Fancy That! (Arlo Page)

Cidu Bill on Dec 30th 2009


fancy.png 
Colin McDonald: Did Mike Peters make a pussy joke here?

Filed in Arlo Page, Bill Bickel, Mother Goose, comic strips, comics, humor | 17 responses so far

17 Responses to “Fancy That! (Arlo Page)”

  1. John Small Berries Dec 30th 2009 at 12:14 pm 1

    As I see it, it’s a metaphor for changing attitudes towards sexual mores, which often occurs in generational waves (anti-miscegenation laws being repealed as those who grew up in the era of civil rights were more comfortable with mixed-race couples than their parents; or today’s youth having less of an issue with same-sex marriage than their parents). Mother Goose, being older, condemns Grimm for his sexual interest outside his species.

    Either that, or Peters wanted to get in on the recent “veiled references to masturbation” trend.

  2. TasmanSea Dec 30th 2009 at 12:16 pm 2

    Just a pun on cat fancying? Where is this comic from? I thought that the be attracted to sense of to fancy was mainly in British English.

  3. Elyrest Dec 30th 2009 at 12:34 pm 3

    TasmanSea - This is an American comic (Mother Goose & Grimm) Using fancy to mean like or wanting is definitely a British term, but I think it has traveled overseas quite well. I have used it for years. When I originally saw this comic I paused and thought of the sexual slant first. Then I thought that since dogs are often portrayed as chasing cats that maybe Grimm was fancying a little chase. It could go either way and that’s why it could get in the papers.

  4. Nicole Dec 30th 2009 at 12:39 pm 4

    There are many american magazines with the term “Fancier” or “Fancy” in the title, some even pornographic. And yes it is used in the way the Brits do.

    It seems obvious to me that there are sexual overtones here. Boys are well known to hide Playboy and other magazines of that type under their mattress. Add to that the embarressed expression on Grimm’s face and you have an Arlo!!!!

    And that is my expert opinion.

  5. mitch4 Dec 30th 2009 at 12:41 pm 5

    Just to be clear that we’re all on the same page: There is an actual magazine called Cat Fancy. I’m not myself a subscriber, but I’ve seen it on newsstands and have paged thru it in the vet’s waiting room.

  6. mitch4 Dec 30th 2009 at 12:47 pm 6

    In the other branch of this thread: I can’t seem to track it down, but in the last week or so I saw a comic with one teenage boy lifting the corner of his mattress and showing his pal the stash of magazines he has hidden there, with dialogue along the lines of “Parents work so hard on monitoring my computer use, they no longer think of checking here.”

  7. Scott Dec 30th 2009 at 01:16 pm 7

    I submitted this one and my reasoning was the same as Nicole’s - the hiding it under the mattress is what puts it in Arlo territory, then of course making it a cat magazine instead of a poodle magazine can’t be coincidental.

  8. duncman Dec 30th 2009 at 01:32 pm 8

    People hide lots of things under their mattress that they don’t want anyone to find. It doesn’t have to be porn. I really don’t see the sexual overtones. Dogs are supposed to hate cats, so hes embarrassed about having a cat magazine and that’s why he was hiding it. Not everything has to be about sex.

  9. Nicole Dec 30th 2009 at 01:48 pm 9

    duncman @ 8 : “Not everything has to be about sex.”

    It doesn’t ?

  10. RobynS8971 Dec 30th 2009 at 03:21 pm 10

    duncman@8: “Not everything has to be about sex”

    It isn’t?

  11. furrykef Dec 30th 2009 at 05:11 pm 11

    Sometimes a cigar is just a phallus.

  12. Mark in Boston Dec 30th 2009 at 05:49 pm 12

    Yes, but where can you buy those sex magazines? The Internet has pretty much put them out of business.

    The joke of a dog who secretly likes cats is an old one. Foolbert Sturgeon did it in his “Dorman’s Doggie” comic books.

  13. BroBoCop Dec 30th 2009 at 09:03 pm 13

    One other point: Cat Fancy has a centerfold of the “Breed of the Month.” I think that is the joke as much as anything else, although choosing “Cat Fancy” over “Dog Fancy” makes it more naughty. Nothing like dating outside your species.

  14. The Bad Seed Dec 31st 2009 at 12:52 am 14

    Way back in the 1970’s when I was a tween, we had annual school magazine sales to raise money, and got a lot of laughs about some of the magazines offered - Cat Fancy included. Now I find myself in the odd time-space Mobius strip of suddenly realizing that I have a copy of Bird Fancy on my coffee table, signifying that I have apparently become one of those people I couldn’t even fathom existing back then.

  15. Cidu Bill Dec 31st 2009 at 12:56 am 15

    Over the past 30-odd years, haven’t we all?

  16. Frank the curmudgeon Dec 31st 2009 at 04:15 am 16

    “I might have been born just plain white trash
    But Fancy was my name” - Reba

  17. padraig Dec 31st 2009 at 11:28 am 17

    Just a quick etymology factoid: “Fancy” is actually a Cockney contraction of “Fantasy” or even “Phantasy.” Got that drilled into my head while reading Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver historical epic (3000 pages and never a dull moment) where I believe he spelled it “phant’sy”.

    So technically to “fancy” someone is to fantasize about them.

Comments RSS

Leave a Reply