Picket

Cidu Bill on Feb 14th 2009

norm-picket.jpg
What exactly does “picket” mean in their universe?

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, The Norm, Valentine's Day, comic strips, comics, humor | 14 responses so far

14 Responses to “Picket”

  1. assdad Feb 14th 2009 at 12:36 am 1

    I am not familiar with this comic but I thinassume they hate commercialism and avoid meaningless gestures that support greedy corporations.

  2. David N Feb 14th 2009 at 12:45 am 2

    I have no idea, but I sure hope it’s funny once someone explains it to me.

  3. captainswift Feb 14th 2009 at 02:22 am 3

    I’m pretty sure it means “protest”. He’s against Valentine’s Day, and he’s planning to protest one business or other that supports this crassly commercial and (to him) pointless holiday. The girl, meanwhile, is applying it both optimistically and euphemistically to herself.

  4. Cornbread Feb 14th 2009 at 02:49 am 4

    I agree with commenters 1 and 3; there are many who feel Valentine’s day (and any holiday really) is overemphasized and overly exploited by advertisers, appealing shamelessly to people’s emotions to get them to buy things.

    And I’d add that if it were me, I’d choose the jewelry store, particularly if they sell diamonds. Lately the diamond ads have been extraordinarily sexist and repulsive.

  5. Charlene Feb 14th 2009 at 03:49 am 5

    I would think she meant “picket” in a much, um, earthier sense than others. Which doesn’t really explain why she’d say that in front of her parents.

  6. Michael Feb 14th 2009 at 05:12 am 6

    Could she have misunderstood “picket” = protest, for “pick” = choose? Because “You could pick-et- me!” rather makes some sense.

  7. Elliott Feb 14th 2009 at 05:57 am 7

    It’s like Jethro Burns always said to Chet Atkins: “That guitar’s never gonna heal of you don’t stop pickin’ it!?

  8. Pete Feb 14th 2009 at 08:53 am 8

    This is a guess, since I don’t know the strip. “Picket” means exactly the same as it does in our world. That is a line of militants who want to discourage people from entering a particular establishment.

    The bald guy is a jerk who is threatening to picket a flower shop or a jewelry shop just in order to spoil Valentine’s day for everyone else.

    The other guy is offering a suggestion how he can disrupt three at once.

    The girl wants him to “pick at” her.

  9. sekirt Feb 14th 2009 at 09:25 am 9

    I’ll go with #8 Pete. Not all that funny though.

  10. BGneiss Feb 14th 2009 at 10:57 am 10

    A lot of people resent the “holidays” that are force-fed to us by the card and flower companies, and resent the negative peer pressure to comply. They’re not trying to “spoil” it for anyone else, they’re just rejecting the principle the same way as people who are upset about the commercialization of Christmas. Technically, we should all have a little Christmas and Valentine’s Day in our hearts every day, if you wanna be sappy about it.

    Kinda on-topic… the best party I ever attended was an Anti-Valentine’s Party, thrown by a group of very funny, sarcastic single guys. The short chubby one with the shaved head and mustache wrapped up in a sheet the way they show Cupid dressed, wore a halo made out of tinsel garland, had a big honkin’ cigar hanging out of his mouth, and went around grousing and shooting people with little kids’ foam arrows. Way too much fun!

  11. Lihtox Feb 14th 2009 at 01:02 pm 11

    The woman’s comment might not have been euphemistic at all; maybe she’d be happy to have him walk back and forth in front of her with a sign, because at least that means he noticed her and is spending time with her.
    (Guess it depends on the context of the strip, which I don’t know.)

  12. Andrew Feb 14th 2009 at 04:48 pm 12

    I just figured the character was the kind of over-eager person who plucks recurring verbs out of conversation and turns them sexual by saying “you could [verb] me” regardless of what the verb is.

  13. Daniel J. Drazen Feb 15th 2009 at 02:48 pm 13

    This would have been way funnier in the 60s and 70s, but who pickets anything anymore, unless you’re with PETA?

  14. Scott Feb 17th 2009 at 02:01 pm 14

    If I remember correctly, Ford had a bad breakup years ago and is now anti-romance, so he is not picketing commercialism, but romance in general. Maria Elena on the other hand seems to be incurably romantic. I moved away from a paper that ran this strip not long after the Norm got married, but it doesn’t seem to have changed much in the interim. And I agree that picket -> pick.

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