Tapas
Cidu Bill on May 10th 2010
Does Arlo think Janis is saying “topless bar”? And if so, did they really disappear after the 1970s? And when was the last time Arlo had his hearing checked, because even Crankshaft wouldn’t make this mistake.
Although, I guess, people tend to hear what they want to hear.
If this is what’s going on, we’ve got synchronicity with today’s very NSFW Something Positive.
Filed in Arlo and Janis, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Crankshaft, Jimmy Johnson, Randy Milholland, Something Positive, comic strips, comics, humor, synchronicity | 39 responses so far
Chuck May 10th 2010 at 05:08 pm 1
I guess he’s never been to El Monte or City of Industry.
Kamino Neko May 10th 2010 at 05:13 pm 2
I think he’s deliberately mishearing, since he WANTS Janis to want to head to a topless bar.
Kamino Neko May 10th 2010 at 05:15 pm 3
(Alternately, he’s deliberately mishearing as a joke.)
Igelino May 10th 2010 at 05:19 pm 4
When I saw this, it took a while, but had to think he understood “topless” too.
I heard about topless bars in the 70’s, but never visited one. In the eighties, I knew of two, but both buildings looked like they hadn’t been maintained for over 10 years. I kind of assumed the employees would be the same. Didn’t “clubs” with table dancers start appearing in the eighties?
buzz May 10th 2010 at 05:31 pm 5
I think Arlo would like Janis to believe his first hand knowledge of topless bars ended back in the 1970s just before he met her. And if she was indeed the least bit interested he would have his iPhone out in a nanosecond doing a Google search for everyone in a 50 mile radius.
Tim May 10th 2010 at 05:59 pm 6
I knew three things when I saw this.
1. This deserved an Arlo
2. I would need somebody to explain what Arlo thought he heard.
3. It would already be posted here within minutes.
Other Nicole May 10th 2010 at 07:06 pm 7
Perhaps Tatas Bar?
MellowCake May 10th 2010 at 07:38 pm 8
A good percentage of people will hear “topless” bar when you say “tapas” bar - at least from my experience living in Virginia a few years ago when one opened in Charlottesville - and recently in Stratford, Ontario - and these are both pretty sophisticated small cities.
Jeff S. May 10th 2010 at 07:41 pm 9
How sad is this… I got the joke, been to a topless bar, but never heard of a tapas bar.
Marie May 10th 2010 at 08:42 pm 10
I giggled when I saw this comic, because my in-laws made the same mistake once. They were in town and asking about places to eat. I started listing options they might be interested in, and mentioned that there was a tapas bar down the street and that they were supposed to have good food. A stunned silence followed, then my MIL commenting to my FIL that she had never heard of going to *eat* at such an establishment. I quickly figured out their confusion and between giggles clarified that I was talking about a TAPAS bar and not a topless bar. I found it very funny, but I think they were more flummoxed. No, they really had never heard of a tapas bar. They are from Muncie, Indiana.
pepperjackcandy May 10th 2010 at 09:09 pm 11
Chuck #1: I guess he’s never been to El Monte or City of Industry.
Or the entire state of Texas.
Though IME they’re either called “gentleman’s clubs” or “titty bars” here. Can’t see how either of those sounds like “tapas.”
NitricAcid May 10th 2010 at 09:20 pm 12
Regarding the Something Positive one, I really have to wonder if the term involving weasels is actually a phrase with some meaning, or just a horrific image that would suit Davan.
furrykef May 10th 2010 at 09:34 pm 13
Heh, y’know, if people pronounced it as in Spanish — and did so properly — I don’t think it’d sound so much like “topless”. (The key is that the second vowel shouldn’t be a schwa; it should sound like the first. Also, the “a” in Spanish isn’t quite the same vowel as in “top”, and to me actually sounds like halfway between “top” and “tap”… meaning it could be pronounced like “tap ass bar”…)
Dave in Boston May 10th 2010 at 11:06 pm 14
furrykef: Apparently I do in my head. The strip made no sense at all to me when I saw it this morning and I figured I’d find it here…
rumplestiltskin May 10th 2010 at 11:21 pm 15
Okay. Totally did not understand this one. Now I do. But now I have no idea how “furrykef” pronounces “tapas” since the California pronunciation lends itself to the topless joke and fk just confused things. whatever …
David B May 10th 2010 at 11:36 pm 16
It only really works if tapas was pronounced [’tɑp.ǝs] (using the International Phonetic Alphabet; maybe with the medial [p] being produced as ambisyllabic). This is one possible anglicization of the word, and it’s the one i know from growing up, but i suspect that in most of North America you’re more likely to get [’tæp.ǝs] or [’tep.ǝs], neither of which is as easily confused with topless [’tɑp.lǝs] or [’tɑp.lɛs].
Sorry—i’m a linguist. Questions of pronunciation and mishearing things come up, the nerd hat gets very firmly affixed.
Cidu Bill May 10th 2010 at 11:48 pm 17
David, who better than a linguistic nerd to explain something like this? Isn’t it odd how the Internet has trained people to devalue actual knowledge?
Ted May 11th 2010 at 12:58 am 18
I don’t know if this is as deep as he meant to go, but the phenomena of the fancypants topless bar is a recent development. Prior to then, a topless bar was on the edge of town, dark dingy, dirty, and of questionable employees. Take a look at the history of Calumet City, IL and Times Square.
L. Hollyfeld May 11th 2010 at 01:21 am 19
I remember being shocked when a friend of mine went on and on about a great topless bar he had recently been to … and then realizing five minutes later that he said “tapas.” So yeah, this mishearing definitely happens.
LowBill May 11th 2010 at 02:10 am 20
When I read this, my first thought wasn’t topless bars but Moss from “IT Crowd” saying it should be pronounced “tay-paaz.” The idea that Arlo heard “topless” never occurred to me.
furrykef May 11th 2010 at 03:15 am 21
rumplestiltskin — how can you have no idea how I pronounce “tapas” when I just went into detail about how I pronounce it?
Chuck May 11th 2010 at 05:12 am 22
rumplestiltskin, Californian? There are so many Hispanic people in California that I hear FK’s pronunciation more often than the one that sounds like “topless.”
Actually I say tapas more than most of the people I know. When people talk about travel I say “I want to go to Spain and eat tapas!” I’m sure their tapas are better than our tapas.
Morris Keesan May 11th 2010 at 09:02 am 23
furrykef, the reason people can be unsure of how you pronounce “tapas” is because you described it in terms of other words whose pronunciation varies regionally, instead of using IPA like David B. In many regional dialects (including, apparently, David B’s), the word “top” really has the same sound (to my ear) as the first syllable of “tapas”. My Bostonian accent very strongly distinguishes the ‘o’ in “top” from the broad ‘a’ in words such as “tapas” and “father”, but other region accents pronounce them the same (to my ear).
Compare, for example, the Bostonian pronunciation of “hot dog”, which has the same vowel sound twice (something like “hawt dawg”), to a New York City pronunciation, which sounds to me like “hart dorg” (with the ‘r’s silent, of course).
And even though I studied Spanish in high school, and know how to pronounce “tapas”, I think I’m more used to hearing it pronounced with the first syllable sounding like the word ‘tap’, with a much flatter ‘a’. If I were more of a language nerd I’d write this in IPA.
Mark May 11th 2010 at 09:29 am 24
The first time I heard “tapas bar”, I thought the person had said “topless bar.” Also, when I think of topless bars, I think of places strictly from the ’70’s where it was just girls walking around topless. You really don’t see those anymore, as they’ve been replaced by strip clubs, gentlemen’s clubs, juice bars, etc. where there is more nudity and contact.
George P May 11th 2010 at 09:40 am 25
I pronounced “tapas” more like furrykef, so this comic made no sense to me. I’m also confused by the number of people who say “topless” in a way in which the “l” would not be noticeable if omitted.
The sound quality on this clip is pretty bad, but it sounds a lot more like “tappa” than “toppa”:
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/tapa
Danny Boy (London Derriere) May 11th 2010 at 10:02 am 26
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered the expression “topless bar”. If I had to guess [prior to seeing all your explanations here, I mean], I wouldn’t have supposed it was just the same as what is now “strip club” [or more pretentiously “gentlemen’s club” as has been pointed out]. Rather, I would have guessed its meaning on the model of “topless beach” — so it would be the patrons rather than employed entertainers who would have the option and be encouraged to go bare. Sort of like “wet tee-shirt contest” or “amateur night” but constituting the normal course of things at the topless bar.
Another Josh May 11th 2010 at 10:02 am 27
Perhaps Arlo is thinking of the 70’s fad of Swing Clubs like Plato’s Retreat in New York City. They died out in the early 80’s. Though how he would get to that from Tapas Bar, I have no idea
theironjef May 11th 2010 at 01:42 pm 28
Tap-Ass Bar. He’s thinking of a swinger’s club.
Lydia May 11th 2010 at 02:22 pm 29
I spent half of last year in Spain with a bunch of fellow immature college students, and I can report that it’s easier than you think to mishear “tapas” as “topless”!
T Grum May 11th 2010 at 04:08 pm 30
I made that same mistake several years ago. I was visiting a friend and he kept going on about this great bar he had been to and we had to visit while I was there. I was surprised when as we we were leaving, his wife came along. I thought to myself, “well, they are a progressive couple.” It wasn’t until we were at the place when I learned what tapas were.
As for eating at a “topless” establishment, I’ve been to one in the San Diego area which gave out free cheeseburgers and chips during lunch time. Come to think of it, that was a fully nude place. Really an odd thing to do, eat a cheeseburger while a naked stripper gyrates five feet away from you.
Tim May 11th 2010 at 04:34 pm 31
For the record, what is a “tapas bar”?
“Topless” I understand. I remember the episode of the Beverly Hillbillies where they opened a topless restaurant; even Granny took off her hat when she was working the counter.
Morris Keesan May 11th 2010 at 04:43 pm 32
Tim, I was starting to write a description of tapas, stopped to look, and Wikipedia says it better than I would:
djembe1 May 11th 2010 at 06:24 pm 33
I forwarded this comic to my better half immediately upon reading it because it is a running joke between us. In the Chicago area, the two words are usually pronounced quite similarly, and we were introduced to our first, and still favorite tapas bar by our son. Plus, it is located a half-block from the Bible school that he and our daughter-in-law attended. What more can you ask for one of those inside jokes that families often share?
Don May 11th 2010 at 11:40 pm 34
Just the other day my Mother was singing us an old song that went “There’s a pawn shop on the corner in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania”. My daughter and I were both shocked until we realized that she didn’t say “porn shop”.
buzz May 11th 2010 at 11:54 pm 35
@Marie — re Muncie, IN: Unless I’m misremebering, Muncie is where Jim Davis’ art slaves crank out GARFIELD strips & merchandise. Animation writer Mark Evanier once flew out to Muncie to consult with Davis on the GARFIELD cartoon series & while was surprised to hear people mention there was a deli in town. So he went, wondering how it would stack up to those he frequented in NYC & LA. Turned out to be a garden variety small town coffee shop w/a selection of “deli” meats straight from the “deli” bin at the supermarket.
Rainey May 12th 2010 at 02:19 am 36
Don, I had a similar experience ( in reverse ) when I told one of my coworkers that I sold some of my movies and tapes to a pawn shop. This shocked her for I have never even been suspected of being interested in porn.
furrykef May 12th 2010 at 12:58 pm 37
furrykef, the reason people can be unsure of how you pronounce “tapas” is because you described it in terms of other words whose pronunciation varies regionally, instead of using IPA like David B.
And if I used IPA, I bet’cha most people here still wouldn’t know how I pronounce it, because most people don’t know IPA.
(Well, maybe they do in Europe and whatnot, but certainly not here in the U.S…)
mitch4 May 14th 2010 at 10:36 am 38
A different misunderstanding of “topless” is in a panel cartoon called “Natural Selection”, yesterday’s edition:
http://comics.com/natural_selection/2010-05-13/
[Fran]cisco May 16th 2010 at 09:28 pm 39
One day I mentioned, over lunch at work, that my wife and I had been to tapas bar the preceding Saturday evening. One member of the group was clearly startled and blurted out “Why would you do that?” It took us a moment to figure out what he thought he had heard.
Of course, as I’m sure some on this site would know, there are good answers to his question; I’m sure they would cause said colleague to blush! But such answers would be mentioned in a thread about a different comic strip episode. Though quite possibly a thread here and about an A&J strip.