[0752] Larisa’s World Of Science
└ posted on Thursday, 14 January 2016, by Novil
- Luna: Thomas, you were amazing! We’d never have won the game without you!
- Thomas: Hey, thanks, Luna.
- Luna: A friend gave me two front row tickets for the next Warriors game and I–
- Thomas: Wow, cool, the Warriors! They’re great! Who are you going with?
- Luna: I… I wondered if maybe you…?
- Thomas: You’d like to go to the game with me?
- Luna: Yes! That’d make me soooo happy!
- Thomas: Well, all right, then.
- Thomas: Sandra, do you have any idea why Luna wants to go to the Warriors game with me?
- Sandra: Probably because she likes you.
- Thomas: Huh, you think?!
- Sign: Larisa’s World of Science
- Larisa: That’s all, folks! I hope you enjoyed today’s episode with the topic “The World’s densest materials”.
- Label: Lead
- Label: Gold
- Label: Uranium
- Label: Boys
![[0752] Larisa’s World Of Science](/comics/2016-01-14-0752-larisas-world-of-science.png "[0752] Larisa’s World Of Science")
It’s all true. Sorry ladies. We do the best with what we’re given, but it is a handicap!
@ Trimutius:
Yeah, that’s still a bit too overworked. Though I do feel, as a teen myself, that a ‘so’ should be appended. The current form sounds too much like a ‘duh’, like as if the statement was obvious.
Wait…She WORE THE SHIRT ?!
Trimutius wrote:
Wow, some people must have a really stilted way of talking. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say, “That cannot be! Can it?” or, “Is it even possible?”. Are such expressions common in Europe? They’re both too long for slang, and awkwardly phrased as well. I can picture a character from a Sherlock Holmes story using them, but not a modern American teenager.
Red vs. Blue did use a similar if somewhat longer line for laughs:
Church: Tex walked up to him, pulled his skull out of his head, and beat him to death with it.
Tucker: Wait a second…how do you beat someone to death with their own skull? That doesn’t seem physically possible.
Church: That’s exactly what Jimmy kept screaming.
[ Cut to flashback ]
Jimmy: THIS DOESN’T *WHAM* SEEM PHYSICALLY *WHAM* POSSIBLE!
“Huh, you think?” is good, but might be interpreted as sarcasm, i.e. expressing that Thomas thought Luna’s interest in him was obvious, which would spoil the joke. “No way! Really?” might be better, since it would express his naïvité, surprise, disbelief, and possibly hope all at once.
@ WizardOfIz:
Wait, what shirt?
I’m not sure it’s that boys (and girls) are dense. I can spot a few other explanations.
First of, they are like 13 or so. They are not very experienced with even a crush. Thomas may not even have encountered a girl having a crush on him before and he may not himself ever had a crush on someone. Yet he’s supposed to pick up on “signals”? It’s like letting a child who’s used to stories in the level of Winnie the Pooh experience more advanced stories and expect that child to pick up on things like foreshadowing.
Second, it’s rather embarrassing to think someone has a crush on you and be wrong. So, children that age may not want to act on those signals out of (usually) exaggerated caution. However, it’s also troublesome to keep wondering whether or not a certain person likes you. This makes dismissing signals as the easiest option for the mind. Unfortunately, zero times a lot is still zero, so multiple signals that are dismissed have a total of zero impact.
Also, when I was at that age, people would occasionally misinterpret behaviors (mine or from other people) as suggesting a crush when no such crush existed. Trying to send “signals” when you’re thirteen seem worse than pointless to me. On the other hand, I don’t think children that age really purposefully sends subtle signals. They can easily do so unintended though.
@ Thisguy:
If you have a high Charisma, you can compensate for both. 😛
Glen wrote:
Oh hell yeah. You do NOT want anything that undergoes Alpha Decay getting inside your body.
I’m surprised by the lack of comparison to Neutron Star matter. Or does Larissa think he’s not bright enough?
Hey now. I was no more dense then lead, certainly not more the uranium
Inviting Thomas to a date while wearing the “Thomas, I like you” shirt was obviously much too subtle. He’s probably not the reading type and ignores most writing around him.
Hopefully Sandra’s little hint will help…
GPedia wrote:
In American colloquial English, “You think?!” would usually have a strong sarcastic connotation. “You think so?” would fit what I assume Thomas intends as confused surprise better.
That said, I certainly knew what was meant by context.
“Huh? Really?” would probably be a more natural phrasing in my part of the country, but there are other idiolects where other phrases might be more common. “What?!?” is probably common everywhere.
If Thomas wants to express doubt as well as surprise, he might respond “No way!” but that would be unintentionally cruel with Luna being ten paces back.
Plus, Thomas is distracted by the really cool front-row tickets to -insert sport here- with a team he really likes.
Where is Osmium and Iridium?
Not to mention neutronium…
The Warriors game? Are a German and an Indonesian creating a comic about the San Francisco Bay Area?
JustARandomPerson wrote:
I speak like that.
as a man, i must say… that i can confirm this comic…
*SIGH*
I… think that I may be denser than that.
I did not recognize that a woman was interested in me at a pagan retreat….
When she sat skyclad in my lap.
Twice.
(I just thought it was pagans being pagans, and trying to freak the ‘dane.)
Six years later, we are still together.
Thank you for that t-shirt. Excellent one and I needed the laugh after today.
Luna is cuter than a bug’s ear! Snatch her up before someone else does ya moron!
@ Camusensei:
loved that little touch too! Almost missed it until I read the comic again. The understated humor and humanity of this strip is stellar. Good job guys!
@ Meh:
So Larissa was right, that shirt really IS too subtle.
Love it…and I’m a guy! 🙂
@ Trimutius:
I do not know if this is beaten to death, but maybe the “better” phrasing would be: “Uh, ya’ think so?” This would be especially true if you want him to be from the Tri-State area. Either way, English is their second language and even people who speak it as their first language make mistakes from time to time. (Kinda like me.)
@ The Auld Grump:
At least it turned out alright in the end, then.
Larisa seems to suffer from a common misconception that uranium is the densest mineral. Gold (19.32 kg/m3) is actually denser than uranium (18.8 kg/m3), but if you want real dense stuff you need platinum (21.45 kg/m3), iridium (22. kg/m3) or osmium (22.57 kg/m3)
Kris Lighthawk wrote:
well there is still neutronium… or well, neutron star matter, plus the black hole matter…
However aren´t you missing some decimal points around iridium? It should be very close to osmium… something about “lanthanoid orbital contraction” or what…
@ maarvarq:
Damn, you beat me to it.
It’s funny ’cause it’s TRUE
the auld grump Well, mine wasn’t sky clad but she later admitted to some other ladies that when she first saw me she decided “I want thatone” and we had 46 wonderful years together. It’s so lonely since she died . . .
HardWearJunkie wrote:
Which tri-state area? It seems like practically anywhere in the continental U.S. is part of some tri-state area. I can never figure out what American news people mean when they use that phrase.
Personally I live in a bi-provincial area. : )
In The Interest of Fairness:
1. “Reading” the front of a girl’s shirt these days can be grounds for a sexual harassment charge.
2. Even if he HAD read it, he had no way of knowing that the “Thomas” in question was him. Perhaps she was instead referring to Thomas Dolby, who as we all know, is blinded with science by way of Mexican radio.
3. He may well be prepared to accept that it’s safe to read the front of her shirt and that the Thomas in question is him, but he may have a self-image issue going on that prevents him from acknowledging the possibility of such things.
This has been In The Interest of Fairness, a public service message brought to you by a webcomic reader with no affiliation to this station.
Mr. Q wrote:
Represent*
I just noticed Thomas’ last line is missing from the transcript.
._. XD
@ Trimutius:
Still way too articulated for someone who is supposed to be depicted as “dense”.
The way of speaking kind of has to match the character’s intellect. Of course, it has to be correct enough so we can understand something out of it, it’d be no use writing something that nearly resembles gibberish.
Another thing that goes well only in comics is when they write down the accent of the characters.
I personally find that not fitting in fully literary novels, but in comics it makes sense.
@ Angel of Death, Wake:
Your average teenager doesn’t.
Someone who is supposed to be depicted as “dense” (in the case of this strip, Thomas) wouldn’t either.
GPedia wrote:
Agarax wrote:
nekokami wrote:
So, as you’ve all said, “you think?” does sound more like sarcasm, but as nekokami has pointed out, there is a context there that makes it clear it’s supposed to mean surprise.
Let’s not forget comics aren’t only for the text, there’s a lot of context in the image. Thomas’ expression clearly shows he’s surprised.
Since he is also shown as “dense”, you can easily assume he said “you think?” instead of “you think so?” because he has more limited vocabulary. He has a simpler mindset, therefore, speaks in a simpler manner.
Are we seriously not going to talk about the casual chunk of uranium just sitting there on the desk?
@ Not a Radiologist but:
Just be glad it’s not in Yuna’s hands.
Agarax wrote:
Nah… just probably read too much of Gaia…
WHAT !!
Who let Larisa have some “Uranium”.
That might be a wee bit BAD
Ahchi wrote:
Well if it is depleted one, you would have to eat a substantial quantity to be damaged by radiation… it would poison you chemicaly, plus it would be extremply difficult to make it explode… maybe with a massive neutron mirror, but I would think that unlikely…
@ Paeris Kiran:
Ever seen what depleted uranium does to heavy armor?
@ maarvarq:
I was wondering whether it was intentional, and we’d rate above uranium but below some of the denser materials.
@ Kjelfalconer:
Gah, I didn’t notice it! he really is dense..
@ Konrad:
Oh my god, you kill me guys X’D
“In this case, of course, boys are a stand-in for Osmium.”
Nah. Form my personal experience, a boy would widely suspect but will anyways ask to test his theory.
…
Well. At least 1 of each 5 cases. Or during the second time something like that.
@ Angel of Death, Wake:
woooooooow maybe don’t admit that in public holy shit