Bad touch! Bad touch!
I haven't actually read today's strip yet, but as soon as the image came up, I got confused. At first I thought it was because the strip was in color, but no, the strip is always in color. No, what threw me off was that all of the people in the strip are in color--none are in the black-and-white background. And there are so many of them, fairly close up.
Anyway, the actual contents of the strip. Wow. I...don't even know what to say. I guess those folks in the background (including a woman at a typewriter, giving us further proof that Scaduto believes it's the 1950s) are stand-ins for the audience. How else to explain their exposition? This seems like such a departure in form.
Also, "If Joe was askin' for a touch"? "Askin' for a touch"??? I can't be the only person out there with a dirty mind (I guess we're not supposed to read TDIET). Just say "reply," Scaduto. It'll make it easier for all of us. And "trick names"? Gah.
And why is this guy (I can't quite make out the name on the postcard) getting personal mail at work? Right there is a clue into who sent it.
I'm bewildered what makes this, in particular, a "local irritation," as opposed to anything else we've seen in the strip. And yes, it actually has happened to me, but that doesn't make today's strip any less bewildering.
Seriously, people, I'm at a complete loss. There's so much about it that makes my head hurt.
posted by Barb @ 12:10 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I'm pretty sure in this instance a "touch" is a favor or monetary help. Against my better judgement I'm going to do a google search on ask for a touch... hmm... nothing useful or fun. :( Apparently young adults increasingly favor touch screen technology though.
Ahh... the 16th meaning of the Noun Touch on Dictionary.com (shame it didn't have an archaic tag as well)
Slang.
The act of approaching someone for a loan or handout.
A prospect for a loan or handout: a generous person, a soft touch for beggars.
Notice the number 1753 in today's strip. It is a prime number, meaning it cannot be factored into smaller numbers. Furthermore, it is 2 to the 10th power plus 3 to the 6th power. I'll bet you didn't know Al Scaduto is an amateur mathematician and that 1753 is a number he has encountered in his research. Being particularly fond of 1753, Scaduto works it into as many strips as he can. In the future, all primes of the form 2 to the mth power plus 3 to the nth power shall be known as Scaduto primes.
Wow. That's a crap-load of text. I think Mr Scaduta realized after doing the first guy in the panel that the joke wasn't obvious enough and felt the need to explian...and explain...and explain.
Of course, the fat guy in the yellow shirt makes you think this was a practical joke they were all playing on our poor hero. Which actually would be a lot more irritating.
As for 1753, you are missing the obvious reference. On 5 April 1753 a foundation charter was issued to create the British Museum. These people are working at said building and the year is 1753.
I thought 1753 was the year Scaduto was born.
No, Mr. Scaduto, this "local irritation" has never happened to me. Do you know why? Because I've never gotten a postcard as big as my head. I also don't work in a cramped office where the only office supplies are a typewriter, a green book, and an ashtray. (Seriously, that red ashtray dates this strip to 1965).
Scaduto's ideas might improve if the staff at the Home for Aged comics let him outside now and then.
Is there any proof that these are actually new strips? Or should they be labelled "TDIET Classics", like Peanuts? Everything - art work, text, stale jokes - indicates that they're just running something from the 1940's all over again..
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