The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
But all of them sensible everyday names,
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular name.
One of the reasons crowds can be so exhausting is that the more people you are interacting with, the tighter the restrictions are on what you can do without bothering someone, and the more secret rules there are you can run afoul of.
Sara doesn’t like people, Dina doesn’t know how to interact with people, maybe the party should have just been the four of them, Sarah, Dina, Becky, and Joyce, hanging out rather than inviting all these other folks.
Wasn’t that more or less the original plan? To only have a small grouping of people attend? Seems like a bunch more showed up uninvited after overhearing that there’d be a party like Meredith.
Only Willis knows for sure, but I’m guessing all these people were invited by Joyce. And maybe a Meredith left after she found out it was the wrong kind of “joint” party!
While Dina isn’t Misanthropic like Sarah, but she is not really sociable either, why would having a birthday party with lots of people be a good idea when neither guests of honor are good with people? They might as well have just had the party in that room with only Joyce, Becky, Sarah, and Dina eating pizza.
Yes, I think this is the ideal situation for Dina. She can go into the main room, then come back in here when she gets overloaded. But Sarah would probably rather not be there at all.
I think the word should be “too ace” not “too pure” because Dina’s…preeeetty ace! Whether she ‘fucks’ or not would need to be discussed with Becky but she is absolutely some flavor of ace.
It hasn’t been confirmed, but the signs are there. Remember at Joyce’s dorm party, she was overwhelmed by trying to keep up with all the nonverbal communication she saw so she hid under Ethan’s jacket. She was either overstimulated, or has to manually process it all instead of having it come naturally.
The official position is ‘Dina’s never been diagnosed’, which is pretty distinct from a yes or no. (Based on that, I think it’s highly unlikely she’ll be formally diagnosed over the course of the comic – she’s an adult woman of color and doctors fucking suck at recognizing it outside amab white children – but I consider it likely.)
Direct confirmation might be more of a headache than shrugging. If it’s just extremely implied, we can spot the “clues” and nobody gets too bothered about the quality of representation. If there’s explicit confirmation, you get a certain crowd taking it as a Message that this is How All Autistic People Act, and then we all have to put up with them.
It could also be that DYW never intended her to be autistic, but ended up writing her as autistic-appearing by coincidence. Far-fetched, yes, but he wouldn’t be the first.
He’s definitely written that with Joyce. I think with Dina it started as unintentional but once enough people asked that he had a set response, a bit more intention may have sprung up.
Ok…
See the examples below the Comment box? You want:
a href=”” title=””
Except fuck that Titles part, because it sucks. So just:
a href=””
Put the title behind the close enclosure instead of inside as the example suggests.
Then close it with /a, surrounded by the same less-than/greater-thans
I can’t use the enclosures in my explanation because then they are treated deadly serious.
In the quotes following href you place the URL.
Title is whatever you want to call it.
So this:
a href=”” Title /a
The thing between the <a> </a> is not the title, but the link itself. The title=”” bit is for the title text (hence the name). It’s a common mistake to make (I’ve made it myself), and I blame the programmers.
Obviously Sarah is a cats person. But can she be a dinosaurs person too? And wait, that is Becky’s cat or Robin’s cat? Or is just one of the Blowjob Cat hig priests came in the room in search of new victims?
Sarah hasn’t yet seen Dina, but there ARE three little marks above Sarah’s head in the last panel — meant, I assume, to show that she has suddenly gotten the feeling that she is being watched.
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Who is really surprised at Dina here?
Sarah, apparently.
I’m more surprised that Sarah noticed her at all.
Mike’s cat?
…Sarah’s now
*sound effect from a 1960s magical wife sitcom*
More like the “DETECTED” noise from Metal Gear Solid, in my head.
Now I want someone to switch those and make a video.
*poit*
More like, *beDang*!
Yes, I am old enough to have watched “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” on television in my youth.
Do Sarah and the kitty move slightly across the jump cut?
final panel is wider to the left side
Trying to imagine Dina’s reaction toscritches by Sarah… *snerkles*
That would be hella ‘dorable! 😀
dina requests head pats
Pizza more likely.
They are only just now allowing you to know of their presence…
She was behind the door until the pizza arrived.
As predicted by someone yesterday.
yeah, but when that prediction was made, I think “Dina” and “cat” were options
Called it! (Right for the first time. I am going to enjoy this moment because it may never happen again.)
But what’s the cat’s name?!?!?!
The Naming of Cats
T. S. Eliot – 1888-1965
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
But all of them sensible everyday names,
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular name.
That’s a lot of thought about names coming from a man whose own is an anagram for “toilets”.
Damn, you didn’t have to murder the guy.
As you say, Elder Fondue.
Expedite matters and simply call it “Master.”
I find that to be a practical approach.
Snake? Snake! SNAAAAAKE!!!
No, that’s clearly a cat. And I don’t see any metal gears anywhere either.
There are, however, a couple of cardboard boxes there.
So you can either know if the cat is awake, or where it is, but not both, ooooh, you mean Schrodinger.
Badger, badger, badger, badger
Mushroom MUSHROOM
That pizza is laced with that drug that makes you see things as they truly are.
Blue mushrooms?
Klatchian coffee? It makes you knurd.
Wait there really was a cat. And a dinasaur
A moment’s distraction is all Dina needs to appear.
To exit from behind the door and leap lightly onto the bed while Sara is distracted by Pizzacat.
Wonder if it is a samurai pizza cat?
Also, OF COURSE the cat immediately goes on the warm pizza container
If it’s not meant for sits then why is it made of warm?
I can haz upvoted?
One of the reasons crowds can be so exhausting is that the more people you are interacting with, the tighter the restrictions are on what you can do without bothering someone, and the more secret rules there are you can run afoul of.
Sara doesn’t like people, Dina doesn’t know how to interact with people, maybe the party should have just been the four of them, Sarah, Dina, Becky, and Joyce, hanging out rather than inviting all these other folks.
Wasn’t that more or less the original plan? To only have a small grouping of people attend? Seems like a bunch more showed up uninvited after overhearing that there’d be a party like Meredith.
Only Willis knows for sure, but I’m guessing all these people were invited by Joyce. And maybe a Meredith left after she found out it was the wrong kind of “joint” party!
Why Grace and Mandy, though?
And maybe Dorothy.
That’s Blowjob Cat’s alternate form.
Though this isn’t even its final form.
Is the fact a door is nearby is what allows Dina to teleport? Her powers have grown
She didn’t teleport. She was sitting right there in that exact pose the entire time.
She came in through the window?
Clever girl.
I saw what you did there!
While Dina isn’t Misanthropic like Sarah, but she is not really sociable either, why would having a birthday party with lots of people be a good idea when neither guests of honor are good with people? They might as well have just had the party in that room with only Joyce, Becky, Sarah, and Dina eating pizza.
Dina doesn’t actually mind it so much as she gets overwhelmed by the faces. As we saw at Joyce’s previous party.
Yes, I think this is the ideal situation for Dina. She can go into the main room, then come back in here when she gets overloaded. But Sarah would probably rather not be there at all.
*Metal Gear Solid noise*
I was going to make a petting joke, but I think Dina is too pure for that.
Too “pure”? For what?
I think the word should be “too ace” not “too pure” because Dina’s…preeeetty ace! Whether she ‘fucks’ or not would need to be discussed with Becky but she is absolutely some flavor of ace.
Not when Becky’s doing the petting. Dina isn’t a child she’s an adult who happens to be autistic.
Was it ever confirmed she’s autistic 😕
It hasn’t been confirmed, but the signs are there. Remember at Joyce’s dorm party, she was overwhelmed by trying to keep up with all the nonverbal communication she saw so she hid under Ethan’s jacket. She was either overstimulated, or has to manually process it all instead of having it come naturally.
The official position is ‘Dina’s never been diagnosed’, which is pretty distinct from a yes or no. (Based on that, I think it’s highly unlikely she’ll be formally diagnosed over the course of the comic – she’s an adult woman of color and doctors fucking suck at recognizing it outside amab white children – but I consider it likely.)
Yeah, she ain’t a little white boy in kindergarten, so there’s not much chance of a diagnosis.
Direct confirmation might be more of a headache than shrugging. If it’s just extremely implied, we can spot the “clues” and nobody gets too bothered about the quality of representation. If there’s explicit confirmation, you get a certain crowd taking it as a Message that this is How All Autistic People Act, and then we all have to put up with them.
It could also be that DYW never intended her to be autistic, but ended up writing her as autistic-appearing by coincidence. Far-fetched, yes, but he wouldn’t be the first.
He’s definitely written that with Joyce. I think with Dina it started as unintentional but once enough people asked that he had a set response, a bit more intention may have sprung up.
Unclear how to properly make a link but: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/hypotheses/
Testing:
Testing again:
Yet again:
Butterflies
Ok…
See the examples below the Comment box? You want:
a href=”” title=””
Except fuck that Titles part, because it sucks. So just:
a href=””
Put the title behind the close enclosure instead of inside as the example suggests.
Then close it with /a, surrounded by the same less-than/greater-thans
I can’t use the enclosures in my explanation because then they are treated deadly serious.
In the quotes following href you place the URL.
Title is whatever you want to call it.
So this:
a href=”” Title /a
The thing between the <a> </a> is not the title, but the link itself. The title=”” bit is for the title text (hence the name). It’s a common mistake to make (I’ve made it myself), and I blame the programmers.
On the contrary. Dina fucks
Heh, nothing personnel, kid
Huh…didn’t know that a Triceratops could use the ninja job class proficiently.
Dina can teleport is my favorite Dumbing of Age fact.
Clever girl…
Teleportation, the power of Sans and Lucy Loud.
We don’t want your judgment, and we don’t need your pity
That’s amazing!
Willis has been on at least one JoCo Cruise with the Doubleclicks. I’m not sure if that’s the one where he picked up the blue ukulele.
Oh, hey, Becky found time to steal a cat today.
NINJACERATOPS!!
This is where I wanna be, hanging out with cats at parties
That’s clearly a stray cat, since it doesn’t have a tag.
Portal Cat portals where needed.
#TagThe
CricketCatMaybe, like the cricket, the cat’s name is Tag?
My roommate’s cat doesn’t have a tag. She also doesn’t go outside.
So it’s name is Brian Setzer?
Looks like Dina learned how to teleport. Did she learn it from Joyce, or figure out how to do so on her own?
C’mon, Joyce is a rookie. No one teleports like Dina.
She must have gotten her hands on TM 30 or TM 4.
Cats are natural teleporters. Dina has studied them for years, and has learned their ways.
A cat and ninja-saurus appears. Can this get any more purr-fect?
What’s the cat’s name?
Becky
Dina has mastered the art of standing so still she becomes invisible
Hi Drax!
Is this the point where Sarah develops a complex about her possibly turning into a Crazy Cat Lady?
“She only has one cat!”
“Give her time…”
KITTY!!
I look forward to this kitty winning all future votes as the character to be featured in the Patreon bonus comics.
It’s Becky.
She’s a Catperson.
She’s a WereCat and everyone is trying to stop her father from lifting the curse.
Cat not tagged 🙁
Sarah is now with a quite but adorable creature that is a great friend to an introvert and also a cat.
Cat confirmed.
How much are you billing for that cat scan?
Heh!
Why is this strip so perfect.
Because Dina is in it?
Dina was in all five panels, because you can see the indent in the pillow where her tail was resting.
Have we seen Dina with a tail before?
It’s Stealth Job Cat!
Man, I wish that Dina would materialise when I est pizza on my own!
… “eat” …
Obviously Sarah is a cats person. But can she be a dinosaurs person too? And wait, that is Becky’s cat or Robin’s cat? Or is just one of the Blowjob Cat hig priests came in the room in search of new victims?
Omg, look at Sarah’s smile for the kitty!
She’s smiled a few times in this story now. I’m starting to think this one’s set in the AU called Smarting of Age.
I’m just imagining the metal gear alert noise and an exclamation mark over Sarah’s head right now
Sarah hasn’t yet seen Dina, but there ARE three little marks above Sarah’s head in the last panel — meant, I assume, to show that she has suddenly gotten the feeling that she is being watched.
Wonder if there’s a baseball bat in that bedroom. ‘Cuz if Blaine and Toedad were going to strike, this’d be a pretty good time.
Also, “Kitty!”
*World of Warcraft stealth sound*
ofc the cat sits on the warm box.
Which could be summarized to: ofc the cat sits on the box.
NOBODY TOLD ME THIS WAS A HORROR COMIC!
I wish to know this cat’s deal and motivations immediately.
Also the room is drawn really nice in this comic.
Staying away from the party in a private room with a cat, pizza, and a dinosaur. I think that would be my perfect party.