Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 09, 2015

But “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” vigilante Casey Jones uses baseball bats AND hockey sticks.

It’s called covering all your bases.

that last line should have been “they’re better than baseball bats, eh?”

Win. :)

“Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful.” — Tony Hendra as band manager Ian Faith, “This Is Spinal Tap”, on why he keeps a cricket bat close by.

If your reach must exceed your grasp, make sure that your reach is a stout cudgel.

That’s two minutes,eh, for striking out,eh.

Better than baseball bats, but not as lethal as poutine.

I’m Canadian…and in all my 48 years, I’ve never met a single Canadian who said “eh”…I suppose some of them do, but they are a very small minority! In fact, the only people I’ve heard say “eh” are Americans making fun of Canadians!

I’m from Montreal itself, and I have to agree with Paul, I’ve never run into ANYONE who ends their sentences with “eh”, motadi tabarnak, osti!

How do you spell Canada?C, eh, N, eh, D, eh?

Since we’re on the subject, thank you Canada, for being such a good neighbor all these years.

It might be a regional thing . When I was camping in Newfoundland, "eh " ( pronounced as a long A) was prevalent

when I hitchhiked through Canada in the 70’s, I came out with a definite “eh” that took a while to fade away.

I heard it a lot when I lived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, also some in northern Wisconsin.

Must be close to the Coupe Stanley Cup playoffs. Baseball has the crack of the bat, hockey the crack (at least when they used wooden sticks) of the twig.

That’s some serious high sticking there and deserves a serious penalty. Do not go to the penalty box. Go straight to jail.

hitting someone with a hockey stick seems to be more acceptable or PC than with a bat – at least when you watch sports on USA television. i see guys in a hockey game hitting each other all the time and nobody seems to mind too much but let just one little batter reach back and tap a catcher or umpire on the head with the bat and watch the battle begin!!!!!! -so rat has figured out how to dole out punishment in a more ‘acceptable’ form. isn’t that precious?

Old Time Hockey! Like Eddie Shore.

Paris Goat, to Rat: “Take off, you hoser!”

doesn’t rat usually need at least a vague excuse before hitting somebody?

Modern hockey sticks are made out of carbon composite material. The shaft is hollow, so they are very lightweight (and much more expensive than they used to be). Not nearly the weapon the solid baseball bat is.

Living here in Buffalo, a short distance from Hamilton where I have many relatives (I’m a half-breed), I can attest to the “eh” prevalence, but it’s mostly in the boomer generation.

Perhaps it’s fading away except for the cloistered enclaves known as Tim Hortons [coffee and donut] shops where the CFL (Canadian Football League) and politics are discussed with great passion.

American border towns are treated to Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts and get to hear Canadianisms in all their glory: Long live Don Cherry!

By the way, carbon fiber hockey sticks have largely supplanted wood, but dang it, they are expensive. For punishing head hits to Pastis’ characters, though, wood is better.

“And after that blow to the head, Goat learned to never ask Rat stupid questions about culture again”xxx

So now i’ve got to go buy a new stick. dagnabbit!

Last time I visited Montreal, I heard not an “eh” the whole time, not even at the Tim Horton’s I patronized.Rat’s friendship can be tough on one’s skull… Hello, Goat? Can you hear me? Blink once for yes….

I think we need a rat terrier in this strip.

I AGREE!