Comics I Don’t Understand

Give me a ring if you figure this one out

Cidu Bill on Mar 16th 2010

Filed in Bill Bickel, Brevity, CIDU, Guy & Rodd, comic strips, comics, humor | 27 responses so far

27 Responses to “Give me a ring if you figure this one out”

Charlene Mar 16th 2010 at 01:01 am 1

Don’t most people shake with their right hands?
Skaloop Mar 16th 2010 at 01:07 am 2

Well, the high-status, snobby, popular rings of importance want nothing to do with the lame cheap-o ring. It would be like “Hi cheerleader, Hi quarterback.” “Shut up, nerd.”

And I figure left hands because that’s where the wedding ring is.
Marshal Mar 16th 2010 at 01:10 am 3

Only thing I can think of is the class ring is being a snob.

.
rain Mar 16th 2010 at 01:47 am 4

Maybe they’re shaking left hands because one of them is BobDole…though BobDole always shook the other person’s right hand with his left, so unless he’s shaking hands with BobDole from the ST mirrorverse, it’s just another attempt by Guy & Rodd to get into CIDU.
Gilgamesh Mar 16th 2010 at 01:59 am 5

The print represents the nightmares suffered by Teabaggers when they think too much about the Washington Elite.

The teenage children of Teabaggers have it much better. Their dreams are of giant genitals.
paperboy Mar 16th 2010 at 02:09 am 6

The print represents the nightmares suffered by Liberals when they think too much about the Washington Elite.

The teenage children of Liberals have it much better. Their dreams are of giant genitals.
mkilby Mar 16th 2010 at 02:16 am 7

I noticed that they had the same “handedness” (thus two separate people), but I missed that they were both “lefties” until I read Charlene’s comment (1). My theory is that the artist is right-handed, so he was using that hand to sketch, which made the remaining (left) hand the model.

P.S. to Keera: In contrast to Angloamericans (and the French), most Germans wear their wedding rings on the right hand. What’s the custom in Norway?
Pete Mar 16th 2010 at 04:16 am 8

Two former classmates meeting at the class reunion. One wears a fake wedding ring so she won’t seem like a loser. But the real wedding ring sees straight through the sham.
DemetriosX Mar 16th 2010 at 05:37 am 9

mkilby @7, that’s not quite correct. Most Catholic Germans wear their wedding rings on the right, while most Protestants wear it on the left. Some members of both groups may switch if the area they live in is predominantly of the other religion.
Tom T. Mar 16th 2010 at 06:22 am 10

Maybe the cartoonists inadvertently flipped the image before adding the dialogue.
Dyfsunctional Mar 16th 2010 at 07:10 am 11

Or failed to.
mkilby Mar 16th 2010 at 07:39 am 12

@ DemetriosX (9) - I won’t say that there aren’t any Germans who wear it on the left, but speaking from personal experience (and living in the north), the custom of wearing it on the right is strongly predominant for most of Germany. There was a episode of Karambolage (on the French/German “arte” network) along this line (although it did say that there were some differences of opinion, especially as to the respective origins of the custom). And while I would not refer to Wikipedia as an “authority”, there is confirmation there as well: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehering#Ehering, which indicates that the “right-hand” custom also applies to Austria and Norway, among other places (now I’m even more interested as to whether Keera can confirm any of this this).

Personally, I don’t feel constrained by either tradition: My own ring fits on either hand equally well, and I switch it around at random intervals (with an occasional comment about feeling more “German” or more “American” ).
Judge Mental Mar 16th 2010 at 09:33 am 13

Even though people usually shake hands with their right hand, most people wear wedding rings on their left hand (at least in the US). So the artist was going to be “wrong” no matter what.

As far as the joke, I was wondering, does it have anything to do with the fact that class ring has been “displaced”? I.e., class ring used to be on the ring finger, but has since been relegated to pinky, hence his bad attitude.
Morris Keesan Mar 16th 2010 at 09:35 am 14

The class ring is engaging in “classism”.

[Does anyone actually wear a class ring on their left pinky, or is it just drawn that way for the same reason they’re shaking with their left hands, to make the graphic awkwardly fit the punchline?]
Derek Mar 16th 2010 at 09:57 am 15

This is the same comic strip that had the talking bread a few days ago. Maybe the artist just thinks it’s funny when inanimate objects talk. It isn’t.
Bob Mar 16th 2010 at 10:34 am 16

Morris - Class ring on the pinky usually happens in later life after gaining (mumble, mumble) pounds and it no longer fits on the ring finger.
Mark Dalrymple Mar 16th 2010 at 11:15 am 17

Back in the day we made rings out of the foil inner liner of chewing gum sticks.

Now why someone would be wearing one of those today, I dunno.
Keera Mar 16th 2010 at 12:59 pm 18

mkilby #7, I have always assumed that all Europeans their wedding ring on the right ring finger since Norwegians do, too. But http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_finger tells me that it varies from country to country, also in Europe.

In Norway, the custom is to wear the gold bands as engagement rings (for both parties), take them off for the wedding ceremony and put them back on - always on the right ring finger. Any ring on the right ring finger means, “I’m taken” but not necessarily married. The American custom of giving the woman a diamond ring as an engagement ring is very new here but slowly making inroads.
pirk Mar 16th 2010 at 02:30 pm 19

I somehow got the idea that a wedding ring on the right hand meant divorced
pancho Mar 16th 2010 at 05:56 pm 20

Boy scouts shake left hands, so perhaps these are two boy scouts shaking hands.
Jessica Mar 16th 2010 at 06:13 pm 21

Yeah, Bill should consider just giving Brevity a daily spot on CIDU.
Cidu Bill Mar 16th 2010 at 06:29 pm 22

Jessica, you might want to check back tomorrow morning.
Jessica Mar 16th 2010 at 09:52 pm 23

Oh, I will. I swear, almost every time I read that comic, I think to myself that I’m going to see it here within a day or two. But every once in a while they do something really funny, and that keeps me reading through all the CWDUs (comics WE don’t understand).
bAT L. Mar 17th 2010 at 01:27 am 24

I read this one as an insult. Not that the other ring is actually made of foil, but that calling a fellow ring (not fellowship) “tin foil” would be like calling a thin guy “lamp post” or the like.
chuckers Mar 17th 2010 at 06:34 am 25

“I somehow got the idea that a wedding ring on the right hand meant divorced”

I was told that it meant the spouse was deceased but still remembered.
Gilgamesh Mar 17th 2010 at 04:41 pm 26

@Paperboy (6)

Zing; got me!

Are you still my gay lover? I miss you.
paperboy Mar 17th 2010 at 05:40 pm 27

Gilgamesh#26- You got yourself. Just wanted you to see how stupid it read with either “side”. What it had to do with the comic, I can’t figure out. Do you even remember posting it? Did you mean to post another forum and got confused?