Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for April 07, 2012
Transcript:
Rat: Why do people hate each other over racial and religious and political differences when it's so obvious that fundamentally there are only two kinds of people? Pig: Which are what? Rat: Good people and people who use the word 'whom.' Goat: To whom are you referring? Pig: Whomer, repent!
legaleagle48 over 12 years ago
And just exactly what’s wrong with using “whom” when it’s grammatically appropriate?
Templo S.U.D. over 12 years ago
Rat doesn’t know with whom he’s dealing. Adding a preposition (like “with” and “to”) at the end of a sentence is bad English grammar.
AGED_ENGINEER Premium Member over 12 years ago
I’m with Rat on the “Love the Who” part; not so much the rest of the sign. —-Baba, oh Really?
Karin Wilcox Premium Member over 12 years ago
has anyone seen the ITT Tech ad where the guy totally misuses “whom”? it’s just too hard…
Sisyphos over 12 years ago
As a fervent Whomer, I am offended, Pastis! I demand an apology from Pig, and from Rat, and from whomever else is in cahoots with this ungrammatical gang of agitators!
Yontrop over 12 years ago
I guess I would be on rat’s bad list. (I can live with that.) At least writing, I take the trouble to get “whom” in the right places. What really sounds stupid though, is using “whom” where it should be “who”. “Whom do you think you are?” for instance.
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 12 years ago
Whom Sweet Whom.
zero over 12 years ago
People who say “come with,” rarely do. . ..
Varnes over 12 years ago
There really are only two kinds of people in the world, though…People who think there are only two kinds of people in the world, and those who don’t..
moogthedog over 12 years ago
So if someone who uses ‘Whom’ is a ‘Whomer’, does that mean that someone who uses ‘Who’ is a ‘Who-er’
I think most of my friends are who-ers.
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 12 years ago
Varnes, I’m sure you know there are actually 10 kinds of people in the world…those who understand binary and those who don’t.
knight1192a over 12 years ago
Considering Rat did use the word whom in his explination to Pig, that means that the sign applies to himself as well. So I guess that means we must hate Rat as he wants the sign to be obeyed. At which point he will either say it is okay to use the word whom or that it is okay for him to use the word but anyone else must be hated. Most likely the latter. Foolish, foolish Rat.
Proginoskes over 12 years ago
@ Radish, no one you know: D’oh! I was going to say that!
pschearer Premium Member over 12 years ago
I’d like to see “whom” go the way of “thee” and “thine”. I’ve been looking for years for sentences that absolutely require “whom” except to satisfy pedants, and I haven’t seen one yet.
As for not using a preposition at the end of the sentence, that is a Latin-scholar misinterpretation of how Germanic languages use words as both prepositions and adverbs. “Komm mit!” is perfectly good German and the colloquial English equivalent is perfectly understood.
Language belongs to the people who use it, guided by the people who use it best, not by dusty old scholars who think, contrary to all history, that languages should never change.
rolleg over 12 years ago
I guess, then, that I’m one who has to be hated. By Rat. I can live with that.
BobSpelledBackwards over 12 years ago
Actually there are three kinds of people in the world … those that are good at math and those that aren’t.
the burser over 12 years ago
same here (david tennent to) but i also like The Who. happy ester everyone!
RonaldDavis over 12 years ago
There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t.
RonaldDavis over 12 years ago
There are three kinds of people in the world, those who understand numbers and those who don’t.
walruscarver2000 over 12 years ago
Worse than the whom users are the whom misusers as in “I personally know Rick Perry whom is governor of Texas”.
sandyvogan over 12 years ago
I found this strip to be quite whomerous
Greyhame over 12 years ago
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and…
halibaitor over 12 years ago
There are only 10 kinds of people. Those that understand binary, and those that don’t.
fireboy28 cfde16 over 12 years ago
I’m the person whom failed english.
V-Beast over 12 years ago
Sometimes when I read the comments I get deja vu, all over again. binary, math, etc.
KEA over 12 years ago
Rat is just anti-educated, like a large proportion of the American sheeple.
tigre1 over 12 years ago
Among the sheeple there is sometimes a Rat. More often a wolf, like Gingrich or that other coward, Cantor.
MeGoNow Premium Member over 12 years ago
I guess, then, someone who’s always alert to uses of whom is a whomerist. Sounds like pig’s is just ill-whomered. Besides, no pig with no more imagination than to be named “Pig” has any room to talk about language skills.
unca jim over 12 years ago
@halibaitor“There are only 10 kinds of people. Those that understand binary, and those that don’t.”
Ah, nuts..To me, it’s just a buncha 1’s and 0’s..and that bytes.
codedaddy over 12 years ago
Why do I have this urge to view the old movie “For WHO the bell tolls” (It tolls for thee) ?
LiviaBay over 12 years ago
A whom by any other name….010111
iFerrarifan over 12 years ago
I do love The Who, but I don’t mind whomers. XD
Fan o’ Lio. over 12 years ago
“Whom” is the most useless, unnecessary, word in the English language. It should only be used in lawyer talk, such as “to whom it may concern” and “ipso facto”. Just plain “who” is all we need.
terrycox51550 over 12 years ago
Funny, but sad. How did so many miss the real purpose of the strip?
bmonk over 12 years ago
On the other hand, knowing the difference between “who” and “whom” helps avoid such statements as “between you and I”. Or, as I once heard, “That’s between him and I!”
PShaw0423 over 12 years ago
As Winston Churchill said, this is the kind of nonsense up with which I shall not put.
hariseldon59 over 12 years ago
Good name for a Who tribute band: “The Whom”
Gluteus Maximus over 12 years ago
I agree with Rat. We should destroy the Whomers!
You know, Rat has done something like this before, where he and Goat were in a diner and a guy next to them sats to his friend, “And you cant help but wonder, at the end of the day, does it ever really matter?”. Rat turns to him and asks, “Did you really just use the expression ‘At the end of the day’?”. The man replies, “Yes. Why?” Rat then K.O.‘s him with a Tapatio bottle and says to Goat, "I’m gonna stop that expression one speaker at a time.".
So really, this is no suprise to me.
Number Three over 12 years ago
Pig’s face is Priceless!
LOL xxx
Boondocks Chick over 12 years ago
So like my life… so true, so sad. He travels to his mom and dad’s, and I have to live here… but the ain’t quite bad so I’ll stay.
El_Placebo over 12 years ago
It’s OK to end a question with a preposition. It’s just so satisfying to say “whom.”
runar over 12 years ago
It’s never been verified that Churchill said it (and I know because I looked it up in Who’s Whom). As with many quotes attributed to famous people, it’s probably either apocryphal or misstated.
tomielm over 12 years ago
ROFL. Thank you, all of you! Today’s comments really brightened my day. Now if only we’d use the word “between” properly—you know, relating to only TWO people or objects…….
peabodyboy over 12 years ago
What we have here is a failure to communicate. But that’s ok, because sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.
Rolf Rykken Premium Member over 12 years ago
Excellent!
Sherlock Watson over 12 years ago
Whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom whom.So there.
eliwoodling over 12 years ago
He certainly has gotten some mileage out of this whole thing. You might say there has been significant “Fruit Of The Whom”.
bobballewie over 12 years ago
Those darned “Whomanists”…
m.l. about 12 years ago
comicsnerd74 over 9 years ago
Whom says he’s wrong?He’s totally right.(Oh crap, did I just say that out loud?)
Sapphire Sword over 4 years ago
I mean… different situations call for different words…
One Navy Seal over 4 years ago
I prefer whom’st’d’ve’ly’a’in’t’ed’yes’i’es
dolf37 over 2 years ago
Whomer Simpson?
Pig {From P.B.S} over 1 year ago
Repent!