Black and White
Cidu Bill on Jul 30th 2008
Most schools still have blackboards as well — but whether or not they do, the white slates are never called blackboards. They go by various names including… wait for it… whiteboards.Yes, I know, I’m commenting on the logic of a Family Circus comic.
Filed in Bill Bickel, Family Circus, blackboards, comic strips, comics, humor, whiteboards | 24 responses so far
Steven Hunter Jul 30th 2008 at 04:16 pm 1
As long as we’re commenting on the logic of Family Circus… They don’t use Magic Markers on whiteboards; they use Dry Erase markers.
Sari Everna Jul 30th 2008 at 04:56 pm 2
It is possible that magic markers would work, though. Of course, don’t count on it; they could just as easily be permanent. I’ve never tried, so I don’t know.
At school we had people accidentally use overhead projector pens on whiteboards and vice versa. Sometimes permanent markers made it into the mix, too. Occasionally the results were permanent or very difficult to remove. I should know; I’ve had to clean enough of those overhead rolls. *grumble*
HM Jul 30th 2008 at 05:02 pm 3
Magic Markers are semi-permanent on white boards. They don’t come off with the regular eraser, or with the liquid cleaner (usually). But, the trick is to cover it with scribbles with the dry erase marker then erase it all together. I’ve had luck with this technique even with real “permanent” markers.
My daughter’s school has white boards as well as blackboards, (and even a couple of special rooms with “smart boards”) and she’s always correcting me when I use the term blackboard generically. Ah, it starts so young!
Wendy Jul 30th 2008 at 05:04 pm 4
I never really called them blackboards, either, since most of the chalkboards we had growing up were green.
Cidu Bill Jul 30th 2008 at 05:15 pm 5
In defense of Grandma Circus: Past a certain age — and I confess this includes me — your tendency is to use “magic marker” as a generic term for any sort of marking pen.
Patrick Jul 30th 2008 at 07:07 pm 6
Oh, the fun we used to have at the Grandma Circus!
Cedar Jul 30th 2008 at 07:20 pm 7
I dislike how smug Billy looks in this strip.
NoAlias Jul 30th 2008 at 07:47 pm 8
To remove permanent marker from drymark boards, use common rubbing alcohol.
Mixing markers can be a good thing - draw the girdlines for a table in permanent marker. Write the header row and data, etc. in drymark. Then you can erase the writing and keep the gridlines.
And, to be on topic, ‘blackboard’ is passing into the common language like ‘dialing’ a phone or ‘rolling down’ a car window.
Cidu Bill Jul 30th 2008 at 08:26 pm 9
NoAlias, when I was substitute teaching a few years back, I found the opposite to be true: The kids didn’t use the word “blackboard” for anything other than the actual blackboards in the rooms that happened to have them (though as it happened the blackboards were green, so your “common language” comment applies there).
Of course, I making a generalization based on four achools.
Kaitlyn Jul 31st 2008 at 02:10 am 10
What happened to chalkboards?
And it wasn’t until college that I saw some dry erase boards. In like 2 or 3 classes, depending on the age of the building.
pepperjackcandy Jul 31st 2008 at 05:56 am 11
We called ours “chalkboards.” And it wasn’t because they were some funky color like green or brown, either. They were black.
Bah humbug Jul 31st 2008 at 06:54 am 12
As for the smug look on Billy’s face - isn’t smug ignorance the best kind?
catlover Jul 31st 2008 at 07:07 am 13
The primary assumption Billi is making is that chalk is white and therefore the situation is ridiculous (you couldn’t see white chalk on a white board); as has already been noted, you can get chalk in all sorts of colors, including blue, red and brown, all of which could be visible on a white (chalk-compatible) board.
I am also trying to figure out what was said just before this panel. Probably Billy saying, “Grandma, I am still flying from inhaling the fumes of the (magic) markers from school today.”
Permanent markers are still for FLIP CHARTS (still quite in use today); dry erase markers are for white boards.
Magic Marker is (was) a brand name; seems to have disappeared around 10 years ago, before Billy’s supposed time. The Magic Marker website (www.magicmarker.com) seems to have shut down in 98 or so, according to archive.com. You can see the last remains about Magic Marker at http://web.archive.org/web/19980215175420/http://www.magicmarker.com/
Binney & Smith owned the name; Binney & Smith became Crayola in 2007.
Dan Jul 31st 2008 at 07:57 am 14
Is it just me, or are we all, like, totally centered on this page?
Kaitlyn Jul 31st 2008 at 10:13 am 15
Dan - It’s the first time many of us have been centered in a long time, probably our entire lives.
And you want to take that away from us?
Cruel.
Mark in Boston Jul 31st 2008 at 11:11 am 16
As Jason Fox’s mom said to him, “Close your tag!”
Cedar Jul 31st 2008 at 12:22 pm 17
Yeah, now that I look at it again, Grandma’s pretty smug herself.
Cedric Jul 31st 2008 at 09:54 pm 18
Am I the only one who uses the term “Dry Erase Board”? I’ve never referred to it as a whiteboard.
Michele Jul 31st 2008 at 11:03 pm 19
Can we close the tag? or does Bill have to do it?
Kaitlyn Aug 1st 2008 at 02:58 am 20
Cedric - Me too.
Can’t recall hearing or seeing it anywhere until today.
Bah humbug Aug 1st 2008 at 10:22 am 21
“Whiteboard” just rolls off the tongue better than “Dry Erase Board” for me. I don’t grab onto every single short catchphrase, but some are definitely improvements.
David Aug 1st 2008 at 12:04 pm 22
I’m not sure I’ve used, or heard, black, green, or white in referring to any kind of board in a long time. Whatever kind of board, I’ve usually called (heard it called) just “the board”, as in, “come up to the board and solve this problem”. It’s right there and everyone knows what you’re talking about. I suppose if I were buying one and describing what kind I wanted, I’d have to qualify it.
Why do some people always have to focus on what color something is, can’t we get past that?
Kaitlyn Aug 1st 2008 at 03:47 pm 23
Oh yeah, David, in class, it’s just the board.
Bah humbug - yeah, I guess, but whiteboard sounds wrong.
JACK Aug 4th 2008 at 06:07 pm 24
This comic features very young children, who are apt to misuse words on a pretty regular basis. The grandmother is using the term “blackboard” because it is a word that has been ingrained in her mind for so many years that she uses it without thinking. (”Blackboard” is a pretty old fashioned term for “chalkboard”).The children simply repeat her misuse of the word (which children that age are actually pretty likely to do), resulting in a cute misuse of words that results in the production of an oxymoron.