If someone put the idea into Selkie’s head to pick Tommy the Truck’s punishment… oh the things she would think up.
Selkie isn't really using "kransa bi cholek" correctly. I intend to define it specifically at a later point, but here's a hint. "Kransa" means "teeth".
Awesome it looks like Selkie still knows some of her original language. Also I think Tommy is in for a little lecture when he gets home on keeping his mouth shut
And of course she learned the profanity first.
As does any toddler in earshot of an adult who swears and doesn’t think the kid heard XD
And it starts. Truck doesn’t understand in the least that in this case he really IS the “bad guy.” So much depends on how his parents handle him from here.
How in the kransa bi cholek is he a good guy when secret cursing in a rare language is bad, that’s about 50% of the reason a kid remains fluent in certain languages.
Something about eel teeth?
Probably not; Han Shi Jian Tho is the Father Of All Eels, and no word in his name sounds like “bi” or “cholek”.
Unless sarnothi language is even more complex than I thought.
I don’t know. A “horse” is a male horse. A “stallion” is a male horse. A “stud” is a male horse. Three different words for the same thing. Or, if you prefer, a car, an automobile, a motorcar, a rod, a short, a ride. Does that mean English is an extremely complex language? Unless your language is about the level of in “Caveman” – “Atuk aloonda Lana” – there will be more than one word for many things. That’s why they make Thesauri.
“Haraka!” “No…fire.”
“…aloonda?” “love”
“zugzug!” “… … …all right…zugzug.”
Good point; I should have thought of that. *headdesks repeatedly*
Well “cholek” isn’t capitalised so it’s not a name or proper noun.
I may be reading this too deep but a google search for the word cholek brought me to a jewish website where the word cholek is used in the phrase “ha’cholek al Rabbo” one who argues with the Rabbi… Like I said, may be reading in to this too much but it would be funny if Selkie was saying “how in the teeth of argument ares you nots the bad guys?”
A good point, but undercut somewhat by the fact that English IS an extremely complex language. Though honestly it’s mostly our exceptions that make it complex, not the breadth of the vocabulary.
Oh how I wish I could take Truck aside.
Tommy, there’s one thing you need to understand; you’ve been trying to rule by the fist. You bully people adult and child both. If they don’t give you what you want you threaten them and then physically attack them, possibly killing them or you destroy their livelihood. You are the bad guy here, you are a monster and a tyrant without the skills to guarantee victory in the long run. Machiavelli one said that if you can’t be both feared and loved you should pick fear yes, but he also said in the same breath that what you must avoid is to be hated. This whole mess with the bull you get the horns doesn’t breed fear, it doesn’t breed love, it doesn’t breed respect. It breeds hate, and those that rule with hate get killed by the people they treat so harshly.
Learn from this, learn that even the so called weak can take you down. But don’t become vindictive, become balanced. You have the confidence, now temper it, because little one, giants that act like giants get a mob with torches and pitchforks in their future.
Oh it’s true. I was the smallest in my school, but also probably the most vicious, since I had to be when I was bullied. People only ever physically bullied me once.
“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me.”
Still, I am VERY glad that Todd recognizes that Truck needs help more than he needs punishment. He is likely a far better man that I could want to be.
See, I was the opposite. I was always the biggest and the strongest growing up. I was always afraid I’d hurt someone so I was meek and quiet. Of course, when I did get mad there was a trail of bodies, but I only did that twice and people got the message.
I love how even Tommy’s dad is all “…you’re kidding me, right? You seriously think you’re NOT the bad guy?” This will take some effort to get this spoiled kid straightened up. I do slightly hope he’ll get better. For his own sake in the future.
The problem is that the father isn’t acknowledging that he’s also the bad guy, and his son’s behavior is at least partly due to his influence.
But the father might be forced to acknowledge his responsibility depending on what information the police officer is discovering and how he wants to proceed…
Speaking of the police officer: He is in the next room, just near enough to hear any raised voices or sounds of an violent act. If he has to come back out of the Principal’s office to deal with this. . .
I thought he WAS leaving the principal’s office to contact the District and DCFS… which means he may be just across the room from all this.
Maybe it means ‘toothache’. For any species, but especially a carnivore, toothaches are serious business.
Or possibly it means ‘tooth of …’ something. Pike’s teeth? Pike are scary, scary fish.
If it’s being used incorrectly, I’m guessing something like, “bite in your rear”
But “skin of my teeth” works ok… Too many possibilities.
And THIS is why Todd’s such a good guy – even a good dad. His thought is still on the well being of the kid – even the bully. To be able to take that road is very difficult, and it’s interesting that it’s Todd who sees it, Trunchbull. Don’t just beat his ass – teach him why what he did would have deserved the ass beating…
And I love secret swearing. Look up “doom on you”. Thank you, Richard Marcinko.
I agree with you with all my hearts.
Seriously. And emphasizing he needs help (probably of the professional kind) rather than punishment is particularly good.
You go, Todd.
He would not be sitting down for awhile, not going anywhere for quite a long time and all electronics would be cut off
Dave, if it’s okay, I’d like to offer a little anatomy help. In panel six, I can’t tell if Tommy is leaning forward or just has his shoulders back. I think this is because of the upward curve defining his left arm and back. If he’s leaning forward, both arms should have that curve; if his shoulders are back, that curve should be straighter. I’ve had this problem with my art too.
Looks to me like his shoulders are raised – the instinctive mammalian attack posture. It’s called “bowing up”. Makes you look bigger, and therefore more intimidating to your enemy. His fists are clenched. I would not be surprised if he has goose-bumps, which is the body raising the hair follicles to make the hair stand out, again to make you look larger. His fists are clenched. I think he’s about to attack Selkie. Again.
And if that happens, game over. Tommy does not get the grand prize, he doesn’t get the year supply of turtle wax, he doesn’t even get a crappy copy of the home game. He just gets juvvy.
If Tommy is dumb enough to attack Selkie and/or Todd, with his father right next to him and the cop in the next, “game over” is an understatement.
He might if he perceives his father taking “her” side in this. Tommy is the only one in that group right now who doesn’t understand that his actions have been indefensible.
I got to love Todd here for taking the high road.
Secret cussing is the best kind! I call people klingon insults all the time.
You’d be surprised the secret insults you can get on people with English itself. There’s a lot of words out there that people don’t understand, sound nice, but are incredibly insulting in a language they think they know like the back of their hand.
Mad Magazine once did the opposite: A politician vilifying his opponent with nothing but good, truthful words that sounded bad to the uneducated: “My opponent is a known philanthropist!”
IIRC , his sister was a thespian.
I’m glad Todd is taking the high road. It leaves the Professor room to do the right thing with a small amount, not too much just a small amount, of pride intact.
I am actually interested in hearing what Truck has to say to rationalize his behavior.
Well he did get kicked in the nuts. To some people, in any conflict they are involved in, they must get revenge for whatever offense the other party is guilty of. It doesn’t matter how much suffering they caused to others in service of getting what they want, or how much of their own suffering is actually their own fault, they must get revenge for what the other person did to restore balance to the universe.
Truck is eight. It doesn’t matter to him that she was defending herself from him. It matters to him that he was kicked in the nuts.
Sorry, didn’t mean to imply that eight year olds are incapable of realizing their own culpability. Just that lack of culpability is a sign of immaturity at any age, and he’s at the age where many are just starting to learn what that is.
I’m gonna start saying “how in kransa bi cholek” whenever I’m feeling exasperated.
I love how reasonable Todd is. And I like how the characters in this comic tend to really act like people with most of them doing their best to be sensible most of the time.
Can’t even remember how I stumbled across this comic but I managed to clear the archives in a few days and am now happily spamming refresh. 😀
Nice story, think I’ll follow along …
Hahaha, hilarious how both Todd and Tom raise one eyebrow as to say “Really? You wanna go there?”