced his words is a real chore for me.
BTW … English is a second language for me. My first is Appalachian and I can’t understand one word the fine folks of Mass. have to say :~)
mike.firesmith over 14 years ago
**Good morning Marg! Good morning Fran and Kizzzy! Good Morning L’Wolf! Good Morning Grog!**
Lends new meaning to coming out of the closet.
fran650 over 14 years ago
Come to think on it — wonder what a pun was like in Shakespear’s day?
billdi Premium Member over 14 years ago
aaugh!
JTGAM over 14 years ago
Now if there were only a small black hole in that closet, Calvin wouldn’t have to worry!
Puddleglum2 over 14 years ago
It was like this! Would you like to buy a vowel (e)? Hamlet said to Ophelia, “Get thee to a punnery! Oh wait; I mean nunnery.” Juliet: “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Romeo: “I’m down in the bushes; the rose trellis broke.”
Sylvannis over 14 years ago
I wouldn’t go there if I were you Calvin… mom’s word is law. and the rebels get punished. good morning!!!
GeneGene over 14 years ago
And here I thought I was the only kid that cleaned his room that way! Bever worked for me either. But alas that was more than 50 years ago. Happy days and happy memories (mostly).
ratlum over 14 years ago
To Bald Tom You like Will Rogers too, from presidents to royalty liked this man. We are not alone on this. His English?
billdi Premium Member over 14 years ago
speaking of Shakespeare and puns: Romeo and Juliet is full of puns and wordplay, i.e. the scene where Romeo and Juliet flirt about him kissing her hand. Also Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech.
Mercutio is a great punster, even when reacting to a fatal sword thrust:
“No, ‘tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door, but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”
avonsalis over 14 years ago
eefarhi, Exactly the point of grammar that you raise today received a lot of attention in the USA in the early 1960s. At that time, most people did know that “as” is correct and “like” is incorrect, but a leading brand of cigarette decided to use the slogan “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” It was everywhere, every day. It reflected common usage among half of Americans, but the other half resented the promotion of an error. The company did not yield, and the usage has grown so common that the majority of Americans today are not aware that “as” is correct. Next will be the misuse of “I” and “me.” It’s unbelievable, yet true now, that probably almost half of Americans sometimes use “I” as a direct object (incorrectly) in order to be “correct,” as in “The gift was given to my wife and I.”
(American) English is my first language, but I believe that those who learn it as a second language are even more upset by its mis-use than its native speakers are.
avonsalis over 14 years ago
I have seen Watterson draw people in impossibly stretched or contorted shapes, and I have even seen him depict people in Cubist style. But this position Mom is in looks outright brutal - her head is severed and appears to rest in her lap.
I’ve heard of “having your head handed to you” by an angry family member (usually a teenager!), but this is awfully graphic.
Rakkav over 14 years ago
Avon: That’s cartoon physics, pure and simple. Mom’s body is severely contorted, with her torso and hips buried and her thighs pressed against her torso, but her lower legs and feet are visible.
“I don’t care what universe you’re from - that one’s gotta hurt!” (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)
mikenassour Premium Member over 14 years ago
I remember laughing at this one when it first ran. But upon further reflection, Calvin’s just a little * in this one. And when Calvin crosses that line, the strip’s not really funny, or entertaining.
mikenassour Premium Member over 14 years ago
I remember laughing at this one when it first ran. But upon further reflection, Calvin’s just a little * in this one. And when Calvin crosses that line, the strip’s not really funny, or entertaining.
mikenassour Premium Member over 14 years ago
I remember laughing at this one when it first ran. But upon further reflection, Calvin’s just a little * in this one. And when Calvin crosses that line, the strip’s not really funny, or entertaining.
Rakkav over 14 years ago
I didn’t like that element of this day’s strip either, mikenassour. Mom had better not let that degree and kind of disrespect go by.
The problem with playing with the darker elements of human nature as a source of humor is that it’s hard to know where the line shouldn’t be crossed, and even Bill W. sometimes crossed it. I agree this is one of those times.
gblehgocomics over 14 years ago
i’m with calvin
MontanaIR over 14 years ago
Who is the authority to decide whether the grammar is correct or incorrect? I have been studying German for the last couple of months and it really looks like the whole English system, both European and American is a bastardization of many languages. I don’t think we have any room to decide what is correct and what is not correct after studying another language that is the root of the English language. Let us enjoy the cartoon and not worry about “correct English”. It don’t make no difference as to what you’re sayin as long as the meanin is gittin across’t.
khpage over 14 years ago
If I had spoken like that to my mother, I would have been spanked so hard I wouldn’t have been able to sit down for a week….
takinitEZ over 14 years ago
they should make this strip called Calvin and Mom - and get them on Hoarders television program ASAP
bmonk over 14 years ago
@Avon, between you and I, I just can’t stand that usage! (said with sarcasm). I’ve even seen it in cartoons, sadly. We would never say, “Between he and you”–it’s “between him and you”, so it takes me rather than I.
I also like to freak people out by using the correct term of who or whom…
Perils of a Classical education (id est, Latin and Greek).
Gretchen's Mom over 14 years ago
Calvin’s being a twit today with all his back-talk to mom. For once in his life, I hope to see a spanking in his future!!!
By the way, Mom & Dad: Calvin is only 6 years old. How much cr@p does a child his age need? Learn to say “NO!” to everything he asks for and quit buying him so much stuff when there’s absolutely no place in his room to put it!
lin4869 over 14 years ago
What about what’s happened to “nauseous” and “nauseated”? I’m just saying…
glitterygal07 over 14 years ago
Rofl
gofinsc over 14 years ago
See if there is a basic English grammar book at one of those yard sales, and hope that it’s not TOO much.
Montaholic over 13 years ago
Did Calvin’s Mom’s head become detached when the pile fell on her? What a sad day for Calvin.