Questionable Content XIX: Give Jeph Just A *Little* Credit, Here

[Scarlet Manuka]

Cheer up Dora, being An Old isn't that bad.

On trying to explain things to one's children however (as per the sub-comic text), it's not always like that (although I did have a nice discussion with my eldest the other day about what it was like to be an Internet user in the 90s). My kids frequently surprise me with the things they're plugged into from my generation or before. A snippet from a random conversation with my youngest (16yo) a month or two ago:

"How do you even know the Pina Colada song?"
"It was in a meme."

OTOH the kids got me a generational trivia contest game for Christmas, wherein the old people had to answer questions about current stuff and the young people had to answer questions about old stuff. They complained - quite rightly - that the technology questions were inherently unfair, in that they never used the old tech but we do use the new tech. It was still amusing to see them struggle to come up with ideas for what the heck the telephone answering machine could be though :)

[Agi Hammerthief]

What is „Clue“ in this context anyway?

[Cikomyr2]

What is „Clue“ in this context anyway?

A comedy film based on the board game

[Beelzebub1111]

I think it's a little strange that she doesn't recognize the name of the 5th most popular board game in the world. It's like not knowing monopoly or scrabble.

Let me try a rewrite:
"I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife"
"Uhh...good for you?"

"It's a reference to Clue."
"Wait, the board game?"

"No the movie, have you not seen it? Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Marten Mull? It's a classic!"
"I don't know who any of those people are, I don't watch old movies"

*Dora takes out phone* "It's not that old the movie only came out in..."

Panel of Dora rapidly aging as she stares wide-eyed at her phone.

Then we can have a funny little arc of Dora not realizing how old she since she dyes her hair and is probably grey now instead of blond. it would be fun.

[Grendelkin]

It could be a sign of Liz not having had a very well-rounded childhood.

"No, dear. Playing board games with your classmates / the neighbour's kids won't look good on your resumé."

[DavidSh]

Obviously, Dora isn't talking about the board game, because the only board game quotes would be things like "Major Hoople in the drawing room with a euphonium". But there was a video game version. Who knows what they added in?

And this was Ayo being Clueless, not Liz.

(I've played Monopoly and Scrabble, but never Clue.)

[Beelzebub1111]

It could be a sign of Liz not having had a very well-rounded childhood.

"No, dear. Playing board games with your classmates / the neighbour's kids won't look good on your resumé."

I don't know. We haven't seen enough of Ayo's parents to know really anything about them. Not playing videogames doesn't mean there weren't family board game nights.

Obviously, Dora isn't talking about the board game, because the only board game quotes would be things like "Major Hoople in the drawing room with a euphonium". But there was a video game version. Who knows what they added in?

And this was Ayo being Clueless, not Liz.

(I've played Monopoly and Scrabble, but never Clue.)

It's not really about playing it but seeming to have never heard of it. It just seems odd to me that her brain wouldn't at least go to the game first for confusion.

[halfeye]

I think it's a little strange that she doesn't recognize the name of the 5th most popular board game in the world. It's like not knowing monopoly or scrabble.

Here (if it's the game I think it is) it's called Cluedo, we speak Englisin, what they call it in France of Germany is unknown to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo

[mucat]

Here (if it's the game I think it is) it's called Cluedo, we speak Englisin, what they call it in France of Germany is unknown to me.

To be fair, we speak English in North America too, and "Clue" is an actual English noun, while "Cluedo" is some kind of pseudo-Latin pun which, IMHO, never really landed the joke.

[Rodin]

To be fair, we speak English in North America too, and "Clue" is an actual English noun, while "Cluedo" is some kind of pseudo-Latin pun which, IMHO, never really landed the joke.

I always thought it was a reference to Ludo myself? The game boards have some similarities.

[DavidSh]

I always thought it was a reference to Ludo myself? The game boards have some similarities.

Probably, but that name for a Pachisi version is just Latin for "(I) play". Similarity to Japanese martial arts like Judo or Sensha-Do is probably purely coincidental.

In the US, we have Parcheesi instead, and abandoned Latin instruction earlier, so we wouldn't get either reference.

[Gnoman]

To be fair, we speak English in North America too, and "Clue" is an actual English noun, while "Cluedo" is some kind of pseudo-Latin pun which, IMHO, never really landed the joke.

"Cluedo" is a pun? I always assumed there was some kind of "Clue is too generic to trademark here" rule that lead to the name.

[Wraith]

"Cluedo" is a pun? I always assumed there was some kind of "Clue is too generic to trademark here" rule that lead to the name.

It's barely a pun, and really just a portmanteaux - "Clue" as in what you would expect to find in a murder mystery game. "Ludo" from the latin for "I play". Such is the nature of the British sense of humour; it's a British-designed game, later exported to English (Simplified)-land.

Since we have once again apparently reached that point in QC where a new character is systematically paraded around and introduced directly to every other character in crushing details, any bets on who we meet next? Is it too much to ask that Hannelore just walks home and says 'hi' to Winslow, or does *spins bottle* Veronica... and.... let's say, Lemon? Sure why not - They have to have their say about it as well before we can continue?

[Johanny]

Here (if it's the game I think it is) it's called Cluedo, we speak Englisin, what they call it in France of Germany is unknown to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo

called Cluedo in France of Germany too

[VoxRationis]

What is the France of Germany, anyway? I've heard that Bavaria is the Texas of Germany...

[DavidSh]

What is the France of Germany, anyway? I've heard that Bavaria is the Texas of Germany...

To the little extent this is meaningful, I would guess the Palatinate, because of the wine industry. But I want to say Franconia because of the name, or Alsace to troll.

[Traab]

Not liking her reaction to winslow. It has a sort of "not a real person" reaction to his existence vibe. The reference to him in the third person even as you are staring him in the face.

[VoxRationis]

@Traab: I agree.

Regarding this evening's strip: Lazy stereotypes at the heart of a sitcom? Who ever would have thought of such a betrayal of the genre? Also, were we previously supposed to have understood Liz to be Dutch?

[geoduck]

@Traab: I agree.

Regarding this evening's strip: Lazy stereotypes at the heart of a sitcom? Who ever would have thought of such a betrayal of the genre? Also, were we previously supposed to have understood Liz to be Dutch?

Doing a Google search, it appears that her last name is a reference to a Dutch penmaking company.

[Johanny]

To the little extent this is meaningful, I would guess the Palatinate, because of the wine industry. But I want to say Franconia because of the name, or Alsace to troll.

Could say Saarland, they had the choice between France and Germany.
Or you can go with the spirit, and then it's either Köln or Hamburg that are less strict and feel more "latin" than the other parts.
Or you can go with History and say it's every part of town where it's dirty and full of whores, because German used "little France" as nickname for lower places bordering rivers where there actually were tanners - hence stank and a neighborhood nobody wanted, hence the prostitutes. French do the same calling it "little Italy/Venice". I guess that in northern Italy they call it Napoli...

[MoonCat]

Liz, whose name is an Anglicized form of a Dutch word, and phones her father in English.

Also, she's called LIZ. Not even Lies.

[Beelzebub1111]

Liz, whose name is an Anglicized form of a Dutch word, and phones her father in English.

Also, she's called LIZ. Not even Lies.

That was probably before he decided she should be actually from Holland rather than having Dutch ancestry. Jeph figures out who his characters as he goes instead of having a plan and backstory ahead of time and avoiding inconsistencies like that.

[Wraith]

Liz is probably Dutch in the same way that ~31% of Americans are Irish - which is to say, they aren't and their family hasn't been for 4 or 5 generations despite what they say.

Still, she has a Dutch name, is vaguely Asian-coded (I think?) and has an American passport to work in Canada so to be fair, that is realistically convoluted... But why does it need to be convoluted at all? What does any of this add to the story, or why does it make Liz any more interesting to pile random facts onto her that don't have an impact?

Also, why does Liz use Hanz Van Klompen-Klacke as an example of sitcom storytelling even though the one thing she is using as an example doesn't happen to the character that she uses as the example? No wonder she sucks as a researcher, if she has no concept of correlation.

[Beelzebub1111]

Liz is probably Dutch in the same way that ~31% of Americans are Irish - which is to say, they aren't and their family hasn't been for 4 or 5 generations despite what they say.

That was my initial thought but her apparantly growing up only having watched dutch television (produced by the french?) is a monkey wrench in that theory. Which calls back to my "Jeph is making up backstory for Liz as he goes and didn't think about any of this before introducing Liz"

[BRC]

That was my initial thought but her apparantly growing up only having watched dutch television (produced by the french?) is a monkey wrench in that theory. Which calls back to my "Jeph is making up backstory for Liz as he goes and didn't think about any of this before introducing Liz"

I expect at least 3 follow up comics dedicated to explaining this one joke.

[Scarlet Manuka]

I expect at least 3 follow up comics dedicated to explaining this one joke.

1 down, 2 or more potentially to go...

[BRC]

We've currently established that she is, in fact, Dutch.

Now we need to establish why she has an American passport and why she spoke to her dad in English.

Google says there's no dual citizenship between US and Netherlands, so her dad is probably American and her mom is Dutch, she was born in the US but they moved to the Netherlands for a while, then she moved back to the states for college.

By my count, we should be back to Jokes on Thursday or so.

[Beelzebub1111]

By my count, we should be back to Jokes on Thursday or so.

I say Tuseday. It think he's got one more soapbox about social stuff in him before we move on.

[VoxRationis]

When I think of the term "pigeon fancier," I generally think of someone who raises and breeds pigeons, not merely a pigeon-specific birdwatcher, and such individuals pick up and (gently) squeeze their charges as a matter of course, rather than secretly pining for such an opportunity.

[Errorname]

Credit where it's due, I liked that joke.