Interestingly enough, the inside of our mouths is actually more heat resistant than the skin on our hands. So putting it in her mouth might actually be the smarter move here.
Oh God, that still happens to me occasionally. Eating something too hot, but not wanting to spit it out – so you just end up rolling the food around in your mouth to hopefully cool it somewhat. :/
Is it just me, or does she look human in that last frame?
Her eyes look both smaller and rounder, the puffed out cheeks make the mouth look narrower, and the nose slits look slightly curved inward. Makes her appear to have a little button nose.
I’m sure that will change with color. The yellow irises will make the pupils’ elongation more obvious. The blue skin (I’s not blue, I’s periwinkle. It’s prettier) will also aid her non-human appearance.
Third frame. That should either be, “Ah, but”, or , “Uh, but”, depending on whether she’s being profound (ahhh, but you are wrong, Grasshopper) or looking for an excuse (uhh, but Sally does it).
If asking Grandma if she was full of crap (OH NO! Nasty word!) got Young Todd a weekend of shoveling horse poop on his uncle’s farm, shouldn’t she have gotten upset about Selkie saying lemons are crap?
Or has she decided, over the past 16 or 17 years, that “crap” is not a dirty word?
If I recall correctly, it was Selkie that asked, but in Todd’s flashback he yelled it at her (‘You’re full of crap, lady!’), and he might also have used a less polite word. Screaming curses at your mom is a lot different from using mild curses to express grossness.
My grandma had extremely different rules for me vs the rules she had for my dad when he was a kid. Granted Dad grew up in the 50s and 60s on various military bases and I was a 90s kid who never moved ’till I went to college so rules weren’t quite as important but I could get away with just a good natured shake of the head for stuff he would have been spanked for. Grandparents and grandkids have a special bond.
Also, punishing someone else’s kid is generally frowned upon, at least in my experience. Mari and Theo give good advice but they seem to leave the actual parenting to Todd and Andi
That actually reminds me of a situation in my family. The grandkids (my youngest cousins) were running around in the house, and at one point went into my grandparent’s room. When I was a kid, that was a Do Not Enter Unless Invited room. Their mom started to get up to scold them, but Nana stood up and said “No, let me, it’s time to establish GRANDMA’S RULES!”
For some reason, Grandma’s rules hold more power than Parent’s rules.
Yep. And then there’s that unpleasant feeling of the blister on the roof of your mouth and/or the sliver of detached gum skin on the side of your mouth. Ew…
oh selkie, trust me we´ve ALL been there….try chewing with your mouth slightly open (not tooo much else it gets gross) to let out some steam and suck in some cold air. its the only thing that helps fast, and unlike chugging water, doesn´t take away the deliscious taste that tempted you to act so rash/foolish in the first place.
also: webbing is natures spoon? o sense a future classic punch line here….not to mention a handy excuse for repeat performances. but seriously, with those hands she can really shovel the good stuff…..the others should be grateful she´s not into popcorn or they´d never get a crumb again with her around.
Somebody needs to start popping that girl’s hands.
Eight years old and doesn’t use silverware.
Every time they show her eating, she’s using her hands. Heck, even at the sit-down dinner with her dad’s boss, with everyone else at the table using silverware, she’s eating steak with her fingers.
I think they mean “hit lightly on the back of the hand when they grab something they’re not supposed to grab.” It’s a light form of corporal punishment, generally useful when words have been insufficient and you need a little trained aversion response.
One of the things about raising kids up into adults is showing them polite ways to do things, in a given society. There are certainly some finger foods, and sandwiches and such, but in general it’s not polite to eat with your hands.
Now, your argument about Selkie being non-human might be reasonable… if they were free to go “Hey, she’s from an entirely different species, don’t judge her.” They are NOT. For all intents and purposes, Selkie is “human” while among people other than her family. Therefore they need to train her in human politeness.
It may be a bit like training an ogre to use a spoon, but I’d wager it’ll be a bit easier.
Not hitting hard enough to hurt- I know exactly what the person above is talking about, it’s no worse than being flicked. If it actually HURTS, then you’re doing it way too hard. My mother used to do it to me when she was cooking, if I was trying to get at the knives she was using to cut things. Yes, explaining USUALLY helps, but not always.
I don’t know Lady Obvious, there were some kids in the store last night I wanted to smack them to make them stop riding the Skateboards down the aisles. Of course in this case they were college age kids and should know better. Selkie is young enough this kind of impulsive behavior is understandable. Should be corrected but understandable. Those kids, no excuse.
I would agree that hurting her is wrong, she’s a small child that’s just doing what her instincts are telling her. I have a better way to stop her anyway, turn the whole thing into a game.
There is a huge difference between “smacking” someone and lightly tapping them on the hands. Parents do it all the time and it is not violent at all. Its a physical reminder to associate in the mind the action the child is doing with it not being ok. Its not a painful thing, any more than patting someone on the head is painful.
Every single time I make hot chocolate in my thermos, I forget how good of a thermos it is. I literally have to leave the lid off for about five minutes before the top of it is safe to drink. And every single time, I forget. Every. Single. Time!
Selkie isn’t Amanda. Selkie is hungry/excited for a food she likes. And she’s obviously already learned why we use forks. Can we please not compare the two girls because they’re vastly different from each other.
Selkie and Amanda are more similar than most people realize. They’re both stubborn and hate admitting they’re wrong and they both have pretty explosive tempers. Not to mention they’re both very clever and sly. They both share similar insecurities as well. The main difference is Amanda chooses to express her longing for friendship, stability and acceptance in the form of fear and has built a huge wall around herself, whereas Selkie has more biting sarcasm, but genuinely wants to treat her friends with care because she’s afraid people won’t accept her for being different and doesn’t want to push them away even further than her outward appearance already may cause.
Agree with Lady O, they may both be stubborn and sometimes have a temper, but Selkie doesn’t lash out with hers, she doesn’t do physical harm, even when being harmed herself. Selkie could very easily deffend herself with her claws, teeth and venomous spit but doesn’t. Amanda actively torments both physically and mentally. They are worlds apart in their response to such situations.
Also you’ll notice Amanda’s attitude is a blatant I’ll do whatever I want whenever I want. Selkies is far less blatant and belligerent. She’s like “no no, its ok I’m good” and she’s trying to offer justification for her behavior “I gots webs. Webs is natures spoons” as opposed to Amanda who simply does what she wants, no explanation or justification necessary.
Selkie will have to learn at some point, that while she is a Sarnothi and can have pride in her culture and customs—she lives in the “human world” now and she needs to learn to play by their rules.
She can still handle her OWN food bare-handed, but it might make other people uncomfortable if she handles food that was meant to be shared with EVERYONE without utensils!
If Selkie can write using standard implements–and we HAVE seen her use pens/pencils to write before –she should be able to learn how to eat using tools as well (the grips for spoons and forks aren’t THAT much different than the way you hold a pen)
It’s different when eating casually (just with family and friends) vs eating formally (at a restaurant or with strangers or with people you’re trying to impress) but it’s important to be able to know how to dine with grace should the occasion arise.
To be fair, in some (human) cultures, they still eat using their hands to this day. But if they go visit another place with differing rules, they have to respect the etiquette that the host follows and act accordingly.
Yes, that’s the other thing: One of the reasons modern civilized societies got rid of a ton of diseases (or brought them down to manageable levels) is that we mastered hygiene, and spread that idea out to enough people that we’ve got a level of herd immunity through acts such as washing your hands and using toilets instead of alleyways.
That is why it is really difficult for me to deal with my nephew, who insists that he doesn’t need to wash his hands after going to the bathroom (and if he knows I’m listening, apparently PRETENDS to wash them by turning the water on for a bit then turning it off), and is incredibly resistant to the idea of regular showers.
Plus, his whole family has mouth herpes — and when I saw the mom kissing her kids on the mouth all the time, I thought many things, and none of them good. So we’re extra careful about not sharing food germs with my nephew.
For this, I would turn it into a game for her. Stand there and make it sound like some kind of hunt for meatballs, but she has to use the right weapon to make sure they don’t get away and hand her a long fork or a skewer. She’ll know the truth, it’s kind of obvious, but she would still have a lot of fun and it would teach her common courtesy and food hygiene.
Oh for crying out loud. She’s a kid who got excited and already just learned why eating with your hands is a bad idea. She’s already got it. Selkie’s a smart kid and will request a fork for the next ones.
Is it just me or do people not realize that kids can learn without either hitting or thinking Selkie’s unaccustomed to human things. -__- She knows this,yes. Do kids do dumb things when they’re excited for something they like? YES. And has Selkie learned from this? YES. There’s no more teaching needed. All she needs to do now is wash her hands and use a fork.
Some human kids are unaccustomed to human things in real life. 😛 And some people you just gotta explain it to them. I suggested a game she she doesn’t think people are picking on her which some children do think when they get corrected.
Let us take a brief moment to consider the webbing makes it very difficult to hold a fork. Remember how Pohl said he removed his webbing to have more dexterity over his fingers and make things easier to hold?
Manners aside (Grabbing out of a pot that everyone will be eating from is incredibly rude and dirty.) I think her eating with her hands is just something natural for her. It’s like asking someone who’s never used chopsticks before to suddenly use them with perfection.
I think at any rate they should spoon her a bowl of meatballs so she can eat to her heart’s content how she wants if they don’t correct her and she doesn’t squick anyone else out. Plus it will cool quicker for her that way.
I’m pretty sure the reason for removal is just fan conjecture at this point. It was never addressed in comic, and afaik, Dave’s only confirmed Pohl’s webbings were intentionally removed.
I’d be willing to bet she *did* learn better manners at the orphanage. I’d also be willing to bet that during her time with Todd, a few standards perhaps became a trifle relaxed; since one kid cannot begin to create the chaos that dozens can. And I’d further be willing to bet that on this occasion–in direct competition with Amanda for grandparental attention for only the second time (?)–she is in part, probably subconsciously, trying to test exactly where the boundaries are and what can be gotten away with.
And I believe that “Ysh plsh” is sufficient indication that sufficient enlightenment has been achieved.
Sometimes you just have to let them burn their tongues before they learn.
Interestingly enough, the inside of our mouths is actually more heat resistant than the skin on our hands. So putting it in her mouth might actually be the smarter move here.
Aah~ yes the
I’m to hungry to let it cool down” situation… never fails 😀
Been there done that, ow that is hot *reflex pop it into the mouth* open mouth breathing trying to cool off the mouthful.
Oh God, that still happens to me occasionally. Eating something too hot, but not wanting to spit it out – so you just end up rolling the food around in your mouth to hopefully cool it somewhat. :/
*gulp* “I regrets nothings!”
XD Well. You can’t help it when your favorite treat is right in front of you. Even if you do look like a giant goober in the process.
I will consider judging Selkie when I have finally learned how to avoid eating soup while it’s hot enough to burn my tongue.
I’m already 38. Shouldn’t be THAT much longer. …Right?
Let me know if you find that. I’m 61 and haven’t learned yet.
59 here and I burned my tongue just the other night.
I am almost 70 and still make that mistake. Hot soup is so irresistible.
“Would you like some [X] to go with your regret?”
I’m going to have to use that line.
Is it just me, or does she look human in that last frame?
Her eyes look both smaller and rounder, the puffed out cheeks make the mouth look narrower, and the nose slits look slightly curved inward. Makes her appear to have a little button nose.
I’m sure that will change with color. The yellow irises will make the pupils’ elongation more obvious. The blue skin (I’s not blue, I’s periwinkle. It’s prettier) will also aid her non-human appearance.
But right now…
Third frame. That should either be, “Ah, but”, or , “Uh, but”, depending on whether she’s being profound (ahhh, but you are wrong, Grasshopper) or looking for an excuse (uhh, but Sally does it).
But not, “A, but”.
There’s always the British option, “Er…”
Third comment. I’m on a roll. 😀
If asking Grandma if she was full of crap (OH NO! Nasty word!) got Young Todd a weekend of shoveling horse poop on his uncle’s farm, shouldn’t she have gotten upset about Selkie saying lemons are crap?
Or has she decided, over the past 16 or 17 years, that “crap” is not a dirty word?
If I recall correctly, it was Selkie that asked, but in Todd’s flashback he yelled it at her (‘You’re full of crap, lady!’), and he might also have used a less polite word. Screaming curses at your mom is a lot different from using mild curses to express grossness.
Todd isn’t allergic to Mari, so I think that’s the difference.
Huh?
Insulting a person verse insulting a food stuff that makes you feel sick.
My grandma had extremely different rules for me vs the rules she had for my dad when he was a kid. Granted Dad grew up in the 50s and 60s on various military bases and I was a 90s kid who never moved ’till I went to college so rules weren’t quite as important but I could get away with just a good natured shake of the head for stuff he would have been spanked for. Grandparents and grandkids have a special bond.
Also, punishing someone else’s kid is generally frowned upon, at least in my experience. Mari and Theo give good advice but they seem to leave the actual parenting to Todd and Andi
That actually reminds me of a situation in my family. The grandkids (my youngest cousins) were running around in the house, and at one point went into my grandparent’s room. When I was a kid, that was a Do Not Enter Unless Invited room. Their mom started to get up to scold them, but Nana stood up and said “No, let me, it’s time to establish GRANDMA’S RULES!”
For some reason, Grandma’s rules hold more power than Parent’s rules.
Ever take a big bite of pizza only to find the tomato sauce was still too hot?
With me it always seems to be the melted cheese sticking to the roof of my mouth.
Yep. And then there’s that unpleasant feeling of the blister on the roof of your mouth and/or the sliver of detached gum skin on the side of your mouth. Ew…
If Amanda did something like this, pretty sure everyone would be freaking out. Gross.
oh selkie, trust me we´ve ALL been there….try chewing with your mouth slightly open (not tooo much else it gets gross) to let out some steam and suck in some cold air. its the only thing that helps fast, and unlike chugging water, doesn´t take away the deliscious taste that tempted you to act so rash/foolish in the first place.
also: webbing is natures spoon? o sense a future classic punch line here….not to mention a handy excuse for repeat performances. but seriously, with those hands she can really shovel the good stuff…..the others should be grateful she´s not into popcorn or they´d never get a crumb again with her around.
Somebody needs to start popping that girl’s hands.
Eight years old and doesn’t use silverware.
Every time they show her eating, she’s using her hands. Heck, even at the sit-down dinner with her dad’s boss, with everyone else at the table using silverware, she’s eating steak with her fingers.
yeah. It’s almost like that’s how all humans have eaten for thousands of years.
Her hands are balloons now? Why would anyone pop them? Sounds violent and painful!
Also, she’s not human, she behaves somewhat differently than humans. If Todd’s fine with it, then meh, she’s not hurting anyone.
I think they mean “hit lightly on the back of the hand when they grab something they’re not supposed to grab.” It’s a light form of corporal punishment, generally useful when words have been insufficient and you need a little trained aversion response.
One of the things about raising kids up into adults is showing them polite ways to do things, in a given society. There are certainly some finger foods, and sandwiches and such, but in general it’s not polite to eat with your hands.
Now, your argument about Selkie being non-human might be reasonable… if they were free to go “Hey, she’s from an entirely different species, don’t judge her.” They are NOT. For all intents and purposes, Selkie is “human” while among people other than her family. Therefore they need to train her in human politeness.
It may be a bit like training an ogre to use a spoon, but I’d wager it’ll be a bit easier.
Yeah no. That’s unwise. Also telling them no and why they shouldn’t is smarter.
You seriously don’t need to smack a kid to get them to do anything.
Not hitting hard enough to hurt- I know exactly what the person above is talking about, it’s no worse than being flicked. If it actually HURTS, then you’re doing it way too hard. My mother used to do it to me when she was cooking, if I was trying to get at the knives she was using to cut things. Yes, explaining USUALLY helps, but not always.
Still no. Don’t hit kids. -___-
I don’t know Lady Obvious, there were some kids in the store last night I wanted to smack them to make them stop riding the Skateboards down the aisles. Of course in this case they were college age kids and should know better. Selkie is young enough this kind of impulsive behavior is understandable. Should be corrected but understandable. Those kids, no excuse.
Dude. If they’re college age,like twenty,they’re not kids. It’s not okay to smack kids like Selkie. Or older.
Besides,Selkie barely hurt herself here. I don’t understand why smacking her is suddenly the first thought of anyone. That’s not good for kids.
I would agree that hurting her is wrong, she’s a small child that’s just doing what her instincts are telling her. I have a better way to stop her anyway, turn the whole thing into a game.
There is a huge difference between “smacking” someone and lightly tapping them on the hands. Parents do it all the time and it is not violent at all. Its a physical reminder to associate in the mind the action the child is doing with it not being ok. Its not a painful thing, any more than patting someone on the head is painful.
Every single time I make hot chocolate in my thermos, I forget how good of a thermos it is. I literally have to leave the lid off for about five minutes before the top of it is safe to drink. And every single time, I forget. Every. Single. Time!
The same thing happen to me yesterday with some bean and cheese taquitos burn my tongue slightly.
“I do what I want.”
((sounds familiar?))
This shows that BOTH of Todd’s daughter’s need to be taught mental/social discipline at some point.
It’s a process. Most people call it ‘growing up’. I don’t know of any 8-year-olds that have mastered it.
Selkie isn’t Amanda. Selkie is hungry/excited for a food she likes. And she’s obviously already learned why we use forks. Can we please not compare the two girls because they’re vastly different from each other.
Selkie and Amanda are more similar than most people realize. They’re both stubborn and hate admitting they’re wrong and they both have pretty explosive tempers. Not to mention they’re both very clever and sly. They both share similar insecurities as well. The main difference is Amanda chooses to express her longing for friendship, stability and acceptance in the form of fear and has built a huge wall around herself, whereas Selkie has more biting sarcasm, but genuinely wants to treat her friends with care because she’s afraid people won’t accept her for being different and doesn’t want to push them away even further than her outward appearance already may cause.
Not really. Amanda’s an abused bully who literally treats Selkie like a second class citizen.
Selkie may have trouble with her temper. But not to the degree that Amanda does. She’s not the same as Amanda. She’s not like her bully.
Agree with Lady O, they may both be stubborn and sometimes have a temper, but Selkie doesn’t lash out with hers, she doesn’t do physical harm, even when being harmed herself. Selkie could very easily deffend herself with her claws, teeth and venomous spit but doesn’t. Amanda actively torments both physically and mentally. They are worlds apart in their response to such situations.
Also you’ll notice Amanda’s attitude is a blatant I’ll do whatever I want whenever I want. Selkies is far less blatant and belligerent. She’s like “no no, its ok I’m good” and she’s trying to offer justification for her behavior “I gots webs. Webs is natures spoons” as opposed to Amanda who simply does what she wants, no explanation or justification necessary.
Selkie will have to learn at some point, that while she is a Sarnothi and can have pride in her culture and customs—she lives in the “human world” now and she needs to learn to play by their rules.
She can still handle her OWN food bare-handed, but it might make other people uncomfortable if she handles food that was meant to be shared with EVERYONE without utensils!
If Selkie can write using standard implements–and we HAVE seen her use pens/pencils to write before –she should be able to learn how to eat using tools as well (the grips for spoons and forks aren’t THAT much different than the way you hold a pen)
It’s different when eating casually (just with family and friends) vs eating formally (at a restaurant or with strangers or with people you’re trying to impress) but it’s important to be able to know how to dine with grace should the occasion arise.
To be fair, in some (human) cultures, they still eat using their hands to this day. But if they go visit another place with differing rules, they have to respect the etiquette that the host follows and act accordingly.
Time and place, time and place.
Yes, that’s the other thing: One of the reasons modern civilized societies got rid of a ton of diseases (or brought them down to manageable levels) is that we mastered hygiene, and spread that idea out to enough people that we’ve got a level of herd immunity through acts such as washing your hands and using toilets instead of alleyways.
That is why it is really difficult for me to deal with my nephew, who insists that he doesn’t need to wash his hands after going to the bathroom (and if he knows I’m listening, apparently PRETENDS to wash them by turning the water on for a bit then turning it off), and is incredibly resistant to the idea of regular showers.
Plus, his whole family has mouth herpes — and when I saw the mom kissing her kids on the mouth all the time, I thought many things, and none of them good. So we’re extra careful about not sharing food germs with my nephew.
For this, I would turn it into a game for her. Stand there and make it sound like some kind of hunt for meatballs, but she has to use the right weapon to make sure they don’t get away and hand her a long fork or a skewer. She’ll know the truth, it’s kind of obvious, but she would still have a lot of fun and it would teach her common courtesy and food hygiene.
Oh for crying out loud. She’s a kid who got excited and already just learned why eating with your hands is a bad idea. She’s already got it. Selkie’s a smart kid and will request a fork for the next ones.
Is it just me or do people not realize that kids can learn without either hitting or thinking Selkie’s unaccustomed to human things. -__- She knows this,yes. Do kids do dumb things when they’re excited for something they like? YES. And has Selkie learned from this? YES. There’s no more teaching needed. All she needs to do now is wash her hands and use a fork.
Eesh.
Some human kids are unaccustomed to human things in real life. 😛 And some people you just gotta explain it to them. I suggested a game she she doesn’t think people are picking on her which some children do think when they get corrected.
Let us take a brief moment to consider the webbing makes it very difficult to hold a fork. Remember how Pohl said he removed his webbing to have more dexterity over his fingers and make things easier to hold?
Manners aside (Grabbing out of a pot that everyone will be eating from is incredibly rude and dirty.) I think her eating with her hands is just something natural for her. It’s like asking someone who’s never used chopsticks before to suddenly use them with perfection.
Still, manners Selkie, manners.
I think at any rate they should spoon her a bowl of meatballs so she can eat to her heart’s content how she wants if they don’t correct her and she doesn’t squick anyone else out. Plus it will cool quicker for her that way.
I’m pretty sure the reason for removal is just fan conjecture at this point. It was never addressed in comic, and afaik, Dave’s only confirmed Pohl’s webbings were intentionally removed.
If this is how she usually eats, then I’m a bit surprised that Todd hasn’t been working on correcting her. But more importantly…
How did she not learn table manners during her three years at the orphanage?
I’d be willing to bet she *did* learn better manners at the orphanage. I’d also be willing to bet that during her time with Todd, a few standards perhaps became a trifle relaxed; since one kid cannot begin to create the chaos that dozens can. And I’d further be willing to bet that on this occasion–in direct competition with Amanda for grandparental attention for only the second time (?)–she is in part, probably subconsciously, trying to test exactly where the boundaries are and what can be gotten away with.
And I believe that “Ysh plsh” is sufficient indication that sufficient enlightenment has been achieved.
We should cut Selkie some slack, after all meatballs caught in the wild aren’t known to have body temperatures hot enough to burn your tongue.
I wouldn’t know, I’ve never caught any. Those little suckers can move faster than you’d think!