Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for February 10, 2023

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    BE THIS GUY  almost 2 years ago

    I literally want to punch Rat in the head.

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    BasilBruce  almost 2 years ago

    I’m with Rat; I literally hate when people misuse the word “literally,” and I want to beat up every single one of them, figuratively speaking.

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    Oakguy  almost 2 years ago

    Check Merriam-Webster. One definition of literally is virtually. Times change. And disinterested now can mean uninterested. In fact, that’s what it almost always means these days.

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    ronaldspence  almost 2 years ago

    Pig needs a new friend!

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    salakfarm Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    Like Rat, I admit to being a grammar nazi.

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    susanj77  almost 2 years ago

    Go figure.

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    Cornelius Noodleman  almost 2 years ago

    Piggy fall down.

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    Sanspareil  almost 2 years ago

    I hate to literally change my cats litter box!

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    shanen0  almost 2 years ago

    I wonder if Pastis has ever done some jokes about automation and AI? I’ve been following Pearls for some years, but I can’t recall seeing many on such themes here… Anyone read the entire series?

    Just in case he reads these comments for ideas, there’s a deep theme… The underlying reality is that technology has crossed a new milestone. Now the corporate cancers can automate any worker. Any skill that can be clearly defined can be done better, more reliably, and cheaper with a suitably programmed computer. For example chess or rewriting. The only hitch is that it has to be profitable, so that means they will start with the most expensive workers, replacing them with cheaper AI workers. And it doesn’t matter how good you are at learning new skills. Any better paid skill will only be a bigger target for replacement. Your next job will always pay less.

    Since Pastis likes recursive humor, it should consider the AI replacement of cartoonists?

    Can you believe there’s a solution approach? Just joking. I’m fully convinced “There’s no way to get there from here.” Or should I leave it as a simple “Me neither”?

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    Imagine  almost 2 years ago

    Rat is a figure of speech. Loud speech.

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    blunebottle  almost 2 years ago

    Three cheers for Rat! Now, let’s see if we can get people to understand the difference between renumeration and remuneration. And affect and effect.

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    hariseldon59  almost 2 years ago

    Not to open another can of worms, but I’ve never liked the expression “I could care less”, when what most people mean is “I couldn’t care less”.

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    C  almost 2 years ago

    Good job Rat

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    TwilightFaze  almost 2 years ago

    One of the rare few times I gotta agree with Rat.

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    Croc Holliday  almost 2 years ago

    And I thought that you’d gotten it through your skull

    What’s figurative and what’s literal

    Oh but, just now, you said

    You literally couldn’t get out of bed

    That really makes me want to literally

    Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head

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    Gandalf  almost 2 years ago

    Rat is correct!

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    Count Olaf Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    Pig was watching “Cackles Harris’s Word Salad Theater”

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    Croc Holliday  almost 2 years ago

    Just saw the first trailer for the next Indiana Jones movie, Harrison Ford’s last so he says.

    So, is Ford literally or figuratively too old to have Indy running around on his adventures? Many thought he was too old in the awful Crystal Skulls movie, which was 15 years ago. But maybe this new movie is a chance to redeem the franchise.

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    Darkknight55  almost 2 years ago

    To everyone who is like Rat, shut up. I don’t tell you how to use the English language, so don’t tell me how to use it.

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    monya_43  almost 2 years ago

    There are a lot of people in the same boat with Pig.

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    Goat from PBS  almost 2 years ago

    Leave that to the Grammar Nazis, Rat.

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    Procat Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    If it wasn’t for the Grammar Nazi’s, how would you know that you didn’t pay enough attention in English class?

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    erick.robinson  almost 2 years ago

    I have a BUNCG of folks in my Static Raid Group that ALL butcher that word… I drink copious amounts of scotch to deal with it….

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    Semolina Pilchard  almost 2 years ago

    I no longer know what people mean when they say “literally” (so I love this one!)

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    JanBic Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    My pet peeve has only been around since the 1990’s, “on accident” instead of “by accident”. “By accident” has been documented as the preferred usage dating back to the 4th century in Latin based languages.

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    chris_o42  almost 2 years ago

    Actually, Rat has a point this time.

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    rshive  almost 2 years ago

    Best to keep your thesaurus (or maybe dictionary) by the TV, Pig. Or whatever.

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    Ellis97  almost 2 years ago

    I’m literally fed up with people saying "literally” improperly.

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    artegal  almost 2 years ago

    The misuse of “literally” drives me figuratively insane.

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    aerotica69  almost 2 years ago

    I’m kind of on Rat’s side with this one.

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    Tallguy  almost 2 years ago

    I’ve never been more on Rat’s side.

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    whelan_jj  almost 2 years ago

    Pig could argue that one can “almost die” without having to call the paramedics or requiring CPR.

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    pheets  almost 2 years ago

    Wish Rat would address ‘then’ and ‘than’ with the same…vigor.

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    Doug K  almost 2 years ago

    When someone uses “literally” in a figurative way (or to exaggerate or to use as hyperbole), I feel that it is my duty to take their “literally” literally and to possibly make what they said seem ridiculous.

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    mindjob  almost 2 years ago

    Figuratively died laughing just doesn’t have the same impact

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    CaveCat87  almost 2 years ago

    It’s about time that someone tried to teach Pig the difference between literalism and figurativeness.

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    Eristic  almost 2 years ago

    My only big pet peeve concerning the misuse of grammar: when people use the past participle to express simple past tense for the verb “to see”. For example— I seen Pastis in the grocery store yesterday. No! You ‘saw’ him. It seems I hear this more and more lately and I can’t understand why because it doesn’t seem to happen with any other verbs.

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    Snolep  almost 2 years ago

    This strip makes me feel badly.

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    edstiles  almost 2 years ago

    I often wonder… Is Stephan in real life like Goat or like Rat?

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    stamps  almost 2 years ago

    Here is where we really need the fist of death.

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    Zebrastripes  almost 2 years ago

    RAT is SO annoying…..

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    albzort  almost 2 years ago

    Years ago (back when literally sometimes meant literally) a local news anchor said, “I was literally scared to death!” I guess the paramedics were able to resuscitate her.

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    snowedin, now known as Missy's mom  almost 2 years ago

    One of my grandsons is really fond of the word ‘literally’. Drives me crazy, but it’s a short trip for me.

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    Keno21  almost 2 years ago

    And here I thought I was literally the only person in the world that actually knows what the word ‘literally’ means.

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    rwh2  almost 2 years ago

    On a side note, when I trained as an EMT, we were told to visualize the patient’s back. The first thing I thought of was to make a mental image of the patient’s back. It would have been more clear if the instructor had said: “gently roll the patient on his side and visually inspect him for injuries.”

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    T...  almost 2 years ago

    Rat is right, literally speaking…

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    Charlie Tuba  almost 2 years ago

    Be sure to watch Weird Al’s “Word Crimes”.

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    FilmPhanatic Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    Yes, Rat! I’m with you all the way.

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    KEA  almost 2 years ago

    next up… assaulting someone for using “really unique”

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    Omniman  almost 2 years ago

    My favorite is when someone says they’re nauseous, when they mean nauseated.

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    FRISCOLA Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    WORD CRIMES by Weird Al

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    Eric S   almost 2 years ago

    I am literally laughing!

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    Eric S   almost 2 years ago

    Stephen Pastis is also literally getting old! :D

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    Liam Astle Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    Captain Literally

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    Richard S Russell Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    I once wrote that we should be careful what to believe what something is taken out of context, but then I got a reply noting that I myself admitted that what I had written was literally “taken out of context”.

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    paulscon  almost 2 years ago

    Wow, literally 182 comments today! I’m literally number 183.My pet peeve is the wrong use of less when it should be fewer. If you can count it, then use fewer: “use the express lane if you have 10 items or fewer (not 10 items or less) in your basket” “more people are out of work, so we have fewer (not less) people employed now” "There’s less water in this glass now that I drank some.’ Sunday I purpose to eat fewer wings and less food than last year’s Super Bowl.

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    willie_mctell  almost 2 years ago

    Go figure.

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    TimeLordSoundwave  almost 2 years ago

    People who misuse the word “literally” drive me figuratively insane.

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    PaintTheDust  almost 2 years ago

    Woah! I’m with Rat on this one.

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    Otis Rufus Driftwood  almost 2 years ago

    Pig would be one of the hardest people to explain the difference to.

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    Sisyphos  almost 2 years ago

    Good for you, Rat! Say it LOUD! —Figuratively speaking, that is….

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    rogthedodge1  almost 2 years ago

    I hate “crispy”, which was created by Madison Avenue around 1982. Now everyone says it.

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    Laurie Stoker Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    At least Pig’s second sentence is grammatically correct.

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    billdaviswords  almost 2 years ago

    Ever one of us in this conversation uses words everyday that have changed meaning over the years, some have the oppositie meaning to what they one did. It doesn’t make sense to pick out one or two works or forms that you don’t like and call those who use them ignorant, or blame or on education, etc.

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    Dacker  Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    Here is the best comic I’ve ever seen on “literally.”https://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally

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    unfair.de  almost 2 years ago

    Wow. I’m WITH Rat on that one!

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    DaBump Premium Member almost 2 years ago

    Nobody tell Rat all the stuff they are NOT teaching in English classes these days, or he’ll nuke us all.

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