I’m a Substitute for Another Guy
Cidu Bill on Mar 28th 2008
So is the joke here that a) substitute teachers are dumb, and b) substitute teachers make up bumper stickers to drum up business for themselves?
Filed in Alison Barrows, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Preteena, comic strips, comics, humor, teachers | 12 responses so far
Pete Mar 28th 2008 at 12:26 am 1
I think the joke is that Jeri is dumb. She doesn’t get the sticker’s intentional irony.
dd Mar 28th 2008 at 01:03 am 2
This is “public schools suck” week in Preteena land.
Not only do regular teachers suck, the substitutes are stupid and incompetent!
Frank Mar 28th 2008 at 04:50 am 3
Agree - but I must confess spelling is not my forte. Could very well of missed it too. Seeing it in print gives it authority.
spiritcatcher Mar 28th 2008 at 06:42 am 4
Jeri doesn’t see the error, mom doesn’t get the irony. lost cases, both of ‘em.
Elliott Mar 28th 2008 at 09:40 am 5
It’s the old running gag. And I think I just did.
Its Justme Mar 28th 2008 at 10:28 am 6
Reminds me of the real bumper sticker I’ve seen: “Illiterate? Write for free help!”
Dave Van Domelen Mar 28th 2008 at 11:21 am 7
I’m with SpiritCatcher. Furthermore, I think the cartoonist doesn’t get the irony either, and simply saw such a bumper sticker once and got all het up.
arik1969 Mar 29th 2008 at 12:22 am 8
I remember a public service ad from the 80’s (maybe earlier). It said “Help stamp out Illiterarcy.”
furrykef Mar 29th 2008 at 07:16 am 9
I think spelling “substitute” as “subsitute” is much too subtle for that sort of irony. Certainly possible to do that with ironic intent, of course, but it would be about the worst choice of a misspelling to try to convey that joke. Case in point: I failed to notice BOTH times that Jeri’s dialogue spelled it “subsitute”. Not because I don’t know how it’s spelled, but because my eyes simply glossed over the word. (After all, you don’t have to see every letter in a word to know what word it is.)
Powers Mar 29th 2008 at 09:23 am 10
Barrows’ lettering style is less than clear, too. I didn’t notice the misspelling either.
Though many teenagers pronounce it “subsitute”, I bet. =)
John Dec 23rd 2009 at 05:47 am 11
Sad thing is most of these comics weren’t made to be funny. They’re observations / No Joke . In this case the artist lets you decide whose dumb but it’s probably you –> because you just read a Comic.
Bob Dec 23rd 2009 at 09:39 am 12
or maybe, who’s dumb?