Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for November 01, 2023

Goat just likes to use certain words to show how smart he is. Saying grove or thicket would have been just fine.

Some people think it’s safe to hide out in the woods, but they can’t see the cops for the trees.

Can he explain what condescending means without being condescending?

I’ve actually been to the Gettysburg Battlefield and seen the famous “copse of trees” that was the focal point of Pickett’s Charge.

Pig thought of that show, because his boss was arrested twice.

Did you know that the word “copse” and the related “coppice” come from the medieval French word “copeiz” meaning a thicket suitable for cutting? (“Couper” is French for “to cut.”)

There is usually a copse of trees next to a Dunkin’ Donuts.

Reminds me of Harry Morton on the old Burns and Allen show always using big words to impress!

Will Stephan appear on a future episode of Cops?!

I seem to remember one ‘president’ who used the word ‘corpse’, when referring to the Marine Corps, yet the MEDIA, who profess to be “EXPERTS ON EVERYTHING” hailed him as “the greatest orator of all time”.

I just looked up the word “copse.”

Am I the only one who had to learn to read the room at an early age? My mother was an avid reader and had an impressive vocabulary. By the time I was in first grade, I had a vocabulary that attracted unwanted attention from the bullies. Reading the room was just as important as learning to read.

Technically, “copse” is a plural noun and so “a copse of trees” is reundant. However, it is acceptable to say “a copse of Russian Olives”.

Can Goat explain the concept of homophones?

Guy at work would give me the glassy eyed look when I used big words and I would have to explain, sigh!!

I know a copse. But I’m guessing here – the theme from Cops?

copse: (kŏps) noun: A thicket of small trees or shrubs; a coppice.

I agree, watching leaves get painted red, yellow, and orange is one of the best things of fall.

Goat, you really need to be more prepared when using those words around Pig. At least try to explain the meaning of them in a way he’ll understand.

I see that word used on occasion in novels written by British authors.

Now I will be singing that song all day at work.

Pastis, do you have the 2-volume copy of the Oxford English Dictionary to torture your readers with?

Impressive Steph, I love pigs response.

Is that a prisoner going down a rope? CON DESCENDING

Ah, a copse. A hamlet when compared to a forest

Well, since the majority of folks who don’t know what a copse is AND won’t ask for a definition, offering a definition isn’t condescension at all.

Nothing like saying that you aren’t stupid and then proving you are. Sigh . . .

I’m a little surprised that Pig, given his tastes, didn’t reply ‘Cheezit!’

I like the theme song, won’t watch the show. I never want to hear [knock, knock]“Police!”

Gotta love when characters in a visual medium like a comic strip call attention to an impressive sight that’s just out of frame.

Heard in Pig’s Jamaican voice

< insert collection of people slipping away to the dictionary (dot) com website before re-reading today’s strip >

" ’ COPSE ’ is filmed on location with the men and women of law enforcement (regarding the trees). All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. "

(Well?! – TREES need protecting, TOO !!) … :)

The only time I have ever encountered the word ‘copse’ is from the descriptions of the Battle of Gettysburg. In Picket’s charge, some Confederates were able to take shelter behind a copse of trees on their way up Cemetery Hill. Every account of the battle calls it a ‘copse’ of trees, perhaps repeating each other after a while. I’ve never seen the term used anywhere else.

Supercalifragilisticexpailidocious…..

I’m old, old, and never heard that word used before. Never missed it either.

Today November 1st==Henry(THE FONZ)Winkler autographs memoirs—7pm—Molloy College Rockville Centre,LI<New York

November 4th and 5th Barbara(I DREAM OF JEANNIE) Eden—age 92,will appear at Comic Con—Providence,Rhode Island

Lovers Lane: Where they play copse and rubbers.

Looks like a spinney to me.

My wife once told me I was pendantic. It was masterful – I couldn’t correct her without proving her right.

I miss “Cops.”

Spinney

Interestingly enough, the song ‘Bad Boys’ by Jamaican reggae band, Inner Circle, was released in 1987. It became a hit, again, when used as the theme song for the American TV show, ‘COPS’, premiering in 1989. The song became a Top Ten hit in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, New Zealand, and USA during the 1990- 1993 time period.

On Cops, getting caught red handed is a bad thing. In Copse, being red handed(leafed) is a beautiful sight.

He means, of course, a coppice.

i’m sorry but this comic strip today was garbage

I learned a new word. Pig didn’t.

Maybe this time he can be excused. But Pig is really pretty ignorant (not dumb, just lacking information) in general. “Copse” is pretty rare these days, even from the likes of Goat….

Had to look it up. Wow! I got one of those in my back yard!