A slight improvement, I guess. B now thinks Nil sees her as a some kind of self-indulgent actress who loves sensuality, instead of a strumpet. (I think…)
Th-this is really about a French kiss? Now because he didn’t react, not because you think you moved too fast but because you slipped some tongue and that makes you a Scarlet Letter?
Oh my. I don’t know what Salacious Soubrette or Inveigling Sybarite are. Well, now you see why she is snarky. She knows words most people don’t. As if she thinks WE ought to know. Anyway, Bernice, you are overdramatic. Nil is a nice guy who uses the same vocabulary you use. He probably even enjoy the kiss. You are upset with YOURSELF, not Nil. You were not overcome. You naturally responded to Nil’s remarks that he likes you and enjoyed your intellectual debate about art. How often do you meet guys like him? Rarely. Forget Jack. He is too average and wouldn’t know the words you just used. If you were overcome, a temptress, a floozie, you would have kissed JACK when he was in your bedroom but you did not. Because there is no chemistry. Like Piro. Jack is friend-zoned. Nil is the guy.
Greg seems to be channeling Brooke McEldowney at this point. Hysterical flinging of the thesaurus. Since this shows no sign of wrapping up tomorrow I guess we’re stuck with another week of the strips least favorite brunette.
Frank is the only one who gets lucky on a regular basis. Nancy is an aggressive dragon lady in bed. Year after year the rest of the cast only does little mating dances around the panels.
OK, so right now I want to see “snarky Bernice” (wherever she went) return with this 1908 Edition Oxford Dictionary vocab, and issue a blistering train of snarks that only she understands. That would be fun.
Bernice is separated from how to respond to her true feelings, always mucking romance completely up. I think Nil, in his “dark”(ness) is truly taken with Bernice, likes her brain, is very attracted to her nattering nabobism, and thus Bernice is far more attracted than she consciously realizes. This may be part of romance and a journey to herself. I think this is meant to have legs. Of course hilarity ensues in the midst of all of it.
Isn’t this Bernice, the party animal?! She’s had two steady boyfriends and her relationship with Zane was serious enough for her to consider herself engaged. The earlier guy (forget his name) was a bad-ass and hid drugs in her locker. She’s had a man (Piro) spend the night in her room – OK she was in Tiff’s room but it’s still against the rules. She has dated Aaron Hill and Gunther and seriously snogged the latter (and probably shared a few kisses with Aaron too). She’s been thrown out of a New York nightclub. Not quite a scarlet woman, but no shrinking violet either. Why the huge fuss over a goodnight kiss, even with a touch of tongue?
So good there’s Nancy to take Bernice back to the reality. I’m sure Luann would be less terrified by Bernice’s mental processes, but probably Nancy has more possibilities to be believed by her. Go Bernice, scream out all your fear! She still think low about Nil… but her heart has chosen another option♡.
I went read some Luann from 2010 and Bernice was rude and obnoxious and insulting to Luann even then. In real life Luann would not have kept her as a friend. Her “enemy” Tiffany treated her better
How shocked Bernice will be when the previously shy, introverted Nil shows up dressed only in a loin cloth ready to be inveigled by this confused, yet sybaritic minx! Ho Ho! Will she act on his expectations? Stand by, for this may take another week to reveal!
Did he not inveigle her? He was the one that won her over with praise and flattery. She did not flatter him but criticized him to the point she felt the need to apologize.
Where does she even get all these strange outdated words?! All those books she’s always reading must be from the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Bless her heart!
Look Bernice, you screwed up. Now you’ll have to deal with public opinion, just like everyone else when they do something impulsive. Sometimes it’s regarded as fresh and spontaneous, sometimes as reckless and ill-advised, but it’s not going away. so go out, get drunk, and do something really stupid.
Neither is she a DRIGGLE-DRAGGLE, or a PUTERELLE. On the other hand she is acting like a FOPDOODLE. Indeed, even a DORBEL. Maybe even a GNASHGAB. we already know she is a GOBERMOUCH and a ZOILIST. She is really starting to be a RAKEFIRE, methinks.
I’m not sure why I have no interest in Bernice’s little freakout over kissing someone. I don’t even dislike her (except when she’s being a crappy friend). This just feels like it’s dragging.
Nancy’s right. No one thinks that. What they will think is that you’ve been hit on the head by a falling thesaurus, when in fact it was Karen, your writer. “Salacious soubrette?” Puh-leeze. In any case, Bern, Nil won’t be calling, so don’t worry.
I might think that. Let me whip out my dictionary and see. Nope, not that dictionary. Hmmm, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess those words have not YET gone all the way through my brain — or even into it.
Thanks for making me look up four words just understand your strip. One thing is sure, you really know how to kill a good thing. If I wanted to improve myself, I wouldn’t be reading comics. Thanks again.
Haha! I suspect Bernice was very accomplished on the verbal portion of her SATs. She has an excellent knowledge of vocabulary!!!!!
To parse together her terms, it seems basically Bernice is feeling she is showing inappropriate interest in sexual matters by acting flirtatious… and that she is trying to engage Nil’s interests through deceptive flattery and showing a fondness for his art.
Even though Bernice’s terms are not commonly recited by many… the worry, the thought, the ideas of doing something inappropriate for a situation, especially a situation that has a sudden, unexpected surge of romance…… such a classic trope in theater, film, and television. I think Greg is really doing an excellent job here in helping us to better understand and know:
1. Bernice, while book smart and typically rule abiding…. is…. deep inside, insecure about her place in the world, and about how to navigate her walk into her adulthood life.
2. And while Bernice is quite wise from an academic perspective…. she is…. just like many of us… nervous about how our actions are perceived by others… especially others we care about.
This is just, IMO, very, very good writing in this arc!!!!
What a vocabulary! Definitely not that of a Raven.““Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore— Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”"But the lady (Berniece) never sitting, always twitting, could yet end up at “Nevermore”.
Everybody keeps saying that they don’t know what Bernice said, so here’s a translation.
Salacious—worth gossiping about. Juicily lurid.
Soubrette is actually an up-and-coming young opera soprano, and in some circles a compliment, but since such women usually get cast in saucy wench supporting roles (with solos) I guess Bernice thinks it’s an insult.
Inveigling.—conniving, insidious, sly, manipulative. As in Bernice thinks she’s leading Nil astray through her unfair wiles.
Sybarite—one who lives for pleasure and self-indulgence. Based on the people of Sybaris in ancient Greece, known for all of the above. It is said that they had trained their horses to dance to the flute, and so they were defeated in battle, because, knowing this, their enemies started playing dance-tunes on flute and the whole calvary lost control of their horses. Archaeologists used to think that these allegations were a slur, just because the Sybarites had come up with running water in their homes. But then following the plumbing led not to a reservoir but wine-cellar caves—they had running wine on tap!
Does anyone else remember Zeke? Bernice and Zeke did a fair amount of kissing. She even wanted to marry him at one time until Luann pointed out that Bern was only 16!
Bern is an inveigling salacious soubretteic sybarite! Soubrettes and Sybarites, Stalactites and Stalagmites, Stagmites and Stacktights, which point up, and which point down?
Least of all Nil. I don’t get the impression that fancy Addison and Steele diction is his style. It’s a little hard to tell what his style is, actually.
we have to realize that this whole week essentially covers ~ 10 minutes of conversation between Bern and Nancy. If you think of it that way then Bern’s compulsive response (to kissing Nil and his seeming rejection) is really just momentary. Tomorrow it either comes to a head (more so) or gets nipped in the bud.
Time to call the mental health crisis center, girl’s having a panic attack. I know she’s always been uptight as hell, but I didn’t think she’d go off the deep end over something this trivial. Especially considering the way she’s been simping over Jack.
The kiss was in response to his telling her the nicest thing she had ever been told about herself. It was a completely genuine and natural demonstration of how much she appreciated the compliment. It meant nothing else, but now she’s afraid she has led him on. She should just tell him what I just said, honesty makes things nice & simple.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nil knows what those words mean. ;-) So, Bernice is a) flipping out over loss of control and b) she cares what Nil thinks. Interesting, since she never gave a toss about him before and it was like a teeth-gritting duty to go to his show. Who knows how she will resolve this—it’s all been pretty juvenile so far so I would guess more of the same. Bored now, let’s go check in on Nil and see what he’s thinking. I bet it’s something like, “Wow, that kiss did absolutely nothing for me. Kissing is disgusting, anyway. She got the wrong idea, she must think I’m into her body. I’m going to have to figure out how to let her down gently.”
Namrepus over 3 years ago
Before anyone could think it, they’d have to know what all those words mean.
AnyFace over 3 years ago
Pointspread over 3 years ago
Bernice, listen to Nancy.
Argythree over 3 years ago
A slight improvement, I guess. B now thinks Nil sees her as a some kind of self-indulgent actress who loves sensuality, instead of a strumpet. (I think…)
DoloresJ.Nurss over 3 years ago
“Inveigling” is a fun word! I’m glad to be reminded of it.
Kymberleigh over 3 years ago
No one thinks that, because no one knows what she said, since she appears to have swallowed a dictionary.
Ahuehuete over 3 years ago
Bern is going to be a lot of fun on her wedding night.
Mordock999 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Oh come, come, Bernice.
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
You’re not any of those things.
An Effete Intellectual Snob, maybe.
A Nattering Nabob of Negativity, certainly.
At least you’re NOT a Snivelling Sycophant. ;)
Z-bert over 3 years ago
Much ado about nothing.
DaJellyBelly over 3 years ago
She wanted Frank to leave the room. Heck! They can hear her screaming in the next block!!
BlitzMcD over 3 years ago
The hussy! Shame, shame.
marilynnbyerly over 3 years ago
I’ve decided Bernice is the Barney Fife of this series.
Rhetorical_Question over 3 years ago
Stop ✋ with the Thesaurus!
momofalex7 over 3 years ago
Nobody believes that because nobody knows what that means.
Black76Manta over 3 years ago
Bernice has been so focused on her studies, I feel she has missed out on the normal things in life.
Rhetorical_Question over 3 years ago
Why is Bernice speaking Loudly? Frank can hear Bernice without using a glass press against the wall!
Willow Mt Lyon over 3 years ago
And now we present the 2021 Miss Universe Drama Queen, Bernice. Please, only one more day of this arc.
Vilyehm over 3 years ago
I’m about ready to listen to a Puffed Grass commercial tomorrow.
Prescott_Philosopher over 3 years ago
“No one think that”, she said dryly.
Scarlet Shimmer over 3 years ago
Th-this is really about a French kiss? Now because he didn’t react, not because you think you moved too fast but because you slipped some tongue and that makes you a Scarlet Letter?
gnmnrbl over 3 years ago
Geez bernice, calm down and get over yourself. Just admit you kissed a boy and you liked it. The only person giving you a hard time is you.
notbornyesterday over 3 years ago
Is Berneice bipolar?
JD'Huntsville'AL over 3 years ago
Nobody knows what you’re saying.
capricorn9th over 3 years ago
Oh my. I don’t know what Salacious Soubrette or Inveigling Sybarite are. Well, now you see why she is snarky. She knows words most people don’t. As if she thinks WE ought to know. Anyway, Bernice, you are overdramatic. Nil is a nice guy who uses the same vocabulary you use. He probably even enjoy the kiss. You are upset with YOURSELF, not Nil. You were not overcome. You naturally responded to Nil’s remarks that he likes you and enjoyed your intellectual debate about art. How often do you meet guys like him? Rarely. Forget Jack. He is too average and wouldn’t know the words you just used. If you were overcome, a temptress, a floozie, you would have kissed JACK when he was in your bedroom but you did not. Because there is no chemistry. Like Piro. Jack is friend-zoned. Nil is the guy.
ronaldspence over 3 years ago
No one is thinking that Bernice, no one can even understand it!
beb01 over 3 years ago
Greg seems to be channeling Brooke McEldowney at this point. Hysterical flinging of the thesaurus. Since this shows no sign of wrapping up tomorrow I guess we’re stuck with another week of the strips least favorite brunette.
Joe1962 over 3 years ago
Hey Bernice just admit you kissed a boy and it was steamy hot with lust and passion.
Airman over 3 years ago
Frank is the only one who gets lucky on a regular basis. Nancy is an aggressive dragon lady in bed. Year after year the rest of the cast only does little mating dances around the panels.
artsyguy65 over 3 years ago
Nah, he’s back at his place fantasizing that you’re a lascivious libertine.
Lord Flatulence Premium Member over 3 years ago
No one thinks about you at all actually.
rklynch over 3 years ago
That’s true, Nancy. Mainly because no one knows what that is.. At least I hope they wouldn’t….
PeterPirate over 3 years ago
This is why a lot of colleges are dropping the SAT.
Asharah over 3 years ago
Bernice, he probably doesn’t even know what those words mean.
Brdshtt Premium Member over 3 years ago
Bernice has probably lost about 5 pounds with all that pacing and waving around she has been doing.
Alabama Al over 3 years ago
“inveigling sybarite”, i.e.: “coaxing libertine"
Even going from $10 words to $2 words, I’m sure no one would think that either.
sfknight over 3 years ago
Bernice has issues
Crann Bethadh over 3 years ago
OK, so right now I want to see “snarky Bernice” (wherever she went) return with this 1908 Edition Oxford Dictionary vocab, and issue a blistering train of snarks that only she understands. That would be fun.
kenhense over 3 years ago
Bern – No one thinks that because they don’t know what you just said.
arba4747 over 3 years ago
Why am I picturing greg just at his computer looking up the Google search analytics for sybarite and soubrette… seeing if they spike today, lol
Caldonia over 3 years ago
Yeah, Bernice. Don’t flatter yourself.
Sanspareil over 3 years ago
Luanne’s mom should just put her arm around Bernice and say
“You are wonderful, you did great, Nil is so much more than you give him credit for”
UCLAkicksuscass over 3 years ago
Bernice is intollerable
wiatr over 3 years ago
Note to self: Look up “soubrette” tomorrow.
charlenelin1201 over 3 years ago
Wow!I’ve learned three new words in a single strip.
luann1212 over 3 years ago
Bernice is separated from how to respond to her true feelings, always mucking romance completely up. I think Nil, in his “dark”(ness) is truly taken with Bernice, likes her brain, is very attracted to her nattering nabobism, and thus Bernice is far more attracted than she consciously realizes. This may be part of romance and a journey to herself. I think this is meant to have legs. Of course hilarity ensues in the midst of all of it.
tigerdg over 3 years ago
I think that.
ianm over 3 years ago
Isn’t this Bernice, the party animal?! She’s had two steady boyfriends and her relationship with Zane was serious enough for her to consider herself engaged. The earlier guy (forget his name) was a bad-ass and hid drugs in her locker. She’s had a man (Piro) spend the night in her room – OK she was in Tiff’s room but it’s still against the rules. She has dated Aaron Hill and Gunther and seriously snogged the latter (and probably shared a few kisses with Aaron too). She’s been thrown out of a New York nightclub. Not quite a scarlet woman, but no shrinking violet either. Why the huge fuss over a goodnight kiss, even with a touch of tongue?
cdillon85 over 3 years ago
What’s with all the college words?
Aladar30 Premium Member over 3 years ago
So good there’s Nancy to take Bernice back to the reality. I’m sure Luann would be less terrified by Bernice’s mental processes, but probably Nancy has more possibilities to be believed by her. Go Bernice, scream out all your fear! She still think low about Nil… but her heart has chosen another option♡.
z.a.m over 3 years ago
Don’t go to Sibari (today Sybaris) if you are looking for salacious soubrettes, you will be disappointed.
sueb1863 over 3 years ago
Shouldn’t she be talking to her own mother about this?
ILK over 3 years ago
I went read some Luann from 2010 and Bernice was rude and obnoxious and insulting to Luann even then. In real life Luann would not have kept her as a friend. Her “enemy” Tiffany treated her better
OneTime59 over 3 years ago
Certainly seems Bernice has been studying the terminology for various personality assessments.
Johnnyrico over 3 years ago
Panel 3: “Let me know when you’ve got something truly naughty and scandalous to tell me!”
Wubbie over 3 years ago
…SLAP!…”Snap out of it!”
jrankin1959 over 3 years ago
…because very few people know what on earth you’re talking about without a dictionary.
FassEddie over 3 years ago
A shameless hussy! Wait. That’s a buncha shame right there.
Major Matt Mason Premium Member over 3 years ago
More issues than a newsstand, that lassie.
computerprogrammer2028 over 3 years ago
Oh my goodness. The horror of it all…
GirlGeek Premium Member over 3 years ago
Why hasn’t somebody smacked her already?
maxiesmom2 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Perhaps Bernice should have gone into drama instead of Luann!
PatrickIngram over 3 years ago
No Bernice, you’re simply a neurotic ninny(ite)
tremaine53 over 3 years ago
Here’s a pair of pliers, Bernice. Get a grip.
c001 over 3 years ago
…because few people even know the words.
R.W. Singer Sr. over 3 years ago
Nil, wherever you are, run my boy, run.
Florida Boy Premium Member over 3 years ago
How shocked Bernice will be when the previously shy, introverted Nil shows up dressed only in a loin cloth ready to be inveigled by this confused, yet sybaritic minx! Ho Ho! Will she act on his expectations? Stand by, for this may take another week to reveal!
me_the_polish_gull over 3 years ago
Guys, don’t you think, Bernice remembered Jack?
rrsltx over 3 years ago
Not to mention a presumptuous prig.
Grumpy Old Guy over 3 years ago
The term is “plain nuts”…..
Ellis97 over 3 years ago
Bernice, it’s okay. You’re not a bad person. You’re in love.
Purple People Eater over 3 years ago
Does Nil know what “inveigling”, “sybarite”, and “soubrette” mean?
DM2860 over 3 years ago
Did he not inveigle her? He was the one that won her over with praise and flattery. She did not flatter him but criticized him to the point she felt the need to apologize.
Aficionado over 3 years ago
Great, and funny, strip today, Greg!
ctolson over 3 years ago
Yeah ’cause everyone else uses 10 cent words not 75 cent words.
ekw555 over 3 years ago
a watery tart?a moistened bink ?
a floozie who swallowed a thesaurus?
kingbrlee Premium Member over 3 years ago
Bernice needs to sit back down, looks like she’s doing an act on stage.
reedkomicks Premium Member over 3 years ago
Check please!
Call me Ishmael over 3 years ago
“Inveigling”? Never! But a brazen hussy? A Jezebel ? A slattern? A shameless strumpet? Verily!
eladee AKA Wally over 3 years ago
Where does she even get all these strange outdated words?! All those books she’s always reading must be from the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Bless her heart!
well-i-never over 3 years ago
That’s exactly what I was thinking – and sibilant too!
PeterPirate over 3 years ago
Even Nancy is unengaged in the arc by the last panel.
fuzzmoz over 3 years ago
Yeah, bring on more of those dark, slouchy, confusing men! Let’s find one for Luann next, or maybe Tiff.
Brian Collis over 3 years ago
holy COW she is wound too tight
comic reader 22 over 3 years ago
Look Bernice, you screwed up. Now you’ll have to deal with public opinion, just like everyone else when they do something impulsive. Sometimes it’s regarded as fresh and spontaneous, sometimes as reckless and ill-advised, but it’s not going away. so go out, get drunk, and do something really stupid.
dan.mcquiston over 3 years ago
It’s amazing that there are those that wish to “help” and give advice to a fictional comic strip character…
srmalone over 3 years ago
So tedious
Cincoflex over 3 years ago
Bernice is a regular thesaurus of self-deprecation
GaryCarr over 3 years ago
She’s coo coo for Cocoa Puffs. And don’t make me have to read a dictionary for a comic strip.
GaryCarr over 3 years ago
And I’m referring to Evans, not you Mordock.
ST Joe River Premium Member over 3 years ago
Ok lets move on now. Enough dragging this story line out move on. LOL.
Terminal Frost Premium Member over 3 years ago
Neither is she a DRIGGLE-DRAGGLE, or a PUTERELLE. On the other hand she is acting like a FOPDOODLE. Indeed, even a DORBEL. Maybe even a GNASHGAB. we already know she is a GOBERMOUCH and a ZOILIST. She is really starting to be a RAKEFIRE, methinks.
ironbrigade1861 over 3 years ago
Her self induced hysteria is getting really old.
waerdawg over 3 years ago
starting to wonder if G&K are having a mirrored existential crisis at home that is being reflected in Bernice’s escalating emotions….geez!
PaulAbbott2 over 3 years ago
Bern sounds like Dr. Smith from Lost in Space, insulting the Robot. “You cantankerous clump” “You Rusty Rasputin”. Now “You salacious Soubrette”
PeterPirate over 3 years ago
Bernice is going to have another dream wherein she will be a Submarine Succubus.
Decepticomic over 3 years ago
I’m not sure why I have no interest in Bernice’s little freakout over kissing someone. I don’t even dislike her (except when she’s being a crappy friend). This just feels like it’s dragging.
Numbnumb over 3 years ago
Bernice get over it already!!!!!
Mayor Snorkum over 3 years ago
Nancy’s right. No one thinks that. What they will think is that you’ve been hit on the head by a falling thesaurus, when in fact it was Karen, your writer. “Salacious soubrette?” Puh-leeze. In any case, Bern, Nil won’t be calling, so don’t worry.
MuddyUSA Premium Member over 3 years ago
Wow and holy crap! Bernice does not have a grip on life!
w16521 over 3 years ago
Bernice just can’t stop with her snobbinish.
AB9SS over 3 years ago
And the way she is dressed, definitely NOT a “Inveigling Sybarite”!
Naruto Knight!!!!!@@@@@@@# over 3 years ago
Why luaan why?!@
lvlax over 3 years ago
This story line has gone from not quite believable to outright RIDICULOUS!
paulscon over 3 years ago
how many ways can she say flirtatious sexually obsessed person?
Ukko wilko over 3 years ago
Don’t worry dear, no one but you thinks in anything like those terms.
StoicLion1973 over 3 years ago
I’m at the point where I think G&K are just toying with the commentors now.
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 3 years ago
I might think that. Let me whip out my dictionary and see. Nope, not that dictionary. Hmmm, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess those words have not YET gone all the way through my brain — or even into it.
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 3 years ago
Nonetheless, an out of control Bernice is bound to be worse than a loose cannon.
locake over 3 years ago
I wonder if Bernice learned these words from the erotic book Nancy gave her a few months ago? Bad Nancy, for corrupting Bernice!
PeterPirate over 3 years ago
Suffering succotash…..
Chuck374 over 3 years ago
If they were looking for some words for the Spelling Bee in New York…
kit.n.clyde over 3 years ago
Thanks for making me look up four words just understand your strip. One thing is sure, you really know how to kill a good thing. If I wanted to improve myself, I wouldn’t be reading comics. Thanks again.
BJShipley1 over 3 years ago
Nancy had better tell Bernice that Frank is allergic to cats before the girl starts stocking up on them.
tutibug5 over 3 years ago
This reminded me of the Friends TV show…where Joey used the thesaurus to write the adoption letter for Monica and Chandler…on every word.
Pipe Tobacco over 3 years ago
9
Haha! I suspect Bernice was very accomplished on the verbal portion of her SATs. She has an excellent knowledge of vocabulary!!!!!
To parse together her terms, it seems basically Bernice is feeling she is showing inappropriate interest in sexual matters by acting flirtatious… and that she is trying to engage Nil’s interests through deceptive flattery and showing a fondness for his art.
Even though Bernice’s terms are not commonly recited by many… the worry, the thought, the ideas of doing something inappropriate for a situation, especially a situation that has a sudden, unexpected surge of romance…… such a classic trope in theater, film, and television. I think Greg is really doing an excellent job here in helping us to better understand and know:
1. Bernice, while book smart and typically rule abiding…. is…. deep inside, insecure about her place in the world, and about how to navigate her walk into her adulthood life.
2. And while Bernice is quite wise from an academic perspective…. she is…. just like many of us… nervous about how our actions are perceived by others… especially others we care about.
This is just, IMO, very, very good writing in this arc!!!!
Charlie Fogwhistle over 3 years ago
What a vocabulary! Definitely not that of a Raven.““Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore— Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”"But the lady (Berniece) never sitting, always twitting, could yet end up at “Nevermore”.
DoloresJ.Nurss over 3 years ago
Everybody keeps saying that they don’t know what Bernice said, so here’s a translation.
Salacious—worth gossiping about. Juicily lurid.
Soubrette is actually an up-and-coming young opera soprano, and in some circles a compliment, but since such women usually get cast in saucy wench supporting roles (with solos) I guess Bernice thinks it’s an insult.
Inveigling.—conniving, insidious, sly, manipulative. As in Bernice thinks she’s leading Nil astray through her unfair wiles.
Sybarite—one who lives for pleasure and self-indulgence. Based on the people of Sybaris in ancient Greece, known for all of the above. It is said that they had trained their horses to dance to the flute, and so they were defeated in battle, because, knowing this, their enemies started playing dance-tunes on flute and the whole calvary lost control of their horses. Archaeologists used to think that these allegations were a slur, just because the Sybarites had come up with running water in their homes. But then following the plumbing led not to a reservoir but wine-cellar caves—they had running wine on tap!
yangeldf over 3 years ago
I just learned 3 new words from that last panel
Le'Roy Hawkins over 3 years ago
The Town Bicycle
jbmoore2 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Xanax on panel 3, STAT!
PAR85 over 3 years ago
Because most people don’t know what they mean.
CAMom over 3 years ago
Does anyone else remember Zeke? Bernice and Zeke did a fair amount of kissing. She even wanted to marry him at one time until Luann pointed out that Bern was only 16!
asrialfeeple over 3 years ago
You haven’t joined the Dark Side yet, girl. She’s kinda late to have hr sexuality awaken, isn’t she?
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 3 years ago
She really is afraid she’s losing self control. She isn’t.
STACEY MARSHALL Premium Member over 3 years ago
Bern is an inveigling salacious soubretteic sybarite! Soubrettes and Sybarites, Stalactites and Stalagmites, Stagmites and Stacktights, which point up, and which point down?
Annie K. over 3 years ago
Bern’s problem is not that she knows those expressions.
It’s not even that she uses them.
It’s that she considers them insults. :s
Hello, Bern? It’s the 21st century calling, long-distance… :)
Ray Helvy Premium Member over 3 years ago
No, not that. Drama queen maybe, but not that.
PhoenixHocking over 3 years ago
Okay. We got it. Now, we need to know what Nil is thinking/doing. (Keep it clean; this is a family strip.)
bakana over 3 years ago
Bern has an impressive Vocabulary when it comes to accusing herself of being a Pron Actress.
Does she have some Fantasies we need to know More about?
Ammosexual is riding the Red Wave Premium Member over 3 years ago
“A what what ?” Zac on Big Bang talking to Amy Farrah Fowler, who is a Sit-Com version on Bern.
AndrewSihler over 3 years ago
Least of all Nil. I don’t get the impression that fancy Addison and Steele diction is his style. It’s a little hard to tell what his style is, actually.
Rocknaww over 3 years ago
Neurotic ninnny? Narcissistic nitwit?
RSH over 3 years ago
we have to realize that this whole week essentially covers ~ 10 minutes of conversation between Bern and Nancy. If you think of it that way then Bern’s compulsive response (to kissing Nil and his seeming rejection) is really just momentary. Tomorrow it either comes to a head (more so) or gets nipped in the bud.
HodgeElmwood over 3 years ago
Time to call the mental health crisis center, girl’s having a panic attack. I know she’s always been uptight as hell, but I didn’t think she’d go off the deep end over something this trivial. Especially considering the way she’s been simping over Jack.
Cheapskate0 over 3 years ago
All I can say about this week’s episodes are -
Check out today’s Bizarro over at Comics Kingdom!
IslamoradaGirl over 3 years ago
SPIGGY!
Dragoncat over 3 years ago
Especially since no one knows what those things are…
Squoop over 3 years ago
The kiss was in response to his telling her the nicest thing she had ever been told about herself. It was a completely genuine and natural demonstration of how much she appreciated the compliment. It meant nothing else, but now she’s afraid she has led him on. She should just tell him what I just said, honesty makes things nice & simple.
namelocdet over 3 years ago
Definitely had to Google those last two words that began with the letter “S”
Brdshtt Premium Member over 3 years ago
Bernice has about 40 year’s worth of Mickey Bach’s Word-A-Day cartoons saved up just for this occasion.
Sisyphos over 3 years ago
Oh, Nancy.
Do allow Bernie to wallow in her bloviating self-pity! Only when she has drowned herself in it will she become ready to be revived….overtherainbow over 3 years ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nil knows what those words mean. ;-) So, Bernice is a) flipping out over loss of control and b) she cares what Nil thinks. Interesting, since she never gave a toss about him before and it was like a teeth-gritting duty to go to his show. Who knows how she will resolve this—it’s all been pretty juvenile so far so I would guess more of the same. Bored now, let’s go check in on Nil and see what he’s thinking. I bet it’s something like, “Wow, that kiss did absolutely nothing for me. Kissing is disgusting, anyway. She got the wrong idea, she must think I’m into her body. I’m going to have to figure out how to let her down gently.”
Tyge over 3 years ago
He’ll think you’re a LOONEY!
Sailor46 USN 65-95 over 3 years ago
Because most people don’t even know what those words mean, even when used in a sentence.