I think the joke is that there is a stereotype that Americans often use idioms wrong. “Kitty cornered” is correct… nobody says “catty cornered” unless they also say things like “intensive purposes”.
mmmaaayyybe…
gonna be honest though. as someone from the same canadian city as ruth, i’ve gotta say that we don’t use that phrase here. i didn’t even know it was a thing until today. we just say diagonally across.
i think she’s just surprised at a phrase that, lets be honest, sounds ridiculous if you’re hearing it for the first time.
I’ve only ever heard catty-cornered (SC). I only found out that some people say “intensive purposes” in college. **shrug** We use it to mean diagonally across (touching), “across and over one” (not exactly diagonal, but land-parcel or buildings), or anything that’s tangential but at a funky angle.
From Michigan, grew up in a handful of other states, now living in Arkansas. I say kitty-corner; our stylebook at work says catty-corner. (And I thought that was super weird when I first saw it.)
Only if Angels only serve to spread misery. Somehow, I doubt that. I also somehow doubt that an angel would stoop as low as blackmail when dealing with sinners. If I recall my bible study correctly, they seemed to be fond of destroying cities…
We don’t know what Mary does with her free time (besides spy on people apparently) She could give blood and donate to the poor. Maybe she’s just a bongo whenever we see her.
I am from California. (Hi Minnesotans, thanks for the Replacements) and I’ve also only ever heard “kitty-corner.” “Catty-cornered”: never ever not ever never.
Let us obviate this issue by henceforth only referring to this peculiar directional description as “gring-bong-ba-diddly-oh’d,.” Like so: “The bank? Oh it’s just across – well, it’s gring-bong-ba-diddly-oh’d to that shoeshine station yonder. That should clear everything up.
I’m in MN as well- born and raised in Chicago and back in the Midwest after a 10 year period of living in OH, FL, CA and GA and I’ve only hear “kitty-corner.” I’m not 100% about the Ed at the end either.
Am I seriously the only person in America who’s ever heard the term “catty-corner” before? Family is from Florida and Kentucky, mostly, and I’m currently residing in Ohio.
I’m feeling the Catty-Corner variant is something in and around the north east US. Or maybe just in an around New York. My folks used to be from the New York area until their families moved out to Cali when they were young. It was always “Catty-Corner” for me growing up. Kitty-Corner sounds strange to me as well.
I’ve heard catty-cornered from my folks, who were born in Ohio and Philadelphia. I heard both catty-cornered and kitty-cornered in Dallas, but mostly catty-cornered.
“Cutting the wheel,” however, is a new one on me. What’s it mean?
It means “in a diagonal direction”. Like if you’re at the 7-11 on the southwestern side of the street and you need to get to the Target on the northeastern side, that’s catty/kitty cornered.
NewllEnd, it’s because the concept implies geographic relations to a street or hallway. “Diagonally” actually has more syllables, if you count, as does, “across from, but not laterally across from. Sort of up and to the left, right across the hall.”
Rather, it’s a simple name to describe a complicated arrangement. It’s that place that’s diagonal from, no, the other diagonal, I mean across the corner, no , not on the same side of the street, oh hell, it’s kitty-corner. See? Corner+ a kitty. You know how they never walk in a straight line. No, actually, it appears to be old French.
Merriam-Webster says: in a diagonal or oblique position . Origin of KITTY-CORNER: kitty-corner alteration of cater-corner, from obsolete cater four + corner. First Known Use: 1838
It was very common when I was growing up in Kentucky.
My teacher’s used to say it all the time in elementary school especially when assigning new seating placements. I kind of just grew up with it. I live in SoCal if that matters.
It’s a phrase here in the region south of the Great Lakes and Billie is from Indiana, so it fits that she uses it, but evidently Ruth is mistaken to think it’s a general Americanism.
I always used this (I usually drop the ‘-ed’, and just say ‘catty-corner’), but thought it was spelled ‘caddy-corner’ (like the golf club carrier, as opposed to a feline). I saw an article about regional differences in using it or some other variation, and asked my parents about it. Apparently, my mom insists that it’s ‘kitty-corner’, and I never remember her saying it. I have no idea where I picked it up (maybe my grandparents?).
A fun alternative is ‘catty whompus’ (sp?), but I only say that when I’m purposefully trying to sound silly.
it’s a colloquialism and like tomato/potato it’s pronounced differently in different places. I did a report on it in grade school. comes from Middle English catre-corner
The Harvard Dialect Survey asked people across the US and made this map which seems to say that kitty-corner is more Northern US, catty-corner is more Southern US. Both seem to be more based in the Eastern US but that’s probably because they had more responses from the Eastern US than the Western US (as can be seen in this map of all participants). Though whether that’s a result of less people responding in the Western US or the surveyors contacting more people in the Eastern US is your guess as well as mine.
(As for me, I’m from New Jersey and I use catty-corner.)
She said herself that she can’t! Hey, if she still wanted to be called “The Master,” I wouldn’t be dumb enough to argue with her.
(Unless she demanded I say something nice to her. Then I’d tell her to piss off. Hey, I’ll probably die either way, may as well go out on my own terms!)
“But if you were to pursue the course of persuading me further, you could deign to demonstrate the deviant discourses we could discuss while you donned the dark design.”
I picked up “kitty-cornered” during the short time I lived in the States, and now I’ll use it up here in Alberta to give directions and people are like, “What huh?” A shame, as it’s a really useful concept.
I’m with Ruth here. Reminds me of the time I visited Florida and everyone stared at me bug-eyed for having no idea what a roly-poly is. Americans have some weird phrases.
Here in Arizona we have a little pest called a kidding bug. Officially it’s the cone-nose bug, but its behaviour got it nicknamed. Vicious little bastards, too — their bite leads to necrosis.
I had to look that up.
From archaic English ‘Cater’ for Diagonal , from the French quatre meaning four
Cater would be a useful word, but Im not “catty-cornering” .
That sounds like your living room was attacked by a Hello-Kitty throw pillow decorator.
( That might make a good super-villain )
Which explains why it’s so common in Kentucky, I suppose! That Lafayette fellow got around. Fayette County, Ky, Lafayette high school, and other random French names mispronounced and changed into local dialect. Witness Ver-sales.
Willis, please, I’m beggin’ ya here, whenever you do a Ruth/Billie Slipshine
comic, pleaaaaaaase draw Billie wearing those undies. Pretty please?
With sugar on top?
Willis, even if you do a Slipshine of them, you simply must give us one panel of Billie in that negligee in the regular strip! If you don’t, that’s what I’d call a strip tease.
She antagonized Billie because her parents were killed by a drunk driver leaving her with strongly held views pertaining to Billie’s irresponsible drunken antics.
She also happened to find Billie attractive, which for the moment has been pushed to the forefront of their relationship. There is no known causal link between the antagonism and the attraction though.
Thanks! I was a bit confused- Sorry if I came off as a bit superior-feeling. I tried to word my comment as “I’m genuinely confused” but it came off more as “haha im confused u silly butt how does that even work” which is a bit more jerkish than I would like. Thanks for the little education lesson. Meat Cleaver.
!!!! Ooh — you are wicked! But I guess Beaver Cleaver itself is a pretty porny name, so we shouldn’t be surprised if he ended up in porn. They should have done an episode in which Ward sat Beaver down for “The Talk”.
I suppose this is why Willis said that Mary HAD to be in that specific room when he was giving us the general floor plan like two years back. For “reasons” lol.
I worry a bit that these two will develop a habit of using sex (and sexual intimacy, etc.) to avoid having to address their problems to each other, though.
Heck, Cicero wore a tunic and the stuff Socrates ran around in beggared description. Heck, when people reprimanded Diogenes for running around masturbating naked in public, he said he’d only wish one could fight hunger by rubbing one’s belly.
Now if that does not render all arguments invalid, I don’t know what does.
No, that’s Hoosiers. However, ARE you talking about people FROM Indiana or people IN Indiana. I have a sense that pretty much all of the famous people from Indiana left. Some of us ended up here through no fault of our own.
I dunno. Yeah, sure, there’s all sorts of disfunction and potential issues here, but you really do have to factor in the negative consequences of breaking up before you can weigh options and say that one’s better than the other.
So, how many megatons are we talking about when these two break up?
Ruth is verbally abusive, emotionally abusive , physically violent and thinks nothing of invading peoples spaces but imagine if Ruth was a guy doing all those things.
1. He’s called Mike.
2. You ignore the fact that Billie’s pretty fucked up herself. They’re two people who’ve stumbled on the block of life, and are trying to improve themselves together.
How many of those abuses are she engaging in now that they’ve been trying to have a relationship, or trying to be nice to each other, though? If you’re going to find reasons the relationship is bad for them, I think things they are actually doing to each other, or things they are likely to do, rather than things they are did are the most relevant.
Like, say, “they seem to try to brush over their problems by bribing each other with physical intimacy” or “they’re enabling each other to not seek help for their alcoholism or depression”.
That’d be Mike, one of the most popular characters in the strip. And that isn’t what I hate about Mike either (Which is the way he’s treated as a mastermind and free from the consequences of his actions. This isn’t nearly as much a thing in DoA, so Mike doesn’t bother me nearly as much here).
Like, seriously, you’re not touching the real problems. They’ve been pretty great to each other so far after working out their mutual attractions. The problems relate to the possibility (pretty strong) of enabling each other’s problems and the (currently nominal) difference in power; the latter I’m not as sure on, because even before sleeping together, Billie had enough to end Ruth too, if they really wanted to go after each other.
Ruth is verbally abusive, emotionally abusive , physically violent, demeans her in front of her peers and thinks nothing of invading peoples spaces, if Ruth was a guy doing all those things I doubt you’d be as supportive.
Except Billie suffers from that too- They’re two fucked-up people trying to get better together and at least spare others the trouble of dealing with them. I see no issue with it.
There’s no stability, they’\re going to drag each other down and destroy themselves. When you put two alcoholics together they don’t get better, they drink. When you put two depressed people together they don’t get happy, they remain depressed.
But what are they doing right now? They’re collaborating and planning for more long-term aspects of the relationship (Pre-Marital Hanky Panky is part of a relationship) They’re working on drinking together. They’re being happy together. You’re saying something’s going to fail while all signs point towards a modicum of success.
Catty cornered eh? We say kitty cornered up here in Canada…though I have to admit it’s not used often. Of course, how often do you need to talk about something diagonally across from you?
And Willis is all like: get a load of the lingerie, and everyone else is like: what the hell is catty-cornered? lol The word nerd in me is entertained.
…I have never, EVER heard the phrase catty-cornered. Or kitty-cornered. It is confusing to me.
Seriously, where the he’ll does it come from?! It just means “across from”, or “diagonal”, I’m assuming from context. Where do cats or corners come into it?!
Ruth’s panel 4 face quite tickles me, particularly combined with Billie’s face in panels three through five!
My parents both use the term kitty-cornered, though it never really found its way into my general usage. I did, however, pick up the word ‘cattywampus’ from them, to describe something as being unaligned or in disarray. I probably snagged that one because it’s a much funnier word.
So, Mary only saw Billie leave Ruth’s room, right? If she didn’t actually hear them do anything or see them do anything romantic or sexual, she has no real proof. Billie can say she was talking to her about a roomie problem or something, right? RIGHT? I CAN’T LET ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO THIS COUPLE I LOVE THEM PLEASE LET ONE GOOD THING WORK
Oh my cheese! Someone just said “catty-corner” on Food Network! Making that officially the second time ever I have ever heard that phrase, as opposed to “kitty-corner.”
Knowing this commentariat, and considering the contents of this strip, I’m absolutely amazed how many of the comments are about “catty-corner” rather than of the form “Ruth and/or Billie perform a thing involving lingerie!”
I would love to see them perform a thing involving lingerie, but I would very much like to see them both get themselves into a slightly more healthy mental state, first. Assuming they can survive the hell beast that is Mary, I truly believe that they can eventually actually be quite good for each other, although I fully expect some further internal hurdles to overcome, first.
But once they are in that better place together, by all means bring on the sexy times! And include Billie wearing that thing she just showed Ruth!
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THE HELL WAS I SAYING AGAIN?!
Gotta cut down on those “Groovy Bears”, Cheryl….er…a Carol…
YOU ARE NOT MY SUPERVISOR
Mary is an agent of the Lord. She has x-ray vision and can see through walls and stuff.
None of what you said has yet to be disproven. She could be an angel sent to test us all.
American from the East Coast going to school in Indiana, and I have yet to ever hear “Catty Cornered” or any of its variants. Odd.
Also, I hope (and am afraid) that we’re going to see various funny images of characters in that garment that Billie is holding up.
Starting with, let’s say… Jason.
I grew up in Michigan and always heard “kitty-cornered”. What do they say in Canada,I wonder?
out west I hear kitty-corner. I hate it though. I say diagonally across
I’ve never heard this term before (in Canada).
Out in southern Illinois, we say it ‘caddy-corner’.
In Northern Illinois is Kitty Cornered
Also
Nice to know other people in the state know this expression exists lol
Middle of Canada (Winnipeg) I can assure you kitty-corner is common, though falling out of favour.
I think the joke is that there is a stereotype that Americans often use idioms wrong. “Kitty cornered” is correct… nobody says “catty cornered” unless they also say things like “intensive purposes”.
mmmaaayyybe…
gonna be honest though. as someone from the same canadian city as ruth, i’ve gotta say that we don’t use that phrase here. i didn’t even know it was a thing until today. we just say diagonally across.
i think she’s just surprised at a phrase that, lets be honest, sounds ridiculous if you’re hearing it for the first time.
I’ve only ever heard catty-cornered (SC). I only found out that some people say “intensive purposes” in college. **shrug** We use it to mean diagonally across (touching), “across and over one” (not exactly diagonal, but land-parcel or buildings), or anything that’s tangential but at a funky angle.
Actually, neither is correct, it’s really “cater-corner” http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cater-corner Nothing to do with “cat” or “kitty”.
South-East Michigan here, and it’s “kitty-cornered,” or, occasionally “kit-corner.”
Wait I’ve never heard this in Winnipeg, where I’ve spent the past two months.
California here. It’s new to me
‘ Kitty-corner ‘ in Canada, though not something you hear often
From Michigan, grew up in a handful of other states, now living in Arkansas. I say kitty-corner; our stylebook at work says catty-corner. (And I thought that was super weird when I first saw it.)
In Canada they just say “across from Tim Hortons”
Canadian’s say “kitty-cornered”, as the comic implies.
I DO think “catty” is the correct adjective to describe Mary’s general direction, however. 😉
Caddywompus is my favorite.
Another caddywompus-er! We can be caddywompus buddies.
I always thought cattywompus (or caddywompus) meant all out of whack.
I’ve heard “Kitty-Corner,” but we in the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, which I’ll admit has quite a few quirks of its own) typically just say “diagonal.”
No, I’m from Long Island and I’ve always heard catty-cornered (though I’ll admit I thought it was caddy-cornered until this discussion.
Pennsylvania, a few folks say “catty-cornered” or “caddy-cornered.”
And this thread, dear children, explains the evolution of languages.
Only if Angels only serve to spread misery. Somehow, I doubt that. I also somehow doubt that an angel would stoop as low as blackmail when dealing with sinners. If I recall my bible study correctly, they seemed to be fond of destroying cities…
We don’t know what Mary does with her free time (besides spy on people apparently) She could give blood and donate to the poor. Maybe she’s just a bongo whenever we see her.
Well, we know what she doesn’t do with her free time. Get dressed before noon.
Or 3:00 for that matter.
Angels don’t have blood.
So…you don’t watch Supernatural, then?
Not all angels exist for the same purpose. Some are guides, some are punishers, some are testers.
And some weep.
That’s super, man.
omg I love the faces
So cute! So wonderfully cute! ^^
Always appeal to the ever wondrous lady boner.
That somehow sounds like a card combo from cards against humanity.
Hey! I use the term catty-cornered…
Yeah, what’s wrong with catty-cornered?!
I live on the east coast of the US and I’ve never heard of the term before.
I’ve heard of *kitty*-corner, but not *catty*-corner.
I live in Minnesota and have always said kitty-corner. I can’t speak for the rest of the state though. 😉
Also from Minnesota, and I’ve never heard catty-corner. Only kitty-corner.
A third Minnesotan, I can confirm that I’ve never heard “catty-corner”, but I have heard “kitty-corner”.
I am from California. (Hi Minnesotans, thanks for the Replacements) and I’ve also only ever heard “kitty-corner.” “Catty-cornered”: never ever not ever never.
Let us obviate this issue by henceforth only referring to this peculiar directional description as “gring-bong-ba-diddly-oh’d,.” Like so: “The bank? Oh it’s just across – well, it’s gring-bong-ba-diddly-oh’d to that shoeshine station yonder. That should clear everything up.
I’m from California and it’s “catacorner” here.
I’m in MN as well- born and raised in Chicago and back in the Midwest after a 10 year period of living in OH, FL, CA and GA and I’ve only hear “kitty-corner.” I’m not 100% about the Ed at the end either.
Am I seriously the only person in America who’s ever heard the term “catty-corner” before? Family is from Florida and Kentucky, mostly, and I’m currently residing in Ohio.
Wow, lots of Minnesotans here. haha
I’m in WA, I say “kitty,” but I met someone once who was also from WA and said “catty.”
High five, I’m from DC and I’ve only heard it the past few months since I moved to Illinois.
I grew up in Brooklyn and have known this term since I was a kid.
but kitty-corner is weird to me, I’ve heard it before once or twice but it’s just weird
I’m feeling the Catty-Corner variant is something in and around the north east US. Or maybe just in an around New York. My folks used to be from the New York area until their families moved out to Cali when they were young. It was always “Catty-Corner” for me growing up. Kitty-Corner sounds strange to me as well.
East Coast, DC area, and I’ve heard catty-cornered. Might be the southern roots – then again my mom’s ppl are from Illinois too.
I guess it’s like “cutting the wheel” when driving – though I’ve heard that in the northeast too
I’ve heard catty-cornered from my folks, who were born in Ohio and Philadelphia. I heard both catty-cornered and kitty-cornered in Dallas, but mostly catty-cornered.
“Cutting the wheel,” however, is a new one on me. What’s it mean?
Some northern places use “cater-corner.” I think many American regions slogged “cater” to “catty.” Kinda catty of us? 😛
i’m canadian. so far as i know cater-corners are not a thing either.
i think ruth might agree.
Australian, and I think you’re all talking gibberish.
I’m Californian and I agree with the Aussie over there.
Californian born & bred and I say catty-corner (but not “catty-cornered”).
Texan here and completely confused by all of this.
Masshole here, never heard either term before until my Californian wife said “kitty-cornered”. May as well have been rubbish before that.
Couldn’t agree with ya more, mate.
i’m from the same city as ruth and i have no clue what that even means….
The hell does that even mean?
It means “in a diagonal direction”. Like if you’re at the 7-11 on the southwestern side of the street and you need to get to the Target on the northeastern side, that’s catty/kitty cornered.
why such a complicated name for something so simple
NewllEnd, it’s because the concept implies geographic relations to a street or hallway. “Diagonally” actually has more syllables, if you count, as does, “across from, but not laterally across from. Sort of up and to the left, right across the hall.”
Rather, it’s a simple name to describe a complicated arrangement. It’s that place that’s diagonal from, no, the other diagonal, I mean across the corner, no , not on the same side of the street, oh hell, it’s kitty-corner. See? Corner+ a kitty. You know how they never walk in a straight line. No, actually, it appears to be old French.
Merriam-Webster says: in a diagonal or oblique position . Origin of KITTY-CORNER: kitty-corner alteration of cater-corner, from obsolete cater four + corner. First Known Use: 1838
It was very common when I was growing up in Kentucky.
You win 10 internets for this excellent sleuthing! Love, an etymology nerd.
It’s much older than that: it shows up on the title page of one of the Martin Marprelate pamphlets in 1589.
My teacher’s used to say it all the time in elementary school especially when assigning new seating placements. I kind of just grew up with it. I live in SoCal if that matters.
I would just say across… Maybe diagonally across.
According to Google, it means diagonally opposite. I’ve never heard this IRL though.
I’m from the western United States and I have NO idea what that means.
I’m from the western United States and I know exactly what it means, and have heard it used plenty of times.
It’s a phrase here in the region south of the Great Lakes and Billie is from Indiana, so it fits that she uses it, but evidently Ruth is mistaken to think it’s a general Americanism.
I always used this (I usually drop the ‘-ed’, and just say ‘catty-corner’), but thought it was spelled ‘caddy-corner’ (like the golf club carrier, as opposed to a feline). I saw an article about regional differences in using it or some other variation, and asked my parents about it. Apparently, my mom insists that it’s ‘kitty-corner’, and I never remember her saying it. I have no idea where I picked it up (maybe my grandparents?).
A fun alternative is ‘catty whompus’ (sp?), but I only say that when I’m purposefully trying to sound silly.
I think that’s getting it confused with “gallywhompus”, which means “chaotic, askew, out of alignment”.
This is hands-down my new most favorite word.
I don’t think it’s as common, but I know at least a few people that said it was their go-to word instead of the other options.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/catawampus
I’m from England, living in the US southwest, and I say “kitty-cornered” with some regularity.
Ohio checking in. Catty-corner is totally a thing around here, folks.
Course, Willis LIVES in Ohio, so I guess that isn’t too surprising…
NY suburbs checking in- Never heard of it till now, but totally using it.
Okay, it should be clear by now that catty-corner(ed) is a southern thing. Though perhaps not exclusively, it seems.
I live in Hawaii. Never even heard of the term until today.
Southern Michigan. Kitty-corner.
Missouri checking in. Always used Catty-Corner, though pronounced more like Caddy-Corner here.
St. Louis, I use caddy-corner.
I’ve lived all my life in Indiana and I’ve never heard of “catty-cornered” until now.
it’s a colloquialism and like tomato/potato it’s pronounced differently in different places. I did a report on it in grade school. comes from Middle English catre-corner
The Harvard Dialect Survey asked people across the US and made this map which seems to say that kitty-corner is more Northern US, catty-corner is more Southern US. Both seem to be more based in the Eastern US but that’s probably because they had more responses from the Eastern US than the Western US (as can be seen in this map of all participants). Though whether that’s a result of less people responding in the Western US or the surveyors contacting more people in the Eastern US is your guess as well as mine.
(As for me, I’m from New Jersey and I use catty-corner.)
Massachusetts here, I’ve heard kitty-corner used, but its not exactly common. I think people here know what it means though
Billie raises a fair point.
I think Billie raised at least three points.
I thought she was raising a negligee? Or is that a camisole? A chemise?
Ladies, your sexy underwear is too complicated. And the sexiest choice is “None”.
Said by a man who spends most of his life in a spinning, blue box. The art of wearing less by wearing more is one that men simply refuse to master.
Says the kid that likes to show off plenty of leg for his Princess.
As a bisexual, I fully support the leg-showing.
…did somebody say the Master?
He loves it when you say his name.
Except (s)he can’t really continue using that name, now can (s)he?
Tell her she can’t. See what it gets you. 😉
She said herself that she can’t! Hey, if she still wanted to be called “The Master,” I wouldn’t be dumb enough to argue with her.
(Unless she demanded I say something nice to her. Then I’d tell her to piss off. Hey, I’ll probably die either way, may as well go out on my own terms!)
Now, that’s not necessarily true; some guys like rocking a suit.
Admittedly, male underwear tends towards the utilitarian.
She probably raised quite a few of the reader’s fair points.
Do you speak entirely in sexual innuendo?
a woman after my own heart…..
…
…
😉
no i don’t have any cue who i’m talking about.
Mary, clearly
mary performs a HORRIFYING JUDGMENT OF HER FELLOW (WO)MAN. how thrilling
It’s SUPER EFFECTIVE!
Worst. Slipshine. EVER.
i think you mean BEST, sir.
everyone loves a twist ending.
Well played, Billie.
Mary needs to mind her own damn business. One day, her being nosy will get her shot.
Being nosy will get her punched… in the nose.
Either that or punched then shot
Or a shot in the punch.
Nah, Mary probably doesn’t go to that kind of party.
Mary delenda est
“Your textile-based rejoinder has convinced me, moreso than any ethos, logos, or pathos ever could.”
“But if you were to pursue the course of persuading me further, you could deign to demonstrate the deviant discourses we could discuss while you donned the dark design.”
I picked up “kitty-cornered” during the short time I lived in the States, and now I’ll use it up here in Alberta to give directions and people are like, “What huh?” A shame, as it’s a really useful concept.
I live in Alberta, and kitty-corner is an old-person thing in my family at least.
i find that “diagonal” works just fine
I really hope delicious justice is served to the bongo mary.
Me too
Being May I a kind of punishment in and of itself.
Delicious Justice? Like dipping her in chocolate?
I was thinking caramel.
Don’t involve the Walkertons in your SHAMEFUL LUST.
I dunno, something makes me think Walky would be down for sexy lesbian suicide pacts, just saying.
It can’t, Mary is serving justice to Ruth for hitting her.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your comeuppance grow
It was completely worth it, fuck you if anyone disagrees.
Ruth blushing is my new favorite thing <3
I’ve never heard the phrase “Catty Cornered” before in my life before reading this comic and I’m American. What does that even mean?
Also hell yes it was worth it!
I’ve heard kitty cornered before.
I’m with Ruth here. Reminds me of the time I visited Florida and everyone stared at me bug-eyed for having no idea what a roly-poly is. Americans have some weird phrases.
“roly-poly” you know that cute little bug that rolls up in a ball when you poke it, the name seems to fit.
“Doodlebugs” is what I always heard them called. But then I heard “catty-corner” when I was growing up, too. In the 60’s.
I hadn’t heard doodlebugs before, that’s a new one.
Relevant: http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2013/06/who-says-what-where-dictionary-of-american-regional-english-online.html
I use ‘catty-corner’, but have generally lived in one of the white-ish areas (where both are used).
Annnd, I don’t know why that was a reply, whoops.
My family called them pillbugs.
I’ve heard them referred to as roly-polys and doodle bugs. I’ve occassionally heard pill bug.
Here in Arizona we have a little pest called a kidding bug. Officially it’s the cone-nose bug, but its behaviour got it nicknamed. Vicious little bastards, too — their bite leads to necrosis.
Oh, we call them assassin bugs.
Where I’m from, we call them “nope-bugs”
Sure, there’s the roly-poly aka pill bug, but then there’s also the firefly aka lightning bug. At least the names are descriptive.
In the west they are pill bugs, not rolly-pollies
I call them freedom-rollers
Billie used lingerie. Its super effective.
I’m American and even I raised an eyebrow at “catty-cornered”.
I think we just saw Ruth’s brain do a hard reset.
^ This!
After a hard reset, everything is like once before. That’s quite the opposite from nothing ever being the same again.
I’ve always known that underwear is the solution to all problems.
It saved the world from Emporor Pilaf.
Is that like a regional thing? Cause I’ve never heard that term in my life.
I had to look that up.
From archaic English ‘Cater’ for Diagonal , from the French quatre meaning four
Cater would be a useful word, but Im not “catty-cornering” .
That sounds like your living room was attacked by a Hello-Kitty throw pillow decorator.
( That might make a good super-villain )
I am sticking with “diagonally across”
hear hear
Ah, that quatre corner thing makes sense. From the Harvard Press link given above, it sure looks like catty-corner radiated out from Louisiana.
Which explains why it’s so common in Kentucky, I suppose! That Lafayette fellow got around. Fayette County, Ky, Lafayette high school, and other random French names mispronounced and changed into local dialect. Witness Ver-sales.
Here in Florida you hear almost all of them, though I was raised on catty-cornered.
kitty-cornered! :3
Of course you don’t. Catty-corner is an adjective, not a verb.
Ruth is slowly going to turn into The Mountie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_r06TGDxYo
I think rather this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9NAu3sPJFk
Willis, please, I’m beggin’ ya here, whenever you do a Ruth/Billie Slipshine
comic, pleaaaaaaase draw Billie wearing those undies. Pretty please?
With sugar on top?
Seconded.
Willis, even if you do a Slipshine of them, you simply must give us one panel of Billie in that negligee in the regular strip! If you don’t, that’s what I’d call a strip tease.
Ba-dum TSSSSSSSSSSSS
That’s some negligee-able evidence right there.
Oh You rascal.
😀
:)!
After all that criticizing Billy’s weight, Ruth is sure all-in on her…
Remember, all women are most attracted to whatever stereotype they complain about the most.
…and all men make sexist blanket generalizations.
…
I do a combination of both, thank you very much! tch, men.
Was the last part meant to be ironic as well?
It thought it was well established Ruth was all-in on Billie since the start? And that was precisely why she antagonized her so much?
She antagonized Billie because her parents were killed by a drunk driver leaving her with strongly held views pertaining to Billie’s irresponsible drunken antics.
She also happened to find Billie attractive, which for the moment has been pushed to the forefront of their relationship. There is no known causal link between the antagonism and the attraction though.
It’s true. I treat blankets differently depending on their gender. It happens less since I became aware of it, but old habits die hard.
Secret lesbian dorm sex and lingerie? This is too much like my life for comfort.
…go on…
Your life sounds AWESOME.
So “ColdOnMars” actually is a cacophemism for “HotOnVenus”.
Ruth is thinking with the wrong head. 😀
…I certainly…I certainly hope not.
What other head? I mean, I thought that was a penis-haver only thing?
The clit counts as a head since it’s the female version of a guy’s bell-end.
Thanks! I was a bit confused- Sorry if I came off as a bit superior-feeling. I tried to word my comment as “I’m genuinely confused” but it came off more as “haha im confused u silly butt how does that even work” which is a bit more jerkish than I would like. Thanks for the little education lesson. Meat Cleaver.
Meat Cleaver: Grown up Beaver’s porno name?
!!!! Ooh — you are wicked! But I guess Beaver Cleaver itself is a pretty porny name, so we shouldn’t be surprised if he ended up in porn. They should have done an episode in which Ward sat Beaver down for “The Talk”.
Actually, I’m taking a guess the blush was because Ruth’s embarrassed since those are HER panties, not Billie’s.
I suppose this is why Willis said that Mary HAD to be in that specific room when he was giving us the general floor plan like two years back. For “reasons” lol.
Oh man. That looks super sexy. People would probably love to see me draw Billie wearing that. Wouldn’t ya?
Oh well.
EXPLAIN THIS CRYPTIC “OH WELL” AT ONCE.
<abbr title="I'm being coy cuz I want to draw it but I also need money for commissions."Oh, It's nothing.
whoopsie.
THE JIG IS UP
THE SQUARE DANCE IS DOWN
Sent you an ask
You diabolical tease.
Sliiiiiiiipshiiiiiiiine~
Sliiiiipshiiiiiiiineeeeeeee
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck nooooooooooo
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucking (you walked right into that one)
Scrooooooooooooooooge! I am the ghoooooooooooost of Slipshines paaaaaaaaaaaaaaast!
Also, Ruth’s hand shifting when she sees it- Nice detail, Willis!
Who the fuck outside the 1950’s has ever used the term “Catty Cornered”?
…I have.
Here you go!
http://harvardpress.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341d17e553ef0192aaf808a5970d-pi
Oh, the lesbian hanky panky is real
no it’s a myth. Like Bigfoot or pirates.
Speaking as a fellow Canadian to Ruth, what the hell does Catty Cornered mean?
Adjacent to, basically.
Nope. On opposite corners.
I’m in the USA and I’ve never heard catty-corner used either. It’s always been kitty corner.
“Ruth skips a class”?
I worry a bit that these two will develop a habit of using sex (and sexual intimacy, etc.) to avoid having to address their problems to each other, though.
God forbid!
:: gets popcorn::
To be fair, that’s about the least unhealthy coping mechanism we have seen them using so far.
I have a hot and skimpy outfit. Your argument is invalid.
that’s how I won all my debates in high school.
Heck, Cicero wore a tunic and the stuff Socrates ran around in beggared description. Heck, when people reprimanded Diogenes for running around masturbating naked in public, he said he’d only wish one could fight hunger by rubbing one’s belly.
Now if that does not render all arguments invalid, I don’t know what does.
All the great men and women of history are perverts. That must be what Willis is going for.
Diogenes was the greatest of all trolls.
For Billie I think that’s canon
I grew up in Germany and only know of the term Kitty Corner. Never heard of it as Catty Corner…
I grew up in the US and I only ever heard of kitty-corner. Indiana is weird. People from Indiana are weirdos.
No, that’s Hoosiers. However, ARE you talking about people FROM Indiana or people IN Indiana. I have a sense that pretty much all of the famous people from Indiana left. Some of us ended up here through no fault of our own.
The sooner these two break up the better it’ll be for both of them
I dunno. Yeah, sure, there’s all sorts of disfunction and potential issues here, but you really do have to factor in the negative consequences of breaking up before you can weigh options and say that one’s better than the other.
So, how many megatons are we talking about when these two break up?
Ruth is verbally abusive, emotionally abusive , physically violent and thinks nothing of invading peoples spaces but imagine if Ruth was a guy doing all those things.
1. He’s called Mike.
2. You ignore the fact that Billie’s pretty fucked up herself. They’re two people who’ve stumbled on the block of life, and are trying to improve themselves together.
How many of those abuses are she engaging in now that they’ve been trying to have a relationship, or trying to be nice to each other, though? If you’re going to find reasons the relationship is bad for them, I think things they are actually doing to each other, or things they are likely to do, rather than things they are did are the most relevant.
Like, say, “they seem to try to brush over their problems by bribing each other with physical intimacy” or “they’re enabling each other to not seek help for their alcoholism or depression”.
That’d be Mike, one of the most popular characters in the strip. And that isn’t what I hate about Mike either (Which is the way he’s treated as a mastermind and free from the consequences of his actions. This isn’t nearly as much a thing in DoA, so Mike doesn’t bother me nearly as much here).
Like, seriously, you’re not touching the real problems. They’ve been pretty great to each other so far after working out their mutual attractions. The problems relate to the possibility (pretty strong) of enabling each other’s problems and the (currently nominal) difference in power; the latter I’m not as sure on, because even before sleeping together, Billie had enough to end Ruth too, if they really wanted to go after each other.
No, Ruth, no! You’re the older woman here! You’ve matured out of your teenage years! You’re not supposed to be ruled by your hormones any more!
Everyone always is- How do you explain half the wars that’ve ever happened?
“In Which Ruth Slowly Turns Into Jason”
Hard to imagine these two almost killed each other at the start!
They are. In a sexy lesbian suicide pact.
Sometimes love, right where you hating most kate monster.
Grr to folks who want them to break up. I slip these two more than any couple in the DOAverse.
And I learned kitty corner from my mom who was east/west coast. I don’t use it much, but when I do it’s the perfect phrase.
Ruth is verbally abusive, emotionally abusive , physically violent, demeans her in front of her peers and thinks nothing of invading peoples spaces, if Ruth was a guy doing all those things I doubt you’d be as supportive.
And even if she’d really moved beyond all that there’s the emotionally dependant, self-destructive, suicidal alcoholic thing to consider.
Except Billie suffers from that too- They’re two fucked-up people trying to get better together and at least spare others the trouble of dealing with them. I see no issue with it.
There’s no stability, they’\re going to drag each other down and destroy themselves. When you put two alcoholics together they don’t get better, they drink. When you put two depressed people together they don’t get happy, they remain depressed.
But what are they doing right now? They’re collaborating and planning for more long-term aspects of the relationship (Pre-Marital Hanky Panky is part of a relationship) They’re working on drinking together. They’re being happy together. You’re saying something’s going to fail while all signs point towards a modicum of success.
At least Ruth does not copy and paste arguments.
I love it when fanon becomes canon.
I really shouldn’t be so surprised that Billie would bring a thing like that to college.
I love how she can get it out of her clothes pile without looking.
Of course, Mary makes ANY corner catty …
I’m still supportive of Mary’s plan for vengeance.
For real? vengeance for what?
Catty cornered eh? We say kitty cornered up here in Canada…though I have to admit it’s not used often. Of course, how often do you need to talk about something diagonally across from you?
I can safely say this is the first time I have ever heard “catty-cornered.” I have heard “kitty-cornered” before.
And Willis is all like: get a load of the lingerie, and everyone else is like: what the hell is catty-cornered? lol The word nerd in me is entertained.
I wonder if word nerds are a common problem for internet pornlords.
We are distractible that way.
I suppose that’s why Roz over in shortpacked spend equal amount of time alphabetizing things in individual zip bags as talking about sexy times.
…I have never, EVER heard the phrase catty-cornered. Or kitty-cornered. It is confusing to me.
Seriously, where the he’ll does it come from?! It just means “across from”, or “diagonal”, I’m assuming from context. Where do cats or corners come into it?!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cater-corner
I rather like the copy-and-paste Billie face in the last three panels. I’m not quite sure why it amuses me so much, but it does.
Ruth’s panel 4 face quite tickles me, particularly combined with Billie’s face in panels three through five!
My parents both use the term kitty-cornered, though it never really found its way into my general usage. I did, however, pick up the word ‘cattywampus’ from them, to describe something as being unaligned or in disarray. I probably snagged that one because it’s a much funnier word.
Panel 4 Ruth reminds me of myself whenever my gf dresses up.
Probably why I like this ship so much; it reminds me so much of us two.
Without the alcoholism and Suicidal ideation, right?
I grew up on/used “kitty-cornered” and AFAIK haven’t come across other variants until now.
Also I lived in FL so anything goes. *shrugs*
Looks a little small, Billie is gona have trouble fitting into th—*ANIME NOSEBLEED INTERRUPTION*
Oh come on. No nightwear is so small that you’d get nosebleeds from it.
Depends on if the straps break and hit my nose!
As an American, I have never ever used, nor even heard, someone say “catty-corner”
I spent half my life in England and the other half in California. I’ve never heard of this “catty-cornered” or “kitty-cornered” thing, what the hell?
Though thanks to the comments section, I now know what it is!
As an Aussie, kitty-cornered sounds like a slang term for trapping pussy, which considering Ruth is involved might be perfectly applicable here. 😀
I’m going to start using catty-cornered in everyday speech, and shoehorning reasons to use it where-ever I can.
And it’s perfectly clear Ruth has been waiting for a corset to enter her life. A while. A long while.
Delenda est Mary.
Billie is impressively composed, considering she had the perfect answer.
Also, I’m Meriken, and I’ve never in my life heard of ‘catty-corner’. I’m from South Alabama (Northwest Florida) so that’s probably part of it.
I’m from the Pacific Northwest America, and my mom uses “kitty-corner.” Never heard the other version.
Just for the record.
I’m from New England, and we say kitty-corner too. Never heard of catty-corner… must be a more senior corner.
As second dates goes, I think we have a winner
So, Mary only saw Billie leave Ruth’s room, right? If she didn’t actually hear them do anything or see them do anything romantic or sexual, she has no real proof. Billie can say she was talking to her about a roomie problem or something, right? RIGHT? I CAN’T LET ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO THIS COUPLE I LOVE THEM PLEASE LET ONE GOOD THING WORK
Oh my cheese! Someone just said “catty-corner” on Food Network! Making that officially the second time ever I have ever heard that phrase, as opposed to “kitty-corner.”
What is this, some “catty-corner” revolution?
Someone also said Kitty-Corner in the Rooster Teeth Podcast. I fear it may be a pandemic.
Worth it.
That totally works on me too. I know when my girlfriend wants to get frisky, because she brings out the matching underwear. Yep.
Knowing this commentariat, and considering the contents of this strip, I’m absolutely amazed how many of the comments are about “catty-corner” rather than of the form “Ruth and/or Billie perform a thing involving lingerie!”
I would love to see them perform a thing involving lingerie, but I would very much like to see them both get themselves into a slightly more healthy mental state, first. Assuming they can survive the hell beast that is Mary, I truly believe that they can eventually actually be quite good for each other, although I fully expect some further internal hurdles to overcome, first.
But once they are in that better place together, by all means bring on the sexy times! And include Billie wearing that thing she just showed Ruth!
I was so far behind and just caught up. So glad I did. Some of the best characters around. Great work.
“americans…” – uh, is Ruth not an american??
Nah, she’s Canadian! Which is why she’s so much cooler than all the other characters, obviously.
There’s also the irony that while Ruth is Canadian, Billie’s British-Chinese…so……yeah.
Everyone here says “cat-a-corner”
I guess that’s San Diego for you?