We’ll Keep the Coffee Machine On For You
Cidu Bill on Feb 3rd 2010
Is Frazz saying that Groundhog’s Day is a made-up holiday (as opposed to, like pretty much every other holiday)? Isthere any significance to Tom Bodette? And why would what be better on Valentine’s Day?
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Frazz, Groundhog's Day, Jef Mallet, Tom Bodette, comic strips, comics, humor | 26 responses so far
Another Josh Feb 3rd 2010 at 09:52 am 1
And do you celebrate Tom Bodett day by leaving the lights on for other people?
The Bad Seed Feb 3rd 2010 at 09:55 am 2
I was hoping that Tom Bodett’s birthday maybe was February 2, but it’s February 23. I guess they’re just commmenting that the founder of Motel 6 is every bit as worthy of a holiday as a groundhog or cupid - and particularly as tied to commercialism as Valentine’s Day. But yeah, every holiday is pretty-much made up, and most of them get commercialized eventually (at least for sales).
The Bad Seed Feb 3rd 2010 at 09:55 am 3
Josh - Awesome!
John Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:00 am 4
The Bad Seed - Tom Bodett is not the founder of Motel 6, he’s their spokesman.
Fnord Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:04 am 5
Yes, they’re saying Groundhog Day is made up. Just like Valentine’s Day, which was created by the greeting card companies as an excuse to sell cards and chocolate.
S.P. Charles Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:07 am 6
Um… Josh, you do realize that was the point of the headline, right?
Kevin Madden Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:42 am 7
Greeting card companies commercialized Valentine’s Day but they did not create it.
fuzzmaster Feb 3rd 2010 at 11:08 am 8
Candy companies did create Sweetest Day, on the other hand.
Dave Van Domelen Feb 3rd 2010 at 11:32 am 9
Tom Bodett is verifiably real. ISTR there’s some dispute over whether Saint Valentine did the things attributed to him, or even really existed.
paperboy Feb 3rd 2010 at 01:13 pm 10
A reference to Kwanza?
Soup Dragon Feb 3rd 2010 at 01:49 pm 11
I found this strip funny! In my corner of the world, Valentines day and, say, Halloween are non-traditional holidays, basically imported by the greeting card and candy industry (among others), while Christmas and Easter and a few others are older than consumerism and capitalism. Groundhog day has not yet appeared here, but I guess it will as soon as somebody finds a way to make money from it.
Jesse Feb 3rd 2010 at 03:54 pm 12
I don’t think this is a CIDU, its just another smug, dismissive “non-joke” where the characters laugh at how stupid everyone is…its pretty much par for the course when it comes to Frazz.
Jeff S. Feb 3rd 2010 at 04:52 pm 13
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Happy Groundhog’s Day greeting card. I HAVE seen several Tom Bodett cards though. They all say the same thing… Checkout time is 2:00 PM.
Mark in Boston Feb 3rd 2010 at 06:18 pm 14
So if Tom Bodett sees his shadow on Valentine’s Day it means he left the light on for you?
Minky Feb 3rd 2010 at 08:03 pm 15
@Jesse–I completely agree on with you on the humor in “Frazz”. I just want to see Caufield get stuffed into a locker somewhere. And I was even a smart kid. (But then again, I think all kids are “gifted” nowadays.) He’s awfully young to be such a smug little schmuck.
Lord knows the artist is sitting around absolutely burning with self-pride, thinking he’s God’s gift to mankind because he knows Great Literature and Five-Dollar Words.
paperboy Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:02 pm 16
Minky #15, Jesse #12- I agree. “smug little schmuck” hits it on the nose.
George P Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:59 pm 17
Groundhog Day may be made up, but its roots aren’t purely commercial like Mother’s Day, and it isn’t a real holiday that mostly unrelated commercialism has overwhelmed, like St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo, and it isn’t an example of one religion taking over another’s holidays to gain converts, like Halloween and Christmas.
Groundhog Day goes back almost two hundred years, it’s American, it isn’t heavily commercialized, and it’s silly fun.
Now that I think about it, Groundhog Day may be the best holiday of the year.
Jesse Feb 3rd 2010 at 11:45 pm 18
Minky and Paperboy, I love you guys. I actually was afraid I was too harsh and came back to apologize in case I offended someone. I don’t comment here too often, so I try to stay on my best behavior hehe. Glad to see you guys agree!
Powers Feb 4th 2010 at 07:09 am 19
Groundhog Day isn’t purely American. Sure, they don’t have groundhogs in Europe, so the name is ours, but the concept of an animal being able to predict the weather by his behavior on Candlemas Day (Feb. 2) is much older than the United States of America.
Powers Feb 4th 2010 at 07:12 am 20
And yes, the artist’s notion that it’s somehow hilarious to knock a guy for not recognizing a newly-minted holiday at the same time he celebrates other holidays with centuries of tradition behind them is absurd. St. Valentine’s Day is far, far less “made up” than Mother’s Day or Flag Day or Labor Day, but if the point is just “all holidays are made up”, well, so what?
George P Feb 4th 2010 at 09:13 am 21
The tradition of an animal being able to predict the weather on the day is a European tradition, but it was Americans (former Germans, and in Pennsylvania) that turned it into a community celebration. With groundhogs.
Ray Brady Feb 4th 2010 at 08:59 pm 22
St. Valentine’s Day has been affiliated as a lover’s holiday since at least the 14th century. Chaucer makes reference to it.
JrzyGirl Feb 5th 2010 at 03:34 pm 23
“Hedgehog Day” dates to ~700BC in Europe. Early American settlers chose the groundhog as a substitute.
Jess D Feb 5th 2010 at 10:15 pm 24
“Groundhog Day may be made up, but its roots aren’t purely commercial like Mother’s Day, and it isn’t a real holiday that mostly unrelated commercialism has overwhelmed, like St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo, and it isn’t an example of one religion taking over another’s holidays to gain converts, like Halloween and Christmas.” - George P
That’s actually not true. The old Celtic holiday of Oimelc/Imbolc got turned into the Christian holiday of Candlemas in order to gain converts, and that eventually became the secular Groundhog’s Day in America. So it’s basically the same thing as Halloween, Christmas, Easter, May Day…
WEIRDNESS May 24th 2010 at 01:00 am 25
THERE ARE 100′S OF MADE UP HOLIDAYS, BUT ST VALENTINE’S DAY IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
CAULFIELD ISN’T “BRILLANT AND BORED” HE’S LAZY. HE WON’T DO HIS HOMEWORK
HE WON’T DO SCHOOL WORK AND HE WON’T TAKE TESTS. WHAT HE DOES DO IS READ NON SCHOOL BOOKS TO GET OUT OF CHORES. THIS ANTI-SOCIAL KID NEEDS
TO BE HOME SCHOOLED.
Elly May 24th 2011 at 08:41 am 26
I’m not sure whether Tom Bodett Day is a good idea or a bad idea.