A sudden avalanche of linuistically interesting cartoons, on a variety of topics.
Word confusion. On Facebook, via David Preston, this Rubes cartoon:
(#1)
rapture / raptor: near-homonyms, so open for confusion.
(On Rubes, see here.)
Then three cartoons this morning: a Zits, a Bizarro, a Rhymes.
Zits: band names. Freely chosen or invented proper names make a rich topic of investigation. The enormous number of rock bands provide an especially nice source of data. Here’s a Zits on the subject:
(#2)
Bizarro labradoodle. The labradoodle is a canine cross, between a labrador retriever and a poodle; the name is a portmanteau. Here’s a Bizarro that pulls out the doodle as an independent element, referring to a cartoon:
(#3)
Rhymes With Orange on tone in e-mails. It’s notoriously difficult to communicate emotional attitudes on-line. Hence this cartoon:
(#4)
Deliberately marking sarcasm is a somewhat self-defeating strategy; sarcasm and irony are normally communicated indirectly.
