Comics I Don’t Understand

”New Year’s Eve.” ”Well, your timing is impeccable.”

Cidu Bill on Dec 28th 2009

Filed in Bill Bickel, Crankshaft, Tom Batiuk, comic strips, comics, humor | 25 responses so far

25 Responses to “”New Year’s Eve.” ”Well, your timing is impeccable.””

marie Dec 28th 2009 at 01:19 pm 1

This joke again? Doesn’t he know how old and tired it is? Really, he should consider euthanasia.

And by the shocked look on the young guy’s face, I suppose there’s no possibility that the old dude actually meant to say, “What time does it start?” instead of, “On what day are you hosting your New Year’s Eve party?” I bet he’s going to give the old dude Alzheimer’s or a brain tumor.
Slager Dec 28th 2009 at 01:56 pm 2

There is no reason why he couldn’t mean “What time does it start?”. Aaahhhh!!
yellojkt Dec 28th 2009 at 02:02 pm 3

Next year’s punchline: What time is midnight mass?
Michael Dec 28th 2009 at 02:45 pm 4

Seemed like a reasonable question to me. I’d probably ask the same thing so I knew what time to arrive.
Bob Dec 28th 2009 at 04:41 pm 5

yellojkt - that’s become a valid question at many parishes in the past several years. They’re holding the masses earlier, but still calling them “midnight mass.” I believe even the pope celebrated a 10:00 p.m. midnight mass this year.
Fnord Dec 28th 2009 at 06:01 pm 6

Oh hee hee ha I chortle with humorosity. Next he’ll wonder when the midnight buffet opens. Or when the noon church bell rings. Or when the kids opened their Christmas presents.

(In case you wonder, the answers are: 11:30pm, 12:30pm, and after dinner on Christmas Eve.)
Karen Dec 28th 2009 at 06:01 pm 7

Technically midnight mass just needs to end on or after midnight.
paperboy Dec 28th 2009 at 07:29 pm 8

I find it amusing to think that Crankshaft is just effin’ with him; that’s his nature. He’s a mean old cuss. That’s why we love him.
Nicole Dec 28th 2009 at 09:08 pm 9

BTW … can anyone tell me who’s buried in Grant’s tomb
Elyrest Dec 28th 2009 at 09:32 pm 10

Nicole - this can actually be a tricky one because a lot of people don’t know that Ulysses is not there alone. His wife Julia is also buried in Grant’s tomb.
Mark in Boston Dec 28th 2009 at 09:44 pm 11

“If you guys aren’t doing anything you’re more than welcome to come to our Christmas party.”

“Okay … when is it?”

How come it wouldn’t be funny that way?

If Christmas parties can be on December 18 or 20 or 24, why not New Year’s parties?
Cidu Bill Dec 28th 2009 at 10:20 pm 12

Christmas parties celebrate a season. New Year’s Eve parties pretty much have to climax with the ringing in of the new year.
Cornbread Dec 28th 2009 at 10:22 pm 13

Since the focus of a New Year’s party is on the actual countdown to the moment of the “New Year”, it is rarely if ever celebrated early or late.
Michael Dec 28th 2009 at 11:31 pm 14

And yet, just because a New Years Eve party must be in progress at midnight, that still doesn’t give you any indication of when it starts. So “When is it?” is still a valid (and important) question.
S.P. Charles Dec 28th 2009 at 11:43 pm 15

If he meant “What time does it start?”, he surely would have asked “What time does it start?” I can’t imagine anybody with a command of the English language asking “When is it?” when he means “What time does it start?”
Arthur Dec 29th 2009 at 12:13 am 16

In reply to S. P. Charles:
“What time does it start?” “Eight.”
“When is it?” “Eight till at least two. Last year’s went on till dawn.”
mkilby Dec 29th 2009 at 04:09 am 17

Given the paltry amount of humor in “Crankshaft”, this seems the perfect opportunity to point out that Wordpress’s “smart quote” feature works perfectly on text entries, but does not act on the headlines (see the four “closing” quote marks above the comic).

P.S. Here’s a sand”wiched quote, just to see what Wordpress does with it.
chuckers Dec 29th 2009 at 05:11 am 18

Which New Year are they celebrating? Western Calendar? Jewish New Year? Chinese New Year? Greek Orthodox New Year? When does the New Year start this year?
chuckers Dec 29th 2009 at 05:14 am 19

Umm…Eastern Orthodox, not Greek Orthodox.
David A. Rooney Dec 29th 2009 at 03:36 pm 20

And the Pagan newyear (winter solstice) was last week, so he missed it.
The Bad Seed Dec 29th 2009 at 04:52 pm 21

If this was another cartoon, I wouldn’t assume it was an anemic attempt at a weak and corny joke. But judging from experience and the expression on the neighbor’s face, we’re to believe that Crankshift is either being incredibly stupid (not knowing when New Year’s Eve is) or ornery (pretending not to know). In either case, it would have been incrementally better if Crankypants asked “what day is it?”, although that was probably too awkward and trying to hard for even this strip. Ouch, maybe I’m the Crankypants!
Susan T-O Jan 1st 2010 at 09:25 am 22

Elyrest, it’s even trickier than that. Technically, no one is buried in Grant’s tomb. People in tombs are entombed, not buried.

And I’m with the “When is it” = “What time does it start” camp. Seemed a perfectly reasonable question to me. Oh, wait, I have an idea–maybe the younger guy is startled not by the question, but by the fact that Crankshaft might actually go to the party. He didn’t really think the cranky old man would accept the invitation. Eh? Eh?
Morris Keesan Jan 1st 2010 at 06:31 pm 23

Susan T-O, you beat me to it (but I just got home and back on the net this evening, and am catching up on a week’s worth of comics and not-understanding). And for those who are perhaps a bit confused by this, the reason for saying the Mr. and Mrs. Grant are entombed in Grant’s tomb but not buried in it is that the tomb, and the bodies in it, are above ground.
Elyrest Jan 1st 2010 at 07:03 pm 24

Susan T-O and Morris Keesan - I knew all about the entombing vs burying and I also knew the moment I hit submit that someone would bring this up. Thanks to both of you!
jjmcgaffey Jan 2nd 2010 at 05:52 am 25

Huh - I just read it as Crankshaft being Crankshaft. He expresses himself with the wrong words and/or completely misunderstands what’s said to him more often than not.