Frazz by Jef Mallett for November 15, 2011

Non-sequitoon!

Hey, I already have a frying pan AND a stuffed elephant.

So I call your comic book and raise you three daffodils.

But if you fold, you have to take the parakeet.

For such a bright kid he should have been able to fill in the missing steps, such as “I don’t want a second pet”, though his retort is pretty clever.

Caulfield is assuming too much. By “I already have a dog,” Mrs Olsen isn’t necessarily claiming that dog ownership and bird ownership are mutually exclusive (though with Mrs O one can never be sure). She might be implying that she can’t afford to care for more than one pet, or that she simply doesn’t want the responsibility.

It depends on whether Mrs. Olsen said“I already have a dog.”or“I already have a dog.”

I have to say that Caulfield deserves the detention she’ll probably give him for this.

The problem is that she didn’t answer the question. I hate that so much!!! I get the same thing from my family:

me: “Hey, Mom in Law, would you like a beer?”MiL: " I just brushed my teeth."me: " That’s just swell that you practice good oral hygiene, but I really don’t care about that now. Would you like a drink???"

Its very annoying when you ask a question of someone and they don’t answer it.

Lost me!

I infer it this way: Mrs. Olsen’s statement expands to “I already have a dog, ((I’m not interested in another pet))” and Caulfield’s statement expands to “I already have a comic book ((so I’m not interested in homework to mess up my afternoon))”. Re: not answering the question: They both do – with the EXPLANATION that you might be expecting AFTER the initial “yes/no”.

I’m sorry, but this is one time I don’t agree with Caulfield’s take on it. “I already have a dog” is an acceptable construct that any normal person would take to mean “I already have all the pets I want.” If he’d asked her if she wanted his aunt’s tickets to the Pistons game and she said “I already have a dog”, then he’d have reason to sass back about it. But her answer was totally not a non-sequitur. He just chose to be pedantic about it and read it that way.

She has a DOG??

@SusanSunshine: Wish I’d thought of that!

There’s nothing wrong with Caulfield making Mrs. O consider how completely she answered his question, except that he already knows she doesn’t DO introspection.

His answer is seemingly unrelated to her question, but to a degree, so is hers. I think her answer should have started with, “No, …”

I like the first response… it is a non sequitoon.

I interpret Mrs Olsen’s statement as “I already have a dog, and one pet is all I want” and Caulfield’s statement as “Just because I have one of something doesn’t mean I don’t want more”

Sometimes Caulfield reminds me of the people who are so smart they think they always know best and don’t mind lording it over us with their brilliance. For me he is really the most annoying character is this strip and many days when he is the main feature I pass on reading it. I think he veers into smart a** a few too many times. While funny sometimes in a strip I would once like him to be shown that being a smartmouth isn’t always the best options kids like him usually grow up to be controlling entitled people who make life hell for everyone, That said I do enjoy the strip but some days more than others.

Comic book? You mean a graphic novel?

There’s quite a bit of gray area between arrogance and timidity..If he didn’t frequently wind up outsmarting himself, Caulfield would be quite an intolerable character.

Follow-up on Kirby’s point through Night-Gaunt..The key to consider here is that many brilliant and knowledgeable people manage to get their point across humbly, so as not to come afcoss as overbearing. Frazz is a past master of the art. Caulfield is a little too immature to think that way yet, appropriately so because of how young he apparently is, but it’s entirely understandable to find Caulfield off-putting. His teachers do after all. Frazz gets along with the guy because they’re kindred spirits, and Caulfield even occasionally rubs Frazz the wrong way.

Caulfield’s rationale seemed to be: “Well, if her plate is full, then so is mine!” After all, comic book reading is a demanding mistress!

Night-Gaunt, there is a difference between being intelligent and flaunting your intelligence for no other reason than to flaunt it. Here, Caulfield is doing the latter.

“I’m not sure I can handle a parakeet. Could I start out with just a single keet?”

Night-Gaunt49 I think he is a smart a**…. and I still think he is showing off. The question he asked was Would you like my Aunt’s Parakeet ? She answered I already have a dog… which although is not as simple as a no, I would think someone as smart as him would connect the dots but he wants to prove his superior knowledge… Just because he wants too… When she said for tomorrows homework he just jump in like all smart a** … when for his answer she would need to say… would you like to read….. and yes do not dumb your self down but I was saying the way he talks is usually mean spirited he is the smart jerk in the class. I know this is a comic but Caulfield’s attitude stinks in fact he is a bully.

Of course Caufield is being a jerk here…..he’s making a good point, but he’s being obnoxious about it. Probably not the first kid to go too far, eh? Either way, it’s funny…and it is something his character would do…

Caulfield is a smart aleck, but most kids that age that are that smart come off that way even if they don’t intend it. He made a good analogy there.

I have often considered that if I met the me I was as a kid, I would want to smack (him/me) for being such a smart@$$. Not necessarily smart, just really annoying.