Comments on: At Least He’s Not a Yam

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:23:36 +0000

“A Yam. What? A Yam and that’s all. What? A Yam!”

– Popeye the Sailor Man

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 04:11:43 +0000

Why does Tina look on the verge of smashing a wine glass and cutting her wrists? The joke isn’t quite THAT bad.

By: Rammy M

Rammy M — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:28:09 +0000

Of course it “made sense”, because (almost) everyone understood it.
Maybe not real world grammar sense, but certainly comedy sense.
I even found it funny, but “ymmv”.

By: Powers

Powers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:12:54 +0000

There is no need to be familiar with the “Jew-ish” joke to get this one. Everyone’s overthinking it; the fact that “Am” isn’t an adjective makes this less funny than the “Jew-ish” joke, but it’s still a valid joke.

By: furrykef

furrykef — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:27:13 +0000

Kate - the problem with that is, “I’m am” makes no sense either. And if you take out the ‘m, then you have “I am-ish”, which would probably be incomprehensible. It also doesn’t help that “am” is pronounced differently from the “Am” in “Amish” in most dialects of English…

I think Judge Mental got it: the reader is supposed to know the “I’m Jew-ish” joke already. I think it still doesn’t really work, though.

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:09:59 +0000

Oh wait! You have the “Am” because he’s saying “I am” and then adds the “ish, ” which makes a little more sense (or did everyone else notice that already).

By: Judge Mental

Judge Mental — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:26:26 +0000

The comic is relying on the reader to be familiar with the “I’m Jew*ish*” with hand-waggle reference (notice the hand-movement lines in the third panel). Yes, as furrykef, points out, it doesn’t make as much sense because “am” isn’t a word, but given that you are (supposed) to already know the “jew*ish*” reference, it isn’t that far of a stretch.

By: furrykef

furrykef — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:05:23 +0000

Shouldn’t it be “Jewishish” and “Amishish”?

Strictly speaking, yes, but then it wouldn’t be as effective as a play on words.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:43:03 +0000

Shouldn’t it be “Jewishish” and “Amishish”?

“Are you blue-ish? You don’t look blue-ish.” (Blue Meanie in Yellow Submarine)

By: furrykef

furrykef — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:43:22 +0000

It also makes much more sense with “Jew-ish” because “Jew” is actually a word; “Jew-ish” would be “somewhat like a Jew”, which makes sense. But you try that with “Am-ish”, and you have “somewhat like an Am.” Doesn’t make sense anymore.

- Kef