![[0007] Beginner’s Mistakes](/comics/2008-11-13-beginner's-mistakes.png "[0007] Beginner’s Mistakes")
The current story arc started with this strip: A Sly Raccoon.
Hey, what would your reaction be if your dog or cat suddenly started talking to you?
- Sandra: What’s up, Woo? Did you miss me while I was at school?
- Woo: Sure! Who wouldn’t prefer the company of a charming lady to bitter loneliness?
- Sandra: AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
- Woo: Well, apparently the girl is…
impressed by my cute pick-up line…… Check!
literally at my feet…… Check!
conscious…… D’oh!
a member of my own species…… D’oh!
Woo, old boy, you really gotta work on the basics before mating season.
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I ask myself “have anybody mixed drugs in my food?”
but it would be awesome 🙂 (not the drugs, but talking to my cat 🙂
My reaction would probably be along the lines of, “since when could you talk?” Followed by a long, and hopefully interesting conversation. I guess it would depend on which cat.
I reckon it would be along the lines of riiiiight so you can talk then. . you’ve been making fun of me fussing over you for years haven’t you???
You mean your pets *don’t* talk to you? (I will admit mine don’t say anything complex, nor do they usually say it in grammatically correct English, but any cat can clearly communicate the essentials: “this is mine”, “where’s dinner”, “good spot”, “no!” and “don’t play with that, play with cat!” )
But, yeah, I think all the above comments are right on.
“nor do they usually say it in grammatically correct English”
That’s, of course, the point of my post.
this particular strip is ok, I like the fact that he’s talking to her. that’s a plus. However, I don’t like the idea of him plotting future leg humping…it takes the charm away from the comic, from the story, and i feel the joke falls kinda flat.
I would have to lock him up for the rest of his life, unless he talks in lolcat… too many embarrassing secrets (lolcat speech is ok since no one really understands it completely)
“However, I don’t like the idea of him plotting future leg humping…it takes the charm away from the comic, from the story, and i feel the joke falls kinda flat.”
Come on, there’s just as much sexual innuendo in your average Bugs Bunny episode as in this strip.
I’d also have to say that I don’t see “future leg humping” here, given the final panel where he’s going over his mistakes. He was just trying out the line/pose on a friend to see what reaction it would get, not serious about it.
I’m a bit disappointed that he has started talking. I can deal with him understanding English and us as readers understanding his thoughts, but… Well, yeah, if he’s standing on his hind legs he’s already going anthro, isn’t he. My personal preference would be that he’s only a “person” to the girl — that to any adult and most kids (most of the time?) he’s straight raccoon, which is quite cute enough — but it’s not my strip; I can see this working too, so run with it as you see fit.
(Just to indicate where I’m coming from: I liked Garfield a heck of a lot better in the first year or so when he was still a cat — though one with strange tastes and surprisingly good dexterity.)
Woo will always remain a raccoon in his heart, just one who can talk and walk on two legs. He will certainly behave more like a real animal than almost all other animals in popular “funny animals” strips like Garfield, Peanuts, Get Fuzzy, etc. However, it has been my plan from the very first concept that Woo is able to talk with Sandra. I don’t think that most strips in my strip idea document would work if Woo could only “use” thought bubbles like Garfield instead of speaking directly to her.
I never liked Garfield for that very reason that no one could talk to him, … well that, and the fact he wasn’t funny. So this will probably be much funnier.
Personally I wouldn’t be so much shocked if my dog talked, as I would be more worried for her. As a Mr. Morticgi once told me,” If your able to talk and walk straight, your plenty able to work and help pay the rent”. So for her sake lets hope she stays a quadruped, otherwise we’d work her like( for a lack of a better word) a DOG.
Qat: Personally, my favorite Garfield strips were the mid- to early ones, when the characters were still evolving. Or, rather, back when Jim Davis was still willing to experiment. I remember reading once that he had started playing it safe after a rash of hate mail from some misguided fans. Lord above, there isn’t a ring in Hell bad enough for what those misbegotten *Censored*s set in motion. The reason stuff like “Garfield minus Garfield” actually works is because Garfield, the REAL Garfield whom I grew up with, is as dead as Mother Teresa. What we have now is as lifeless as a poorly done taxidermy. ¡_¡
…sorry. Remembering the old G-cat reminds me of what “fan wangst” can do to a good thing, which in turn makes me go “Hulk Smash!” all over again. Old wounds run deep, you know? Anyway, Woo seems to have a nice balance of Hot and Cute going for him, so once he gets his pickup lines fixed, he should be good to go. -_^
There’s another “D’oh” that Woo isn’t thinking of (possibly because he’s not a good judge of it): her age/maturity. Sandra appears not to be old enough to take serious interest in boys.
I love the jumping house on the second panel.
this is a topic that i always discussed with my cousin. if my dog suddenly spoke, the only thing that i would do is go to bed and sleep.
If my cat or dog started talking, my reaction would be, “Apparently, when you mix cough syrup with yodels… you get acid.”
“Who wouldn’t prefer the company of a charming woman to bitter loneliness?”
NO! WOO! THAT’S THE EXACT SAME MISTAKE ETHAN FROME MADE!!!!!
If my pet could talk, I would spread the news around the world and be famous. And earn lots of money.
Who cares about being friends with your pet? They’re nowhere NEAR as clever as humans (not in reality) and they haven’t really got feelings anyway. Well, not dogs. Dogs are pretty clever, but who cares, as long as a get Fame and Fortune!
They’re just ANIMALS.
I just did that long explanation because I thought some of you might disagree. So, c’mon people, AGREE with me!
I would probably go “omigosh you can TALK?!” and my cat would go “yeah, yeah whatever now FEED ME!” (my cat is a greedy little* thing)
*large
Wow. Remind me to never use that pickup line 😀
I would be the happiest man alive. ^_^
And then I’d interview them to get a feel for how his/her species really is to write some cool characters. With them getting a share of profit if I get any, natch 😉
I personally, am glad the my dogs don’t talk. I doubt either of them would have anything good to say about me, and Duke is a noisy crybaby all the time right now anyways. Human words would just make him more of a headache…
If my dog (a little Shetland Sheepdog) could talk, nobody would be able to have any kind of coherent conversation with him. He is the kind of dog that gets distracted by anything and everything, literally he will run around in circles for hours chasing his shadow. Him talking would be annoying and unnecessary.
This may forever mark me as an idiot, but… is she freaked out because of his pickup line or because he can talk? I suppose it says something about my mental condition, that I would find the fact that a raccoon was hitting on me more disturbing than the fact that it was speaking English.
If m pet started talking to me i’d be like “Mom I think I’ve gone insane.”
I just started reading this comic and im in love with it already!
Don’t be silly. My cats talk to me all the time. It may not be grammatically correct, but it’s perfectly clear, especially when it ends in a kiss (the cat kissing *me*, I mean – it’s not that unusual for a human to kiss a cat. After all, the top of a cat’s head is perfectly designed for kissing.).
I think I’ve actually been waiting for my cats to speak to me; it seems much odder that they have not yet, than it would seem once they start.
That’s an awesome pick-up line…
Well, I for once would take it rather… seriously. I mean, there are very few rational explanations for talking racoon.
Most probable for me would be genetically modified (rather extensively) racoon in direction for sapience – and that would be in itself very disturbing, as known human technology cannot create provolved (animal with human-like inteligence) racoon.
@ Ilari:
My cat would probably just have one word to say all the time… “Play!!”
You know, I’ve had whole conversations with animals where we were both speaking a english bird pidgin so probably I’d try to figure out how it happened. I mean my b&g macaw yelled fire once.
I don’t know what Sandra’s freaking out for. My pets speak to me all the time. Granted, it’s just “kill” over and over again, with the occasional “hail Satan,” but I’ve learned to ignore them.
“Hey, what would your reaction be if your dog or cat suddenly started talking to you?”
I’d tell them not to patronise me*. I’m just about fluent in feline, and can communicate passably in canine too. Heck, I get mildly annoyed at cats if they meow at me. It is the feline equivalent of speaking really slowly to a foreigner, since most humans don’t understand feline body-language.
[ * : This assumes the animal in question “suddenly started talking” in English, rather than some other language. If a cat started talking to me in Japanese, I’d be rather impressed (and understand far less of it than if they just used normal feline language.]
._. ? Enough said. Me: i must be dreaming…*back to bed*
You mean in English? Probably celebrate at the success of my experiment. It worked!
the last strip hmmm Homer Homer DOH
._. T_T
This sort of thing actually happened when Calvin found me too.
@ vanessa:
I’m sorry but none of that is true. Scientists are still trying to figure that out.
monster wrote:
I would freak but more subtly. (Pinches arm*)(realizes I’m not dreaming*)(screams and runs away*)