One Final New Year’s CIDU
Cidu Bill on Jan 5th 2010
Karl Hakimian: I’ve got nothing on this one. I thought it might have something to do with stopped clocks being right etc., but I can’t make sense of it. Am I missing the obvious?
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, New Year's Eve, comic strips, comics, humor | 38 responses so far
Tim Jan 5th 2010 at 03:15 pm 1
Whatever you’re missing, Karl, it ain’t obvious. I don’t see it either. I was thinking along the lines of, the clock hasn’t changed, but people look at it differently after the new year… but I don’t see how.
mike Jan 5th 2010 at 03:34 pm 2
I don’t know. an earth solar year is actually 365.25 days long, so maybe this clock includes the.. okay that seems like a stretch.
Ron Jan 5th 2010 at 03:38 pm 3
What I infer is that it’s not a very good clock. Edith carefully
sets the correct time late on Dec 31 so that they can celebrate
the new year at the right time. Its time starts drifting, as
usual, after it’s been set. The problem with this interpretation
is the lack of any humor value, but I don’t see another good
possibility.
PepperjackCandy Jan 5th 2010 at 03:44 pm 4
The “stopped clock is right two times a day” thing makes sense to me.
However, I think the hands are reversed. It should have the large hand pointing towards the 11:00 and the small hand towards the 12:00, indicating 11:55. As it is, it says 11:00. I think. . . .
pontiac6000fan Jan 5th 2010 at 03:50 pm 5
I think Ron was onto something. Is it possible Edith didn’t want to stay up until midnight and so set the clock ahead by some hours? That would not be a very good comic, but it would make sense… sort of.
Catelli Jan 5th 2010 at 04:04 pm 6
It makes no sense period.
Any day of the year is after the previous New Year’s and before the next one. There is no defined before and after except in relative terms for us as we talk about the past and/or the future. In those terms “now” is always “after” some date and “before” another.
Looks to me like someone was into the spiced rum and egg-nog a little too heavily.
jglor Jan 5th 2010 at 04:24 pm 7
Maybe the clock has a year hand that has to be set manually?
Or considering it is a pendulum clock with weights, maybe they get too hammered on New Year’s Eve to remember to pull the chains for the weights for a few days. We used to have a grandfather clock that worked that way. I don’t remember how often you had to do that. (Although, according to Wikipedia it’s 8 days)
FeelinOld Jan 5th 2010 at 04:54 pm 8
Glad I’m not the only one confused, came from the birdbrains comic direct to CIDU and there it was right at the top (I was gonna submit it if it wasn’t)
If she was changing it to go to bead early it’d be wrong for new years day (the ‘day’ instead of ‘eve’ part made it worse for me, what was it like ON new years day?)
Catelli: Agree with your last line.. The Artist…
Cocoonivus Jan 5th 2010 at 05:08 pm 9
“Honey, hurry up, we’re going to be late.”
“Oh, that clock’s never right.”
“Then why is it always right at 11:59 on New Year’s Eve?”
I’ve known couples for whom the first two lines are a common exchange. They’re who this comic is about.
FeelinOld Jan 5th 2010 at 05:30 pm 10
Cocoonivus: OK I’d agree with that if it was clear and said new years eve.
But I do agree that Spouse (Significant Other, whatever) Time is a common problem. I tend to read a lot sitting in the chair by the door waiting…
Rasheed Jan 5th 2010 at 05:59 pm 11
Probably New Year’s Eve is the only time the people are awake and around to actually look at the clock at the correct time (and apparently are never home for lunch).
Kevin A Jan 5th 2010 at 06:11 pm 12
Alas, Catelli unfortunately misread the words in the strip before losing it. It made me double-check and I had a thought; perhaps the humor is in the use of “right right before” followed shortly by “wrong right after”. Then Edith’s head-turning would be more of a reaction to the sound of the question than to the man’s impression of the clock’s accuracy. Maybe? (My first impression was related to rum-aftermath (an egg nog assisted condition I had Christmas), although I’m not sure I can see these two as drinkers. Use of the term “New Year’s Day” also seems odd to me.)
Mark M Jan 5th 2010 at 07:07 pm 13
My first thought was this is a kind of nerdy couple and they probably never stay up past 11:00, except to “live it up” on New Year’s Eve. Hence (and the broken clock theory applies here) the clock is only right as far as they know on that day. Pretty weak but a possibility…
Dave Van Domelen Jan 5th 2010 at 07:21 pm 14
Too hungover on New Year’s Day to reset the weights, so it runs down?
Mark in Boston Jan 5th 2010 at 07:58 pm 15
My grandfather had a cuckoo clock and it stopped at the exact moment he died.
Or at least that’s what my grandmother said. I think it stopped because he was too sick to wind it, and when he died the doctor wrote down the time, thinking it was still running.
Dyfsunctional Jan 5th 2010 at 08:22 pm 16
A suggested above, maybe Edith is trying to parse the difference between something being “right right” and something being “wrong right.”
David N Jan 5th 2010 at 09:57 pm 17
Man, 16 replies and I still don’t have a clue.
paperboy Jan 5th 2010 at 10:06 pm 18
Let’s go with it’s a stopped clock(even though it’d work better if it was at 11:55 instead of at 11:00). It’s an old clock they normally think of as furniture except on New Years, never noticing it’s not moving. Ha ha.
paperboy Jan 5th 2010 at 10:08 pm 19
Mark in Boston#15- Sounds like the makings of a song…
Molly J Jan 5th 2010 at 10:18 pm 20
Indeed, paperboy.
Mark, was it bought on the morn of the day that he was born?
Kevin A Jan 6th 2010 at 01:26 am 21
It’s very difficult to suss the strip without the name or the date. The drawing indicates it’s not the blue moon 2009/2010 change (which could, of course, be artist error). Does anyone know the artist or name of this strip? I can’t make out the signature. Thanks!
The clock seems to be taking up an inordinate(word?) amount of room. Could that be relevant? (or is that usual for this strip?)
bAT L. Jan 6th 2010 at 01:40 am 22
I think this was supposed to be a Daylight Savings Time joke that just doesn’t work with another pseudo-holiday. That’s my initial impression, anyway.
After a minute or so of thinking about it, I’m starting to wonder if this couple just can’t tell time all that well. Maybe they thought it was just 11:55 and now it’s 11:00, thereby making the clock broken. New Year’s just happens to be the only time they watch the hour change that intently.
jjmcgaffey Jan 6th 2010 at 01:59 am 23
I agree with pontiac6000fan. The clock is right until Edith sets it back so she doesn’t have to stay up until midnight - then she sets it back to the correct time the next day, but he noticed (and has been noticing, but apparently not saying anything) while it was still wrong. At least, that’s how I read it when I saw it in the paper. That also covers the ‘right before’ and ‘right after’ - it’s only wrong for that short period of time.
mkilby Jan 6th 2010 at 06:30 am 24
@5 & @23 have it exactly right, the cartoonist simply didn’t work hard enough on the text. If the caption had read as follows:
“Edith, why does this clock always keep perfect time all the way to New Year’s Eve, but always gains a couple of hours on New Year’s Day?”
… then this comic would have been filed under “LAME” instead of “CIDU”.
Dyfsunctional Jan 6th 2010 at 06:50 am 25
Kevin A: It’s Birdbrains ( http://www.gocomics.com/birdbrains ). Some of them are hard to figure out and pretty much none of them are actually funny.
Blinky The Wonder Wombat Jan 6th 2010 at 08:51 am 26
This one seemed pretty obvious to me: Good looking woman does not want to be kissed by geeky-looking guy at the stroke of midnight, so adjusts the clok on New Year’s Eve to avoid midnight and surreptiousily resets it after midnight.
GP Jan 6th 2010 at 09:10 am 27
My guess is that on New Year’s Eve, she sets it to the wrong time so that it chimes early (that’s why it’s a grandfather clock - loud chimes to indicate midnight) and they don’t have to stay up until the real midnight. The next morning, they have to reset the clock because it’s wrong. So it’s correct up until “right before,” but wrong “right after.”
Now that I’ve thought it out, I think that makes sense and could almost be funny - but not in a comic strip. It’s more of a throwaway gag in a NYE episode of a sitcom, where there’s time to adequately set up the joke. But I put a lot of thought into coming up with the backstory, so even if it’s right it’s not much of a joke.
John Small Berries Jan 6th 2010 at 10:47 am 28
It might make a little more sense if the artist had let us know what time it was *actually* supposed to be.
Dyfsunctional Jan 6th 2010 at 11:04 am 29
It should also be pointed out that he refers to New Year’s Day, not New Year’s Eve, and not midnight on December 31. I assume he’s asking the question on January 2 or later. I still think it’s a really lame word play with “right right” and “wrong right.”
One of the things I love about CIDU is when precisely this happens. It’s one thing when there’s a reference or something that’s figured out in the first few responses; CIDU gold is when the posts get into the 30s and we still haven’t got it. The failure on the part of the cartoonist is way more interesting than the strip itself.
Elyrest Jan 6th 2010 at 11:23 am 30
“The failure on the part of the cartoonist is way more interesting than the strip itself.”
Dyfsunctional - this comic is a raving success when you put it that way. Even reading all the explanations and looking at the original online (Jan 2) to see if there was anything there it still fails as a comic. I looked at a number of other ones there and scratched my head at them too. As you said the discussion is nice.
Rammy M Jan 6th 2010 at 11:56 am 31
Clearly it’s the fryer’s fault again:
[The artist] in a flash of inspired stupidity created the cartoon… BIRDBRAINS… so readers everywhere could be given the bird.
Thom’s drawing ability is limited only by his lack of training, talent, and lack of hand and one-eyed coordination. Raised by chickens, Thom’s writing is translated from chicken scratches by a Jesuit fryer - into the pigeon English found here. If you don’t “get” BIRDBRAINS, it’s because that monk fryer screwed up again - it’s NOT Thom’s fault - he’s as well-spoken as any chicken.
from http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature-bio?uc_comic=csbac
John Small Berries Jan 6th 2010 at 01:23 pm 32
“Jesuit fryer” and “pigeon English”? Did Stephan Pastis write that bio?
Mark in Boston Jan 6th 2010 at 02:21 pm 33
There’s too many rights in the sentence. Makes me think of the song:
And it doesn’t really matter
If I’m wrong I’m right
Where I belong I’m right
Where I belong.
Anyway, how do you know whether the clock is wrong or right? That’s what always bothered me about Charles Dickens’ “Master Humphrey’s Clock”. Master Humphrey’s clock is the most accurate clock in the village; everybody knows it’s always perfectly right. How do they know? Is it more accurate than a sundial?
GP Jan 7th 2010 at 08:38 am 34
Dyfsunctional, he says, “right before New Year’s day,” which is indeed New Year’s Eve. Midnight December 31 is “right before New Year’s day.”
Dyfsunctional Jan 7th 2010 at 09:43 am 35
Granted. But “right after New Year’s Day” is January 2.
GP Jan 7th 2010 at 01:25 pm 36
I see. I guess I had taken it as right after New Year’s Day starts, but that’s not a very good way to take it. I think the better way to take it is that it’s not a particularly funny comic.
I’m now thinking it might be purely absurdist.
Todd Jan 9th 2010 at 03:51 am 37
I think the author thought he had a great joke mixing a stopped clock and midnight New Years Eve, so much so that he didn’t stop to think it all the way out.
MWGallaher Jan 11th 2010 at 09:48 am 38
Maybe it has to do with this being a “grandfather” clock–reflecting the venerable cartoon incarnation of Grandfather Time being replaced by Baby New Year, the Grandfather clock expires on January 1 to be replaced by, oh, a Baby Ben clock?