- Luna: If you don’t mind, dad would like to see you before you leave.
- Sandra: All right.
- Dad: Thank you for helping Luna, Sandra.
- Sandra: You’re welcome, Mr. Herrera.
- Dad: You like that, huh?
- Dad: Do you often get into trouble when your raccoon raids your neighbors’ trashcans?
- Sandra: No.
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I swear sometimes this comic makes me not want to say anything insulting towards an animal if I think they can hear me.
he wont get in trouble because he raids the trash cans on other streets.
To be fair, if Sandra didn’t have a genius speaking raccoon, she probably would get in trouble for that.
Mr Herrera doesn’t look well at all. That would explain a lot.
He’s a bit too well-fed for that… and besides, he never leaves a trail, or evidence at the scene. >:=)>
I checked previous comic to see if he’s one of the gang member since the tattoo looks similar. He’s one of the Red Devils?
Him being a Red Devil would certainly explain why they had to leave in a hurry.
As for the comic: It’s a perfectly valid question! And both Sandra and Woo know about both the reputation and often shown habits of Raccoons. So no real reason to be surprised or annoyed by the question.
Woo’s getting real tired of that stuff.
@ Luke:
Luke wrote:
Well, yeah, they can probably hear you better than can the naked killer apes of your own species. It’s whether they can understand your meaning beyond an appreciation of the emotion in your tone.
I this case, however, I picture Woo responding with something like
Whether they understand our words or not, pets and wild animals in general can sometimes be smarter than we give them credit for.
I mean one could argue that with cats or dogs that drinking from the toilets are unbecoming, but then cats and dogs could make the case that we’re oddballs for dirtying up that nice source of water with our body waste rather than conducting business elsewhere.
I’m getting a vague sense of de ja vu concerning Woo’s expression
Man, Woo has got the short end of the stick this whole visit. Two insults (unintentionality nevertheless), no food, and nothing to do.
Also where did we get the expression “the short end of the stick?” I get that way back we drew sticks to decide who did something undesirable (whoever got the shortest one had to do it), but wouldn’t the expression then be “the shortest stick”? Also can a stick even have a “short end”?
Oh and I thought “unintentionality” wasn’t a real word but who knew, it is!
I think Woo is more insulted about the insinuation that he would be caught rather than the idea of raiding their trashcans. Though I’m pretty sure he would prefer raiding their fridge.
I saw a raccoon Saturday and immediately thought of this comic. I never knew how adorable they are. Anyway I’ve never seen Woo rummage through garbage.
Speaking as someone who had two working parents from an early age in a not to different childhood, I’m suddenly incredibly worried about Luna’s dad. He looks like the kind of guy who’s working himself past the breaking point to support his daughter a single parent and it’s starting to take it’s toll on him physically. Hope I’m wrong.
@ MawileCeyvis:
It was originally the sh**ty end of the stick, referring to the Roman practice of using a sponge on a stick for wiping after defecation.
Shanunu wrote:
But why would Sandra be raiding the neighbors’ trashcans?
@ MawileCeyvis:
Y’know, I’ve always wondered about that too…
@ MawileCeyvis:
You are in fact combining two sayings “the short straw/stick ” and “took the wrong end of the stick”
The short straw i don’t know where that originates from, but the other came from the Roman times. After using the toilet they would take a stick that had a sponge on the end and use it to clean off as we would nowdays use tissue. It would be cleaned and reused, but nobody would want to take hold of the sponge end and it became a saying when someone misunderstood another.
@ mikey:
The “short straw” likely refers to the decision making tool of grabbing straws/sticks. Everyone grabs a straw from a hand and whoever has the shortest straw loses.
@ Tucci78:
Yeah, it kind of sucks how inferior our sense of smell is compared to the rest of the mammals. Would be so cool to be able to tell exactly who has been in a room or something just by smelling the air. Plus, we have literally no natural defences. No fangs, no claws, no nothing. We don’t even have enough fur to keep us warm without clothes. If it weren’t for how smart we were, we would be royally screwed.
It’s a fair question: racoons do raid trashcans if they get half a chance.
Of course, Woo is well-fed, well cared for and he can speak with an understand humans, which means Sandra can tell him not to do any raiding.
I wonder if Mr Herrera is sick, or just simply overworked?
@ Luke:
Eh… Shouldn’t make our human attributes worse than they are. There are a good number of things our body or mind can do just as good or better than many other mammals (or animals in general). Not just our smarts. As a matter of fact, we did adequately well in that particular raffle.
Woo’s got plenty of other places to raid instead.
i think i saw that guys tattoo in the last page
@ MawileCeyvis:
“the short end of the stick” is the Bowdlerized version of a saying using a Different word that begins with “S” and ends with a “T”.
You wouldn’t want to cause those tender ears to Bleed by using the Original expression would you?
The feels. They build.
@ Lukkai:
I suppose I was being a little harsh. Our keen eyesight and ability to climb to a certain degree wouldn’t be bad. And we can run pretty fast when we’re in shape. Also, I think having opposable thumbs would be a highly useful thing too. Omnivores so we’re not picky eaters and we do have the ability to adapt to most climates.
Is anyone else just waiting for Mr. Herrera’s tattoos to start glowing before he suddenly stands up and reveals himself to be the great deity Vashu Narin, who’s mortal enemy is the Raccoon Goddess?
@ Luke:
It’s kind of BECAUSE we are so smart that we became so useless otherwise, when we started cooking our food we became less resistant to uncooked stuff, when we started wearing the fur of animals we killed for food we had less and less need for fur, when we developed weapons we had less and less need for natural weapons. It wasn’t just that, understand we would still have them, but the survivors weren’t just the guys with fur or any sort of natural weapon because of those advancements, so eventually they sort of just disappeared, many of those traits still exist. They just aren’t needed, so are in inactive portions of our DNA.
Sweet Jesus, this ark just keeps getting darker and darker!
The14th wrote:
I think it was Noah that had the ark.
I like Luna and her dad. I think they hold some real potential for the series. My only concern is her name is very close to Yuna. I wish they’d come up with something a bit more original.
@ jacky:
I know, I understand evolution. I just meant that if we were how we are right now and we weren’t smart I thought we would be quite rubbish. I do sort of re-evaluate that now though, because when I thought about it we did have a few useful attributes.
If I could delete that comment now, I would. I was being rather ignorant and harsh.
@ Ian Albert:
Yes. When it’s a Story, it’s spelled ARC.
.
@ Luke:
Well you are mostly correct, as far as evolution goes, as we evolved mentally, we regressed physically. Though we did gain bipedal mobility that gives us the ability to walk down steeper areas better than most quadrupeds, opposable thumbs that grant us a better grip and our upright stance gives us better all round vision than that of quadrupeds.
These combined with our ability to compensate for our weaknesses using technology are why we are Earth’s apex predator.
@ mikey:
Not just Roman times, either, but also in the (relatively) more modern times of sail.
In 2000, the replica of HM Bark Endeavour toured around NZ, and I had the privilege to act as one of the tour guides on one of the ship’s layovers. We learnt many things about shipboard life, including the placement of the crew’s toilets (more commonly referred to as the “Seats of Ease”). (The officers, on the other hand, used chamberpots.)
The “Seats of Ease” on the Endeavour (and most likely on other ships of the era) were two short planks with butt-sized holes at the outer end projecting out from the ships railing on either side of the bowsprit. Once the crew had ‘done their business’, they would use a stick (which was affixed close to hand) to finish off. Of course, anyone grabbing for the stick would not want to grab the… heh… wrong end of the stick.
Why have them at the bow of the ship? Because on a sailing ship, that’s the direction the wind would be blowing -to-, thus taking away any offensive odours that might arise from people as they used the “Seats”.
@ AckAckAck:
“Please take some ketchup before you leave.”
@ Psiberkiwi:
Eww !
I never knew that, i just assumed all personnel would have used a pot and chucked the waste over the side. In England pre plumbing era they just threw it into the street, often out an upstairs window. Sometimes the shouted something in French that i vaguely recall meant “Look out below!” .
I kind of assumed that when we went to sea, we followed that pattern of behaviour.
mikey wrote:
Gardelou!
Granted it was rather bastardised French, coming from “Garde de l’eau!” – Watch out for the water! But yep, that was the expression used. And in most cities it was actually a felony throwing it out without the warning and at certain times in general.
Luke wrote:
Spur of the moment, happens to all of us sometimes. That’s why it’s always important to take comments on the internet with a grain of salt.
And it is rather easy feeling inferior when you look at a vulture’s eyesight or a pig’s nose (I’m talking capability here, not necessary looks 😉 ). But then, that’s as if your Average Joe was racing Usain Bolt on hundred meters. It’s just not fair a comparison.
@ mikey:
mikey wrote:
Sailors in those days Knew what Jim Croce reminded us of:
“You don’t spit into the wind”.
Except that at Sea, it’s not just Spit you don’t want blowing back.
And, if you Forget, believe your Shipmates WILL make sure you don’t forget Twice.
.
Quick question….what does Luna look like in colour?
@ mikey:
Considering the amount of space (or rather, lack thereof) that the 65 crew of Endeavour ate and slept in, there wasn’t the room for chamberpots. (Officers all had cabins, so there was room for pots there, even if they were stored out of the way when not in use.)
Luke wrote:
That’s why we had to evolve intelligence. We wouldn’t have survived any other way.
Or, conversely, the fact that we had intelligence accounts for why we didn’t need to evolve fangs, fur, etc. Which came first, the lack of defenses or the intelligence?
mikey wrote:
The short straw is a way of deciding who gets to take on an unpleasant task, you take a number of straws and one of them is cut short, one person hold all the straws in such a way that no-one can see which is the short one, everyone draws one straw, and then you see which has drawn the short straw. whoever draws the short straw gets to do the unpleasant task.
Sandra probably gets in trouble when wild raccoons raid the neighbor’s trash, becuse they blame it on Woo.
It’s the “short” end of the stick for the same reason it’s son of a “gun”. It has nothing to do with drawing straws. For further examples, may I provide:
Shoot!
Dang it!
Fudge!
…all expressions used to replace a word not generally used in polite society.
Now take the expression “Get the sh!t end of the stick” (meaning literally to grab the end of a stick used to wipe feces from a person’s anus and figuratively meaning “to get the worse of two or more options”) and cram that into a conversation where foul language is frowned upon.
“I said ‘SHORT’ mom! Really I did!”
The Short end of the Stick reffer to Tally Sticks
so getting the foil was then “short end of the stick” representing debt.