Interesting fact: [As far as I’m aware, growing up in the south myself] only non-southerners use Y’all in the singular, with southerners perhaps mostly strongly interpreting the singular usage as being indicative of a northerner who is attempting to fake familiarity with the dialect, or as a southerner purposefully misusing the term to make mockery of northerners. (Google appears to confirm this: For Example.) Given that Sal went to a southern school for an extended duration, it’s unlikely she’d confuse the usage.
Unless… is Dan playing with accompaniment now? Is Ethan strummin’ a banjo in the background, looking confused? Is Carla on drums? Mike on harp?
WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING OVER THERE.
Willis! Scene shift! Quickly!
As a southern-midwesterner (think South Iowa), I can confirm that people with my dialect will sometimes use “Y’all” as a singular address and use “All y’alls” as the plural address. Not everyone does it, but enough that I can comfortably conclude it’s a legit dialectic quirk and not a misinformed attempt at emulating the ‘southern’ accent.
I’ve never it done the way you describe in Texas, Florida, or Louisiana, at least.
Yer is a contraction of You are, Y’all of You all, and All’y’alls is a combined plural you use when referencing multiple groups. Eg, y’all would refer to a family you’re talking to one member of, while all’y’alls would clarify you’re intending your comments to apply to other families [eg, at a community picnic] as well. For example, “Y’all fired off fireworks yet” would specifically inquire if the family in question had fired fireworks, while “All’y’alls fired off fireworks yet?” would be inquiring if anyone at the picnic had fired fireworks off.
Those *are* the determinative structures involved, as is intuitively indicated by the root words forming the contractions. It’s certainly possible usage branched off naturally in other regions- and it’s even more likely that poor education led to pockets of unintentional misuse [in much the same way people have started incorrectly utilizing ‘Co-op’ to refer to any multiplayer game on Steam].
Again, it may be valid for your region, but that itself would presumably be a developed bastardization of the original usage, rather than a concurrent formation. If we’re talking formal literary application, it’d be as I described.
I had a friend in grade school who had moved up from Texas, and who occasionally used y’all in the singular and “All y’alls” in plural. I remember specifically because she gave a speech presentation called “Talking Texan” where she introduced us to different parts of the dialect, including how y’all can be used in a number of circumstances and the usage of “all y’alls”.
I know I don’t have firsthand experience on this. However, I think it’s a little silly to just lump all of the southeastern United States into one big mega-dialect, without recognizing that there are regional variations and often several different types of speaking in a single state alone. It goes from silly to rude when you consider the fact that your entire reason for doing so is to criticize someone who used “y’all” singular to approximate Sal’s accent.
I really like this distinction because it is gramatically equivalente to what we brazilians use lol. Like, how th do you anglophones distinguish between you (singular) and you (plural)?? Then comes a dialect where you have you four singular and y’all for plural and my little latin heart is pleased.
That’s interesting. I’m very much a Northerner, and while I do use “y’all,” I can’t see myself ever using it in the singular. It just… doesn’t make sense or sound right to me. I was momentarily thrown by Ana’s use of it in the comment, but I choose to go with the idea that Danny has suddenly cloned himself and now both of them are playing the ukulele.
Suddenly Danny shimmers, and starts creating endless clones of himself while reality distorts in shape and color. And then, we get Dannies playing ukelele on parade.
I once had a friend who was a professor of linguistics, who specialized in American English dialects and who was a native of Jackson, Mississippi. Her observation was that people from border states were more likely to use singular “ya’ll” (her preferred spelling).
She also provided an example where a Yankee (her term) might assume “ya’ll” is a singular term. If a clerk at the local supermarket asked her, “How are ya’ll doing?,” both she and the clerk would understand that as “How are you and your family doing?,” while someone not familiar with the convention would assume that she was using a singular “ya’ll.”
Winston Churchill once japed that the US and the UK are divided by a common language. Sometimes, it seems that the US itself is divided by a common language. (Take the letter “R.” Please.)
That makes sense. As you say, I’d intuitively interpret that to mean ‘you and your family’, but I can see how it’d be taken as a singular. I suppose people’d just adapt their future interpretations off that first one, which is how we get all’y’all as a replacement for the *actual* y’all in at least the one region indicated by Sebastian above. Border states would likely pick up both usage and misuse naturally, which would then lead to them never correcting “yankees” when they pick up the misuse themselves.
Grief, I don’t believe I’m having be on the side of “A true southerner would..”. I mean, when has that phrase ever led to anything positive? 😛
Oh, the letter R. How poorly it’s treated up in the northeast…. Everyone from central Rhode Island swamp yankees to the likes of Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester III in Wellesley has their own way of taking a bat to its pronunciation.
You’d have fun trying to decipher some hardcore Fosta-Glosta swamp yankee speech, then. Or listen to Chevul from Creeanstin talk about how she and her husbin Vinnie took theyuh noo cah up ta Wright’s Fahm faw some fancy eatin’, onaccounta the shaw dinna place bein’ close.
The English R is just a really, really thick L anyway. If you want a proper R, then you either have the rolling R (Norwegian, Swedish, Scottish accent, Italian), or the throaty R (French, German, certain Norwegian dialects that are all horrible).
What region? I’ve lived all through NE and been in west Texas, and I’ve never once heard it used like that (while I have heard people mocking that misuse). You sure it’s not just misinterpretation as described by Marsh above?
Like, when you’re not with accompaniment? I guess they could be extending it as a re-affirmation, indicating that you’re needing to sit the same as any other patients already there. It could also just be that their medical degree qualifications skipped out on english prerequisites. 😛
Or, as noted by others, perhaps it’s a regional thing. Still, I’ve been all around the south-east and mid-west and never come across it used in a way that goes against the meaning of its composite words. I mean, the south isn’t exactly known for its high general education standards, but it’s such a regularly used word, with intuitive application, and easy-to-decipher roots. I mean, if I hadn’t grown up around it, I could probably imagine the south managing to be that haphazard with it- but again, I’ve never once come across that before, across decades of living in a multitude of locations within the southern US.
It’s not that I’m doubting the reports that run contrary to my experiences, it’s that I have trouble imagining those reports as being reflective of any common southern trend, given all my experiences- across so many places- which run so strongly in opposition. Like, I can totally appreciate smaller backwater towns running with that, or usage deformation as the phrase is transmitted northward, as per the explanation Marsh gave above. But otherwise, it’s a usage that- as Gandalf indicated below- just feels downright wrong; like someone trying to imitate the dialect and not quite succeeding.
Well, either way- it’s both a usage that runs contrary to established usage expectations and one which should theoretically still compose a minority of applications of the word. It’s also not possessive like yer, all’yer, y’all’er, etc. So for the actual topic at hand, the fact is that Sal would be extremely unlikely to use the word in that way, in that situation. And I guess that’s just about the best we can determine on the matter- especially given that it’s a fictional character that Willis can run contrary to expectations just as strongly as he darn well pleases. 😛
This is apparently an old argument. According to H.L. Mencken 70 years ago exclusive plural usage “is a cardinal article of faith in the South. … Nevertheless, it has been questioned very often, and with a considerable showing of evidence. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, to be sure, you-all indicates a plural, implicit if not explicit, and thus means, when addressed to a single person, ‘you and your folks’ or the like, but the hundredth time it is impossible to discover any such extension of meaning.”
Fellow Texan (central), and I pretty much never hear the singular y’all — it would just sound wrong!.
As others have described, y’all can be addressed toward one person when it implies a group (family, coworkers, etc.), but it’s in effect plural and never means that person alone.
Well, that’s not going to happen. Not comfortably anyway.
Now we’ve established that Amber still wants him, which makes any potential relationship with Ethan as fallout from Mike’s plot even more dramatic.
It’s sad, but she’s actually talking to someone about how she feels! Getting desperately needed emotional support instead of slinking off to be alone and hate herself!
Makes me incredibly happy to see her dealing with her feelings in a healthy way even while her barely contained tears make me sad because I cannot hug her through my computer
For once amidst an existence of otherwise being perpetually wrong in every way and form; FC is right. This has some serious potential for being an important and healthy part of Amber’s healing process.
Sal sung in front of him. Sal the girl who is essentially obsessed with retaining a constant image of coolness willingly sang in front of one of the dorkiest characters in the entire comic.
I think that’s true for most instruments, though. I think it’s just the prevalence of certain instruments (ie, guitar and piano) that makes us expect to see people skilled in their use; meanwhile, we have to dig harder to find that with less prominently utilized instruments.
R. Sugar is just amazing musically in general*, and then there’s everything about the nonmusical parts of the works she’s been part of too.
*She apparently wrote “I’m Just Your Problem”, the song that launched the Marcy/Bonnibel ship, for Adventure Time right after coming off the unpleasant ending of a relationship for example.
I liked Amber and Danny a lot, but if they did get back together, I hope Amber has grown as a person, because frankly, some of the stuff she said to him near the end was downright abusive.
I’d be ok with them getting back together if Amber sees a therapist to deal with her issues regarding her Amazi-Girl personality and stuff. Though I’m also kinda shipping Sal and Danny now.
Also, further confirmation that though Dorothy and Amber have been mistaken for each other, they are not the same person. They’re not even the same kind of NERD.
(note: amber (and maybe me) finding uke danny cute_)
Y’know, two days ago I watched drama like this unfold smugly assured that it’d be resolved in the five years of comics I hadn’t yet read. Now I’m stuck having no idea and I’m a spoiled impatient brat.
I mean, now I have to take time to think, and now I’m not even sure, am I supposed to want Amber to let Danny back in? Am I supposed to want him to doggedly keep after her? I’m not even done with It’s Walky! yet, so I can’t tell how much their characters are like their Walkyverse counterparts, or if Amber even has one.
Being new to a 20-year-old fandom is really taxing.
To save you time, (A) Amber doesn’t appear in It’s Walky!, but she’s a core character of Shortpacked! (B) Danny doesn’t (really) appear in Shortpacked! (they were both at a few weddings … they never really interact.) (C) Dumbing of Age is supposed to be independent of those comic strips. You don’t need to read them. So it’s really just a 7-year-old fandom you have to worry about 🙂
You’re supposed to feel however you feel. I sort of do want them to get back together but after Amber grows enough so she does not need to essentially control all the terms of the relationship and gives him a real apology and after Danny has some confidence in himself as a person and not a Pearl. (While gems in Steven Universe are all slaves, a Pearls entire value is as support to one specific other gem.) Although it might be good if Amber and Danny could both say our relationship was good in a lot of ways and I learned how to be better for my next relationship from the good and bad in this relationship.
Danny would take her back in an instant. The whole question should be if she should take him back. He’s the one who turned on a dime from being completely supportive to wanting her to totally change who she is. If you can’t trust someone emotionally, then you can’t trust them, period.
He didn’t want to completely change her. He was afraid she was putting herself in too much danger and suggested that she not do that. He wasn’t even giving her an ultimatum or anything.
He didn’t want to control her life. He had just learned that she had nearly died and never even told him about it. Suggesting that maybe she take a break from the activity that nearly lead to her death is incredibly reasonable. Even after she abruptly dumped him, Danny never stopped being supportive.
I completely get why she reacted how she did in those circumstances, but Danny was trying to do the right thing and talk to her about his concerns.
The small wooden dingy crashed up against the snowy shore. Where a small village lay waiting. The buildings were made of thick stone and had flat roofs. Men and woman walked around and other boats could be seen off the shore with men tossing out nets and rods.
Joyce: This place is nice.
Walky: *Shivers*
Burly Fisherman: Ah, I will get you guys some warmer clothing soon. For now please stay with me and my family at our humble cottage.
Dorothy: Is there anyway over these mountains?
Burly Fisherman: Occasionally people will come down on the mountain furs that roam the area. I hear that tomorrow a group of the King’s men are being sent down, perhaps you can go with them.
Billie: That’s good.
Burly Fisherman: Ah here is my home.
They walk inside to see the floor is made of stone and a stone furnace powered by coal is heating the home. There are five doors leading to different rooms in the house and large woolen rugs are everywhere. Smoke from the furnace bellows out of a small hole in the side of the building.
Danny: Cozy in here.
A small girl around five or six runs out of one of the adjacent rooms and looks up at the group with a bright smile on her face. She wears a thick woolen outfit and has her brownish hair tied back into a single pigtail. Her boots are made of wool with a base made of wood.
Danny: Hi there?
Burly Fisherman: This is my daughter Ophelia and I am Askel. My wife is away for the moment, but she should be home soon. Please make yourself comfortable
They sat and talked for a while about both their adventures and the history and lifestyle of the village. According to Askel, for a long time it was considered a mystery how the fish got into the closed off lake. Until, according to the only book of science in the entire village, it was discovered that the fish eggs would cling to the fur of the fur beasts which carried them around the mountain range.
After about thirty minutes Akels wife Chilam arrived, and placed a large fish boiling in water on the furnace. The heat from the meaty fish wafted through the air and ignited the hunger of our young heroes.
Billie: FOOD!
Dorothy: Don’t be rude Billie.
Askel: FOOD!
Walky: *Laughs*
Dorothy gave Walky an annoyed look before she cracked a hidden smile. Soon the sat around the floor with metal plates and cups made from the horns of the fur beasts.
That’s right his name is Scandinavian, but his wife’s is Native American and his daughter is named after a character in Hamlet. Try figuring that one out!
I always felt it was a real dick move for Dorothy to break up with Danny the first week of college.
I can understand she probably didn’t want to hurt him, but the combo of breaking his heart and starting the semester out on such a low note was a pretty brutal combination, not to mention if he choose that college just to be with her. If she broke up with him sooner, he may have went to another college that might be better for the direction he wanted to go toward education wise.
In the end, I guess it worked out, but I still felt it was crappy of Dorothy to wait so long.
To be fair to Dorothy, we didn’t see what they were like back in high school around the time of college decisions. She may have been telling explicitly NOT to base his college decision on her, but he went ahead and did so anyway. She may also have been like, “It’ll be nice to be at the same college for a bit, since I am all in with this relationship” (although that seems less likely to me) and then things changed.
I agree that Dorothy should have told him sooner, since it seemed like she new at least for a while before move in that it was over, but Danny’s college decision was his choice.
Yeah, but you know where you’re going long before the first day of school. She didn’t just find out when they showed up on campus. She knew most of the summer, at least. Nor was Danny exactly hiding his motivations.
Chalk it up to drama needs. Works better to see the breakup than to learn that they used to date, but broke up over the summer.
You’re assuming that Dorothy KNEW she wanted to break up with him long before she actually did it. Maybe the thought had crossed her mind a week or even a month before she did it, but switching to another college would’ve required her to break up with him months sooner. Even then, getting dumped wouldn’t have sucked any less. Danny is the one who made it all the way to college without a real plan of his own beyond “being with Dorothy”.
It would have been a dick move if she’d realized they probably wouldn’t last much longer and didn’t tell him that out of selfish reasons. I can see her trying to discuss those doubts, but being too gentle about it for Danny to really get her point. He was pretty clingy, and it’s unlikely he’d have understood anything short of actually dumping him.
Blaming Dorothy for the consequences of Danny’s ill-advised romantic gesture just feels wrong to me. There’s no sign whatsoever that she asked him or even encouraged him to follow her to college. HE is responsible for that decision. Even if she was sure enough that they wouldn’t last that the kind thing to do would’ve been to break up sooner, that shit is difficult and complicated, and nobody is good at it when they’re 18
It was a bad move to wait so long. The sad thing is that following her to school could either be the thing that told her that they really couldn’t make it work, or that made her realize she really couldn’t put it off.
I might be misremembering but my recollection is that Dorothy had been trying to get away from her relationship with Danny without the emotional trial of a direct confrontation. When Danny didn’t get the message and followed her to Indiana University, that is when she confronted him.
I suspect it was partly just trying to avoid the confrontation – though Dorothy hasn’t really seemed that conflict averse. Still, as I said above, it’s not like she just found out he was following her when they showed up.
And it’s not really like following her to IU is that big a deal – it is kind of the default school to go to. Chances are pretty good that’s where Danny would have wound up anyway. It’s not like he just followed her to the city and got a cheap apartment and bunch of part time jobs so he could be near her.
as someone who’s been through two relationships that both lasted years, both of their feelings are so…….spot on.
you miss them, but you know its not good for either of you, and you want what’s best for them.
but sometimes, all you can do is think about them, and think over every wrong thing you did and try to guess who things had been if you’d done something different.
relationships are really, really, REALLY tough. i love both these characters so much, and i hope they find their way, both romantically and in their general lives <3
So Amazi-Girl and Dorothy’s conversations have ended, and Amber and Dorothy have started talking more! They’re sort of hanging out! Ah yey I am excited! for both this budding friendship and the one that’s in full bloom (Danny and Sal).
Dorothy sounds like a therapist lol. With “i’m glad you were there to help pick up his pieces” and “would it help soothe your sorrow”. Gosh it sounds like something an actual therapist (eg. mine) would say. Amazing.
I just realized Dorothy and my therapist have some similarities when they’re trying to help people. I’m thinking of when Danny consulted Dorothy about his sexuality. She was also being quite therapist-like that time, bringing up some scientific research about the topic.
You go to enough therapy, you’ll eventually pick a few unconscious tricks. I have a lot of similarities with Dorothy, one being that we’ve both spent a bunch of time in therapy, and somehow always end up playing therapist for a bunch of friends XD
Poor Amber! I knew that she felt like this about Danny moving on.
You know what’s the best and most healthy part of this? She’s not obsessing about Sal being the one with whom Danny is moving on. No, Sal barely comes into it; what matters to her is the fact that she still wants Danny and realises that maybe she’s made a mistake.
I’ve suddenly getting this awful suspicion (for Danny) that he’s going to be the unwitting focus of several girls’ attention and competition. He’s so good natured that I’m wondering how he’d handle that!
“What? Danny has two girls interested in him because of his ukulele? Are you crazy? I’m looking at him and there is no sign of these ‘hot girls’!” Last panel is a nervous Danny with Sal on one arm and Amber on the other just managing not to snarl at each other.
Girls love them ukulele playing bad boys… damn now I have this mental image of Danny behaving like Miguel from Road to El Dorado where he was strumming his I dunno… guitar? with that serious look on his face.
Also, while I agree that it’s important for a person to be self-sufficient, is it really so bad being somebody’s world? In my almost 40 years on this planet, I’ve seen many people come and go from my life. Friends eventually drift apart. Parents pass away. Kids will eventually leave you (and well they should, for they need to live their own lives and raise their own families). At the end, all you will have is somebody who hopefully you are the world to, because otherwise they may end up leaving you too, whether it’s for a career, hobbies, or someone else.
Far too often we do not realize what a treasure we have until it is gone.
I think that being someone’s world in the way Dorothy meant it was incompatible with independence. And personally… yeah, your life should be built for you. Someone should be with you and stay with you because of how you add to each other’s lives, rather than how one (or both) of you couldn’t handle being without the other.
An idealised view, I know, and not one that’s reflected by reality, but in my opinion that’s what a healthy relationship looks like.
I dunno, Dorothy’s view of Danny seems so. . . patronizing. She broke up with him to help him, not because she didn’t want to be with him anymore. She broke up with him because she didn’t have time for a relationship, then took up Walky the next week. He’s really flourished. . . as some sort of ukulele dweeb, said with a smirk. She doesn’t seem to think much of him and definitely thinks she knows better than him what he needs.
Especially when considering how she reacted to Walky’s parents being politically connected, it does seem like Danny got ditched for not being useful enough to her ambitions, and that being papered over with a fair amount of condescension. I like Dorothy, but her interactions with Danny are a bit of a blemish on her generally sterling character.
There was a strip last year where somebody (I believe it was Roz) accused Dorothy of basically “using” people. Every interaction she has, every friendship she cultivates, is ultimately always with her goal of becoming President someday in mind. Now, that’s not to say that Dorothy can’t genuinely want to do what’s best for people, but I think that sort of attitude can eventually turn poisonous. People start wondering if you have an ulterior motive for hanging out with them, for helping them, and wonder if you genuinely like them for them, or if it’s because you simply need them for something. It prevents you from forging real connections with people.
I believe Dorothy really tries to do the right thing. Not really wanting to be with Danny was not enough reason to break up, because that’s selfish.
Doing it for his own good allowed her to break up with him
People who wonder if she is exploiting them didn’t connect all her dots. Doing things because she thinks she should do them to improve her chances to get into Havard? Yes, she does.
Playing with people to gain power over them? She wouldn’t know where to start.
She still thinks becoming a president requires the intellectual skill to understand things on a factual basis and making god decisions. She doesn’t understand power and how you get it.
My personal interpretation of that line is Dorothy saying that she was all Danny knew/cared about. Not “being someone’s world” as in meaning a lot to someone, but as in someone being THE ONLY thing you care about; Danny didn’t seem like he had many plans for his future other than “being with Dorothy”, or at least that’s what it seemed like to her.
I guess there’s many ways to read “I was his world”, but that’s what I got from that.
It’s possibly a sign of the barriers between them breaking down, but it could also be a combination of Amber talking about her close friendship with Danny and recognising AG’s relationship with him. We will have to wait and see.
It’s interesting. It’s not the barriers breaking down, that’s for sure, but maybe more of them continuing to get worse. At first he was AG’s boyfriend, but that was mostly a “secret identity” thing. When in private, he treated them the same, despite her occasional protests. Mostly due to not understanding quite what was going on.
Their first time having sex, for example, it was Amber in bed with him after.
They still spent a lot of time together and were flirty from time to time.
The divide got stronger as time went on, but emotionally it never was “He’s dating Amazi-Girl, we’re just friends.”
The complexity of the relationship between Danny and Amber is as nothing besides the complexity of the relationship between Amber and Amazigirl. Even though Amber may have told herself that she was donning the mask to destroy Amazigirl, the fact is she was doing Amazigirl things, patrolling the campus, breaking up fights, being seen as a mysterious figure, filling the Amazigirl role. After the bit of apparent memory loss she may intentionally not be “being” Amazigirl but she is still “doing” Amazigirl, filling the Amazigirl role, just doing so as Amber. And there was never a clean distinction between them anyway, even if she wanted there to be. It was Amber who practiced Amazigirl’s skills and they are Amber’s skills too. If she was actually separate from Amazigirl, Amber’s reaction to Sal wouldn’t have changed for example. And the thing is, as long as the Amazigirl role is important to Amber and Danny won’t support her in that role, then I don’t see how there can be a future together for them. Though I suppose she could still tear off his clothes now and then anyway, I kind of question whether either of them would be okay with that, except as a thing that accidentally happened once.
“If Amber was actually separate from Amazi-Girl, her reaction to Sal wouldn’t have changed”
I don’t understand how that makes any sense. The different reactions make more sense with them being separate personalities, which they pretty clearly are. The memory loss she experienced is a classic sign that she dissociation is getting worse. Her brain is not allowing her to access Amazi-Girl’s memory’s as Amber. That’s not something you can “pretend” to do.
I think your answer is in your implied question.
there never was a clean break … Until Amber Attacked * Ryan.
They were alter-egos connected by dissociation. Amber broke the Rules she had set up with Amazigirl. Amber was always with Amazigirl but she described it as being a backseat passenger.
It was not mere memory loss but a complete Dissociative State. Amber didnt lose her memory of that night. She was never there.
But you raise a good point about her doing Amazigirl. That might not be such a good thing. Amber may have the limited power to keep Amazigirl from surfacing. But that doesnt mean she can stay in control In times of extreme stress. Ive suspected for a while that *Red background* pages arent just triggers for dissociation, But a separate Rage personality bleeding through. Amazigirl thinks this is Amber. She exists to channel that rage and passion in a controlled way.
BUt Amber still hates herself and is deeply ashamed of these feelings. I think if Amber goes into competition with Amazigirl, she will just split this off into a 3rd.
i think its was borderline ( synchrony ) whether she had BPD with dis-associative features, or full on Dissaociative Identity Personality Disorder.
But now instead of merely “splitting” **, she has full persona splits.
INMYHO
* attacked sounds undeserved. Amber Justiced Ryan gashface Batman-Style.
Amber Batmanned the fuck out of him.
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_(psychology)
“”a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation”.[9][10] In psychoanalytic theory, people with borderline personality disorder are not able to integrate the good and bad images of both self and others, resulting in a bad representation which dominates the good representation.[11] This school hypothesizes that they consequently experience love and sexuality as perverse and violent qualities which they cannot integrate with the tender, intimate side of relationships.[12]
Sounds just like Amber doesnt it? BUt Now I’m in the DID camp.
I couldn’t say this on the comics when it was relevant — was having trouble keeping up, and comments close after a while — but I need to get it out there. I actually prefer the NIN version of “Hurt” to the Johnny Cash version. I mean, I love Johnny Cash, and his cover is technically superior in most every way, but the quiet, drawn-out, pleading tone of the original speaks to me much more than the loud, almost confrontational, mournful drawl.
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well NOW I GOTTA learn how to play this thing
next comic tho:
Sal: “Ah wear this crown of thorns–”
Danny: “SHIT”
S: “What?”
D: “It’s SHIT!”
S: “YOU’RE shit!”
D: “No, it’s crown of SHIT”
S: “Hell, no, this is the Cash version! Weren’t ya listenin’ at ALL?”
D: “You’re covering a cover?? You have no musical integrity!!”
S: “Y’ALL PLAYIN’ A UKULELE”
D: “Well, I’m taking my ukulele and going home!”
S: “Whatever floats yer boat, Wonderbread”
*DEATH OF SANNY*
Something tells me Danny would be surprised to learn the Cash version was a cover.
Lots of people are surprised to learn that.
Sometimes I wonder if Trent Reznor is surprised.
Someone asked Reznor how he felt about Johnny Cash doing his (Reznor’s) song. Trent replied, “It’s Johnny’s song now.”
I had no idea Cash’s version was a cover! Thought his was the original!
As far as Trent Reznor’s concerned, it might as well be the original now.
LMAO
“Y’all”
Interesting fact: [As far as I’m aware, growing up in the south myself] only non-southerners use Y’all in the singular, with southerners perhaps mostly strongly interpreting the singular usage as being indicative of a northerner who is attempting to fake familiarity with the dialect, or as a southerner purposefully misusing the term to make mockery of northerners. (Google appears to confirm this: For Example.) Given that Sal went to a southern school for an extended duration, it’s unlikely she’d confuse the usage.
Unless… is Dan playing with accompaniment now? Is Ethan strummin’ a banjo in the background, looking confused? Is Carla on drums? Mike on harp?
WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING OVER THERE.
Willis! Scene shift! Quickly!
*most strongly.
Wish there was a short editing window after posting. :X
Oh, and for clarification: “Yer” is the southern singular form. 😛
Well, technically it’d be the singular form of Y’all’re, but that’s what you were going for anyway, yea?
As a southern-midwesterner (think South Iowa), I can confirm that people with my dialect will sometimes use “Y’all” as a singular address and use “All y’alls” as the plural address. Not everyone does it, but enough that I can comfortably conclude it’s a legit dialectic quirk and not a misinformed attempt at emulating the ‘southern’ accent.
I’ve never it done the way you describe in Texas, Florida, or Louisiana, at least.
Yer is a contraction of You are, Y’all of You all, and All’y’alls is a combined plural you use when referencing multiple groups. Eg, y’all would refer to a family you’re talking to one member of, while all’y’alls would clarify you’re intending your comments to apply to other families [eg, at a community picnic] as well. For example, “Y’all fired off fireworks yet” would specifically inquire if the family in question had fired fireworks, while “All’y’alls fired off fireworks yet?” would be inquiring if anyone at the picnic had fired fireworks off.
Those *are* the determinative structures involved, as is intuitively indicated by the root words forming the contractions. It’s certainly possible usage branched off naturally in other regions- and it’s even more likely that poor education led to pockets of unintentional misuse [in much the same way people have started incorrectly utilizing ‘Co-op’ to refer to any multiplayer game on Steam].
Again, it may be valid for your region, but that itself would presumably be a developed bastardization of the original usage, rather than a concurrent formation. If we’re talking formal literary application, it’d be as I described.
*never seen it done
I had a friend in grade school who had moved up from Texas, and who occasionally used y’all in the singular and “All y’alls” in plural. I remember specifically because she gave a speech presentation called “Talking Texan” where she introduced us to different parts of the dialect, including how y’all can be used in a number of circumstances and the usage of “all y’alls”.
I know I don’t have firsthand experience on this. However, I think it’s a little silly to just lump all of the southeastern United States into one big mega-dialect, without recognizing that there are regional variations and often several different types of speaking in a single state alone. It goes from silly to rude when you consider the fact that your entire reason for doing so is to criticize someone who used “y’all” singular to approximate Sal’s accent.
Just so y’all know, as a Texan, I’ve never heard y’all used except as a contraction of you all.
or we could just not be weirdo pedants/prescriptivists and accept that language changes
What fun is that?
Of course language changes. It’s just that some changes are wrong!
And this one apparently isn’t actually a change, but an argument that been going on for a century or so.
I really like this distinction because it is gramatically equivalente to what we brazilians use lol. Like, how th do you anglophones distinguish between you (singular) and you (plural)?? Then comes a dialect where you have you four singular and y’all for plural and my little latin heart is pleased.
That’s interesting. I’m very much a Northerner, and while I do use “y’all,” I can’t see myself ever using it in the singular. It just… doesn’t make sense or sound right to me. I was momentarily thrown by Ana’s use of it in the comment, but I choose to go with the idea that Danny has suddenly cloned himself and now both of them are playing the ukulele.
Suddenly Danny shimmers, and starts creating endless clones of himself while reality distorts in shape and color. And then, we get Dannies playing ukelele on parade.
So Sal”s drunk now!?
As lightweight as the comic has established her to be, that shouldn’t take much doing. 😛
I once had a friend who was a professor of linguistics, who specialized in American English dialects and who was a native of Jackson, Mississippi. Her observation was that people from border states were more likely to use singular “ya’ll” (her preferred spelling).
She also provided an example where a Yankee (her term) might assume “ya’ll” is a singular term. If a clerk at the local supermarket asked her, “How are ya’ll doing?,” both she and the clerk would understand that as “How are you and your family doing?,” while someone not familiar with the convention would assume that she was using a singular “ya’ll.”
Winston Churchill once japed that the US and the UK are divided by a common language. Sometimes, it seems that the US itself is divided by a common language. (Take the letter “R.” Please.)
Ya’ll is a pet peeve of mine. That would be pronounced more like “yowl”.
That’s just ’cause you’re putting the apostrophe in the wrong spot. 😛
Oh, geesh, I misunderstood you, sorry. Yes, I entirely agree.
That makes sense. As you say, I’d intuitively interpret that to mean ‘you and your family’, but I can see how it’d be taken as a singular. I suppose people’d just adapt their future interpretations off that first one, which is how we get all’y’all as a replacement for the *actual* y’all in at least the one region indicated by Sebastian above. Border states would likely pick up both usage and misuse naturally, which would then lead to them never correcting “yankees” when they pick up the misuse themselves.
Grief, I don’t believe I’m having be on the side of “A true southerner would..”. I mean, when has that phrase ever led to anything positive? 😛
Oh, the letter R. How poorly it’s treated up in the northeast…. Everyone from central Rhode Island swamp yankees to the likes of Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester III in Wellesley has their own way of taking a bat to its pronunciation.
“Oh, the letter R. How poorly it’s treated up in the northeast”
Reminds me of Japan. 😛
Though some of those New York accents are honestly harder for me to make sense of than someone speaking actual Japanese. :X
You’d have fun trying to decipher some hardcore Fosta-Glosta swamp yankee speech, then. Or listen to Chevul from Creeanstin talk about how she and her husbin Vinnie took theyuh noo cah up ta Wright’s Fahm faw some fancy eatin’, onaccounta the shaw dinna place bein’ close.
Quick, everyone: We need an exorcism, Needfuldoer is speaking in tongues..
The English R is just a really, really thick L anyway. If you want a proper R, then you either have the rolling R (Norwegian, Swedish, Scottish accent, Italian), or the throaty R (French, German, certain Norwegian dialects that are all horrible).
Speaking as a Texan, people use “y’all” in the singular all the damn time.
What region? I’ve lived all through NE and been in west Texas, and I’ve never once heard it used like that (while I have heard people mocking that misuse). You sure it’s not just misinterpretation as described by Marsh above?
I’ve definitely heard Y’all used as a singular. Usually as an imperative. “Y’all just have a seat and the nurse will be right with ya.”
Like, when you’re not with accompaniment? I guess they could be extending it as a re-affirmation, indicating that you’re needing to sit the same as any other patients already there. It could also just be that their medical degree qualifications skipped out on english prerequisites. 😛
Or, as noted by others, perhaps it’s a regional thing. Still, I’ve been all around the south-east and mid-west and never come across it used in a way that goes against the meaning of its composite words. I mean, the south isn’t exactly known for its high general education standards, but it’s such a regularly used word, with intuitive application, and easy-to-decipher roots. I mean, if I hadn’t grown up around it, I could probably imagine the south managing to be that haphazard with it- but again, I’ve never once come across that before, across decades of living in a multitude of locations within the southern US.
It’s not that I’m doubting the reports that run contrary to my experiences, it’s that I have trouble imagining those reports as being reflective of any common southern trend, given all my experiences- across so many places- which run so strongly in opposition. Like, I can totally appreciate smaller backwater towns running with that, or usage deformation as the phrase is transmitted northward, as per the explanation Marsh gave above. But otherwise, it’s a usage that- as Gandalf indicated below- just feels downright wrong; like someone trying to imitate the dialect and not quite succeeding.
Well, either way- it’s both a usage that runs contrary to established usage expectations and one which should theoretically still compose a minority of applications of the word. It’s also not possessive like yer, all’yer, y’all’er, etc. So for the actual topic at hand, the fact is that Sal would be extremely unlikely to use the word in that way, in that situation. And I guess that’s just about the best we can determine on the matter- especially given that it’s a fictional character that Willis can run contrary to expectations just as strongly as he darn well pleases. 😛
This is apparently an old argument. According to H.L. Mencken 70 years ago exclusive plural usage “is a cardinal article of faith in the South. … Nevertheless, it has been questioned very often, and with a considerable showing of evidence. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, to be sure, you-all indicates a plural, implicit if not explicit, and thus means, when addressed to a single person, ‘you and your folks’ or the like, but the hundredth time it is impossible to discover any such extension of meaning.”
Central Texas. But I work in state government so I interact with people from all over the state.
Fellow Texan (central), and I pretty much never hear the singular y’all — it would just sound wrong!.
As others have described, y’all can be addressed toward one person when it implies a group (family, coworkers, etc.), but it’s in effect plural and never means that person alone.
Well, everything in Texas is big, so the singulars ARE plural, y’see.
–Dave, big sky, big hat, big grammary
Jetstream, if you’re a Texan who hears people using y’all in the singular all the time, then you’ve been hanging around with too many damn Yankees.
As a northerner that sounds about right.
“LOOK ATCHEW, ALL PLAYIN’ A UKULELE”
idgaf “perfect” dialogue is an unnatural abnormality that no one should encourage
” You all is plural, if there’s only one just say you.”- Michael Reno Harell, Souther Suggestions.
“Southern Suggestions”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m6uNXtOirs8
ah wear this crown of replies
We all know that classic trot
Danny deserves literally anyone that doesn’t share have the same silhouette as Amber and Dorothy
Yes.
But that begs the question, does he even want somebody with a different silhouette?
…Ethan comes to mind? 😛
Maybe it wasn’t Ethan’s silhouette he was looking at.
“that begs the question”
Also: http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2173
Danny deserves to be comfortably single, for a while.
Well, that’s not going to happen. Not comfortably anyway.
Now we’ve established that Amber still wants him, which makes any potential relationship with Ethan as fallout from Mike’s plot even more dramatic.
Oh, Amber. <:(
It’s sad, but she’s actually talking to someone about how she feels! Getting desperately needed emotional support instead of slinking off to be alone and hate herself!
Makes me incredibly happy to see her dealing with her feelings in a healthy way even while her barely contained tears make me sad because I cannot hug her through my computer
For once amidst an existence of otherwise being perpetually wrong in every way and form; FC is right. This has some serious potential for being an important and healthy part of Amber’s healing process.
yay, talking 🙂
This is a little more information about Amber than I think I wanted.
(I developed a Pavlovian response to ukeleles during college — hearing one now instantly makes me feel both stressed and intensely frustrated.)
Danny is rot. He deserves nothing good.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on how you came to that conclusion.
Perfect avatar is perfect.
As is yours right now.
HE read “ROOMIES!” and he can’t differentiate.
If this were a roomies comic section, I’d quickly agree.
Seconding this, since Danny has seemed pretty decent since his early appearances in this comic to me.
If you think Danny was the problem in his relationship with Amber, I don’t think we’ve been reading the same comic
I believe Zonbie’s comments would be what the kids are calling “bait”.
(Fury Road gif goes here)
Who is this Zoombie of whom you speak? Does not this Zumbey understand they’re all good characters?
You know, a zmobie. They live with the skleletons and ghuols in the Misspelled Cemetary in the Nearby Plains.
Danny is a good egg who deserves good things.
Well this Danny is at any rate.
The one from Roomies. Not so much.
Also he’s hanging out with Sal…like as actual friends. She’s objectively cooler than both of you!
Sal sung in front of him. Sal the girl who is essentially obsessed with retaining a constant image of coolness willingly sang in front of one of the dorkiest characters in the entire comic.
That’s because singing is cool, right?
Not with accompaniment from a guy in a newsboy cap playing the ukulele.
She’s really not? She’s just being herself, hun. Don’t buy into Malaya’s claptrap.
Don’t, don’t call me hun. Please. I know you probably don’t mean anything by it but it sounds really condescending.
Don’t visit Baltimore or the Eastern Shore then.
so fun q! are ukuleles unofficially the bi instrument?
I know several gay and straight ukulelists.
Also, I am bi and thoroughly dislike ukuleles. Well, unless they’re being played by Rebecca Sugar. That woman is some sort of ukulele savant.
Most ukuleles are just being played by underskilled players.
I think that’s true for most instruments, though. I think it’s just the prevalence of certain instruments (ie, guitar and piano) that makes us expect to see people skilled in their use; meanwhile, we have to dig harder to find that with less prominently utilized instruments.
Don’t forget we live in the Internet Age. Internet’s FULL of cocksure amateurs of every sort, sometimes they drown out the truly skilled.
R. Sugar is just amazing musically in general*, and then there’s everything about the nonmusical parts of the works she’s been part of too.
*She apparently wrote “I’m Just Your Problem”, the song that launched the Marcy/Bonnibel ship, for Adventure Time right after coming off the unpleasant ending of a relationship for example.
Isn’t it great the show she created has open lesbians so they don’t have to pussyfoot around it?
Why does noone ever guesskazoos?
thank you for that link, it was awesomesauce!
Ah, I can see you’re an individual of refined tastes. In that case, allow me to offer you a higher class of kazoo song. ^.^
Damn now I kinda wish I knew how to play ukelele.
Why not! There are some really cheap ones out there, if you want to learn.
tear off his clothes in a sexy way or take off his dork outfit?
Going by her face in the last panel, the former.
Going by the alt-text, same.
Both, I think.
Dorothy: New Danny – Ukelele > Old Danny
Me: New Danny – Ukelele = Old Danny
Don’t be silly. There is also the hat.
Forget the hat, how did you manage to forget the tie and vest?
He’s clearly at least 20% cooler now that he has those.
I thought ALL ukeleles came with ties and vests included?!
Are you trying to indicate that just by playing a ukelele, I can be at least 20% cooler? =O
No! No nonono. … first you have to TUNE it.
–Dave, else it won’t act as a songstress-attractor
on the bright side, there’s still mario kart. 😛
I liked Amber and Danny a lot, but if they did get back together, I hope Amber has grown as a person, because frankly, some of the stuff she said to him near the end was downright abusive.
I’d be ok with them getting back together if Amber sees a therapist to deal with her issues regarding her Amazi-Girl personality and stuff. Though I’m also kinda shipping Sal and Danny now.
….
Another thing chalked up to “things I should have seen coming in Willis’ plots that I should’ve seen coming.”
Also, further confirmation that though Dorothy and Amber have been mistaken for each other, they are not the same person. They’re not even the same kind of NERD.
(note: amber (and maybe me) finding uke danny cute_)
….I’m pretty sure that Danny WOULD be an uke in a same sex relationship, now that I think about it.
If I understand, then yes.
But I think he is growing a bit. Maybe could be a little more versatile. 😉
Also not where I was going with that originally, I meant the instrument.
I had to google.
I got that, but careful with words with multiple meanings, those will fuck you up 😛
We live in the internet age I should just saying words if I REALLY wanted to avoid that lol
Please don’t use yaoi terms.
He plays a Uke! That’s what I was saying! I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW UNTIL THEY TOLD ME
Wait, that’s _not_ an Australian outback vehicle he’s holding?
–Dave, must redo my shipping-times chart
A~a~ah! A~a~ah! I Want You Back
A~a~ah! A~a~ah! I Want You Back…–Hoodoo Gurus
……… Amber, no.
Yes, yes.
Y’know, two days ago I watched drama like this unfold smugly assured that it’d be resolved in the five years of comics I hadn’t yet read. Now I’m stuck having no idea and I’m a spoiled impatient brat.
I mean, now I have to take time to think, and now I’m not even sure, am I supposed to want Amber to let Danny back in? Am I supposed to want him to doggedly keep after her? I’m not even done with It’s Walky! yet, so I can’t tell how much their characters are like their Walkyverse counterparts, or if Amber even has one.
Being new to a 20-year-old fandom is really taxing.
To save you time, (A) Amber doesn’t appear in It’s Walky!, but she’s a core character of Shortpacked! (B) Danny doesn’t (really) appear in Shortpacked! (they were both at a few weddings … they never really interact.) (C) Dumbing of Age is supposed to be independent of those comic strips. You don’t need to read them. So it’s really just a 7-year-old fandom you have to worry about 🙂
You’re supposed to feel however you feel. I sort of do want them to get back together but after Amber grows enough so she does not need to essentially control all the terms of the relationship and gives him a real apology and after Danny has some confidence in himself as a person and not a Pearl. (While gems in Steven Universe are all slaves, a Pearls entire value is as support to one specific other gem.) Although it might be good if Amber and Danny could both say our relationship was good in a lot of ways and I learned how to be better for my next relationship from the good and bad in this relationship.
Although it may help to know that Word of God has it that the sexualities of the characters are the same here as in the Walky!verse.
–Dave, on the other hand, in some cases it may raise more questions
This is Real Life, now.
Nah, that comic ended years ago.
Damn, I totally screwed myself over by learning to play the trumpet. I should have been learning to play the ukulele all along!
The trumpet’s jazzy. Plus it’s not too late to learn another.
A ukulele can be played jazzy. http://artistworks.com/blog/introduction-playing-jazz-ukulele
You don’t want to know what she’d do if Danny was playing the glockenspiel.
Let him touch her “Glocken”, presumably.
(Glocken = “bells”, a somewhat immature German nickname for boobs. Roughly comparable in usage to “tatas”, I’d say.)
Perfect icon is perfect.
…..Damn maybe I should learn to play a ukulele.
Really surprised how relaxed this conversation is, given how the last one went: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/deceived/
So the ukulele turns Amber on?
I think we’ve found the subject for the next Slipshine.
“Danny Performs A Ukulele”?
At least one.
“The Only One for Me is Uke: The Musical”, a Dumbing of Age pornographique by David Willis
Many Internets, you win them.
I wonder if Danny would take her back after everything that’s happened since she blew up on him.
Considering how we thinks marriage is up on the table the last time he talked about her I’d say yeah he take her back in a heartbeat.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/02-this-is-the-way-that-we-love/wish/
I agree, but I don’t think that would be healthy for either of them.
I completely forgot about that. Jeez.
Thanks o_o
He’s explicitly forgiven her multiple times, so that wouldn’t be an issue.
Danny would take her back in an instant. The whole question should be if she should take him back. He’s the one who turned on a dime from being completely supportive to wanting her to totally change who she is. If you can’t trust someone emotionally, then you can’t trust them, period.
He didn’t want to completely change her. He was afraid she was putting herself in too much danger and suggested that she not do that. He wasn’t even giving her an ultimatum or anything.
He didn’t want to control her life. He had just learned that she had nearly died and never even told him about it. Suggesting that maybe she take a break from the activity that nearly lead to her death is incredibly reasonable. Even after she abruptly dumped him, Danny never stopped being supportive.
I completely get why she reacted how she did in those circumstances, but Danny was trying to do the right thing and talk to her about his concerns.
It seems safe in this case, but if you’re a fictional character and your ex’s are bonding maybe you should be worried.
All I can think of is Korrasami.
I had Switch in mind, a Blake Edwards movie.
Dungeons and Dumbing Part 13
The small wooden dingy crashed up against the snowy shore. Where a small village lay waiting. The buildings were made of thick stone and had flat roofs. Men and woman walked around and other boats could be seen off the shore with men tossing out nets and rods.
Joyce: This place is nice.
Walky: *Shivers*
Burly Fisherman: Ah, I will get you guys some warmer clothing soon. For now please stay with me and my family at our humble cottage.
Dorothy: Is there anyway over these mountains?
Burly Fisherman: Occasionally people will come down on the mountain furs that roam the area. I hear that tomorrow a group of the King’s men are being sent down, perhaps you can go with them.
Billie: That’s good.
Burly Fisherman: Ah here is my home.
They walk inside to see the floor is made of stone and a stone furnace powered by coal is heating the home. There are five doors leading to different rooms in the house and large woolen rugs are everywhere. Smoke from the furnace bellows out of a small hole in the side of the building.
Danny: Cozy in here.
A small girl around five or six runs out of one of the adjacent rooms and looks up at the group with a bright smile on her face. She wears a thick woolen outfit and has her brownish hair tied back into a single pigtail. Her boots are made of wool with a base made of wood.
Danny: Hi there?
Burly Fisherman: This is my daughter Ophelia and I am Askel. My wife is away for the moment, but she should be home soon. Please make yourself comfortable
They sat and talked for a while about both their adventures and the history and lifestyle of the village. According to Askel, for a long time it was considered a mystery how the fish got into the closed off lake. Until, according to the only book of science in the entire village, it was discovered that the fish eggs would cling to the fur of the fur beasts which carried them around the mountain range.
After about thirty minutes Akels wife Chilam arrived, and placed a large fish boiling in water on the furnace. The heat from the meaty fish wafted through the air and ignited the hunger of our young heroes.
Billie: FOOD!
Dorothy: Don’t be rude Billie.
Askel: FOOD!
Walky: *Laughs*
Dorothy gave Walky an annoyed look before she cracked a hidden smile. Soon the sat around the floor with metal plates and cups made from the horns of the fur beasts.
That’s right his name is Scandinavian, but his wife’s is Native American and his daughter is named after a character in Hamlet. Try figuring that one out!
Wasn’t Hamlet set in Scandinavia? I mean, he was a prince of Denmark.
…maybe his wife’s being here has something to do with Leif Eriksson?
Last panel Amber’s lipbite and very high eyebrows do not lie about her reaction to New Danny.
Not to mention the intensified blush (you may have to look twice) or the inadvertent glance-right.
–Dave, can’t stop the feeling!
Yep. Good catch. And that grin is not seen by Dorothy; it’s all unpractised reaction.
…wait, this storyline’s still not over? Yesterday’s hovertext LIED?
Lied is such a harsh term. Perhaps you misinterpreted.
I always felt it was a real dick move for Dorothy to break up with Danny the first week of college.
I can understand she probably didn’t want to hurt him, but the combo of breaking his heart and starting the semester out on such a low note was a pretty brutal combination, not to mention if he choose that college just to be with her. If she broke up with him sooner, he may have went to another college that might be better for the direction he wanted to go toward education wise.
In the end, I guess it worked out, but I still felt it was crappy of Dorothy to wait so long.
(Also adorable Amber loving Danny’s dorkyness)
Dorothy agrees with you that she waited too long.
To be fair to Dorothy, we didn’t see what they were like back in high school around the time of college decisions. She may have been telling explicitly NOT to base his college decision on her, but he went ahead and did so anyway. She may also have been like, “It’ll be nice to be at the same college for a bit, since I am all in with this relationship” (although that seems less likely to me) and then things changed.
I agree that Dorothy should have told him sooner, since it seemed like she new at least for a while before move in that it was over, but Danny’s college decision was his choice.
Finally, it’s possible that she was thinking, “He won’t really follow me to IU. He’s not that clingy and desperate.”
And then…
Yeah, but you know where you’re going long before the first day of school. She didn’t just find out when they showed up on campus. She knew most of the summer, at least. Nor was Danny exactly hiding his motivations.
Chalk it up to drama needs. Works better to see the breakup than to learn that they used to date, but broke up over the summer.
You’re assuming that Dorothy KNEW she wanted to break up with him long before she actually did it. Maybe the thought had crossed her mind a week or even a month before she did it, but switching to another college would’ve required her to break up with him months sooner. Even then, getting dumped wouldn’t have sucked any less. Danny is the one who made it all the way to college without a real plan of his own beyond “being with Dorothy”.
It would have been a dick move if she’d realized they probably wouldn’t last much longer and didn’t tell him that out of selfish reasons. I can see her trying to discuss those doubts, but being too gentle about it for Danny to really get her point. He was pretty clingy, and it’s unlikely he’d have understood anything short of actually dumping him.
Blaming Dorothy for the consequences of Danny’s ill-advised romantic gesture just feels wrong to me. There’s no sign whatsoever that she asked him or even encouraged him to follow her to college. HE is responsible for that decision. Even if she was sure enough that they wouldn’t last that the kind thing to do would’ve been to break up sooner, that shit is difficult and complicated, and nobody is good at it when they’re 18
Are people over 18 any better at it?
Nah, we go and make it even worse by involving marriages and mortgages and kids.
Not really, no. :/
It was a bad move to wait so long. The sad thing is that following her to school could either be the thing that told her that they really couldn’t make it work, or that made her realize she really couldn’t put it off.
I might be misremembering but my recollection is that Dorothy had been trying to get away from her relationship with Danny without the emotional trial of a direct confrontation. When Danny didn’t get the message and followed her to Indiana University, that is when she confronted him.
I suspect it was partly just trying to avoid the confrontation – though Dorothy hasn’t really seemed that conflict averse. Still, as I said above, it’s not like she just found out he was following her when they showed up.
And it’s not really like following her to IU is that big a deal – it is kind of the default school to go to. Chances are pretty good that’s where Danny would have wound up anyway. It’s not like he just followed her to the city and got a cheap apartment and bunch of part time jobs so he could be near her.
like some other character pairing. oh shiz
As my wife spent some time learning the ukulele, I can confirm its “want to rip off the clothes of the performer” powers.
Also, if nobody knows the powers of ukulele… Watch Jake Shimabukuro perform Ehime Maru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ypW7gvH8E
Dang it, Dorothy, don’t be an ass.
as someone who’s been through two relationships that both lasted years, both of their feelings are so…….spot on.
you miss them, but you know its not good for either of you, and you want what’s best for them.
but sometimes, all you can do is think about them, and think over every wrong thing you did and try to guess who things had been if you’d done something different.
relationships are really, really, REALLY tough. i love both these characters so much, and i hope they find their way, both romantically and in their general lives <3
here is kitty’s finnish word of the day!
meripihka (fossil resin aka amber)
is this why amber and dina are roommates? because amber is fossil stuff? i just realized…
p.s. im okay now! i mean don’t have pneumonia, just a very very bad cold. i’ll live
have a nice day!
I just realized too. Those are perfect names.
Glad you don’t have pneumonia! I hope you recover quickly!
:O
Living is good.
Yeah, I’m kinda with Amber there….
Girl talk!
So Amazi-Girl and Dorothy’s conversations have ended, and Amber and Dorothy have started talking more! They’re sort of hanging out! Ah yey I am excited! for both this budding friendship and the one that’s in full bloom (Danny and Sal).
Dorothy sounds like a therapist lol. With “i’m glad you were there to help pick up his pieces” and “would it help soothe your sorrow”. Gosh it sounds like something an actual therapist (eg. mine) would say. Amazing.
I just realized Dorothy and my therapist have some similarities when they’re trying to help people. I’m thinking of when Danny consulted Dorothy about his sexuality. She was also being quite therapist-like that time, bringing up some scientific research about the topic.
Funny, when I think about how therapists talk, I think about my ex-wife and her fellow therapist friend whose toddler learned to say “fuck” early on.
You go to enough therapy, you’ll eventually pick a few unconscious tricks. I have a lot of similarities with Dorothy, one being that we’ve both spent a bunch of time in therapy, and somehow always end up playing therapist for a bunch of friends XD
Poor Amber! I knew that she felt like this about Danny moving on.
You know what’s the best and most healthy part of this? She’s not obsessing about Sal being the one with whom Danny is moving on. No, Sal barely comes into it; what matters to her is the fact that she still wants Danny and realises that maybe she’s made a mistake.
I’ve suddenly getting this awful suspicion (for Danny) that he’s going to be the unwitting focus of several girls’ attention and competition. He’s so good natured that I’m wondering how he’d handle that!
My question is how Joe will deal with Danny’s success with women being even vaguely connected to the hat and ukulele.
I’m expecting psychosomatic blindness.
“What? Danny has two girls interested in him because of his ukulele? Are you crazy? I’m looking at him and there is no sign of these ‘hot girls’!” Last panel is a nervous Danny with Sal on one arm and Amber on the other just managing not to snarl at each other.
Those damn sexy ukuleles
Been there.
Dammit.
Girls love them ukulele playing bad boys… damn now I have this mental image of Danny behaving like Miguel from Road to El Dorado where he was strumming his I dunno… guitar? with that serious look on his face.
You see, Dorothy? There’s a type for everyone. 😉
Also, while I agree that it’s important for a person to be self-sufficient, is it really so bad being somebody’s world? In my almost 40 years on this planet, I’ve seen many people come and go from my life. Friends eventually drift apart. Parents pass away. Kids will eventually leave you (and well they should, for they need to live their own lives and raise their own families). At the end, all you will have is somebody who hopefully you are the world to, because otherwise they may end up leaving you too, whether it’s for a career, hobbies, or someone else.
Far too often we do not realize what a treasure we have until it is gone.
I think that being someone’s world in the way Dorothy meant it was incompatible with independence. And personally… yeah, your life should be built for you. Someone should be with you and stay with you because of how you add to each other’s lives, rather than how one (or both) of you couldn’t handle being without the other.
An idealised view, I know, and not one that’s reflected by reality, but in my opinion that’s what a healthy relationship looks like.
Amber gets it, wholesome dweebs are hot.
I know this means Amber has a thing for dweebs, but I like to think it means she has a thing for ukeleles instead.
It’s a thing. I can’t carry my uke down the street without getting jumped by groupies.
this strip should have been called “Tear” , just saying 😉
Would that be ‘Tear’, as in Amber’s desire to ‘tear his clothes off right there on the sidewalk’ or ‘Tear’, as in what’s in Amber’s eyes?
both meanings 🙂
Later Danny is found unconscious on the sidewalk wearing nothing but an Amazigirl mask.
…. I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
I dunno, Dorothy’s view of Danny seems so. . . patronizing. She broke up with him to help him, not because she didn’t want to be with him anymore. She broke up with him because she didn’t have time for a relationship, then took up Walky the next week. He’s really flourished. . . as some sort of ukulele dweeb, said with a smirk. She doesn’t seem to think much of him and definitely thinks she knows better than him what he needs.
Especially when considering how she reacted to Walky’s parents being politically connected, it does seem like Danny got ditched for not being useful enough to her ambitions, and that being papered over with a fair amount of condescension. I like Dorothy, but her interactions with Danny are a bit of a blemish on her generally sterling character.
There was a strip last year where somebody (I believe it was Roz) accused Dorothy of basically “using” people. Every interaction she has, every friendship she cultivates, is ultimately always with her goal of becoming President someday in mind. Now, that’s not to say that Dorothy can’t genuinely want to do what’s best for people, but I think that sort of attitude can eventually turn poisonous. People start wondering if you have an ulterior motive for hanging out with them, for helping them, and wonder if you genuinely like them for them, or if it’s because you simply need them for something. It prevents you from forging real connections with people.
I believe Dorothy really tries to do the right thing. Not really wanting to be with Danny was not enough reason to break up, because that’s selfish.
Doing it for his own good allowed her to break up with him
People who wonder if she is exploiting them didn’t connect all her dots. Doing things because she thinks she should do them to improve her chances to get into Havard? Yes, she does.
Playing with people to gain power over them? She wouldn’t know where to start.
She still thinks becoming a president requires the intellectual skill to understand things on a factual basis and making god decisions. She doesn’t understand power and how you get it.
😂 good decisions-what a typo when talking about Dorothy
I get the idea that Danny needed to be free to flourish, but…what’s wrong with being somebody else’s world?
My personal interpretation of that line is Dorothy saying that she was all Danny knew/cared about. Not “being someone’s world” as in meaning a lot to someone, but as in someone being THE ONLY thing you care about; Danny didn’t seem like he had many plans for his future other than “being with Dorothy”, or at least that’s what it seemed like to her.
I guess there’s many ways to read “I was his world”, but that’s what I got from that.
They should havetheir own world.
Of which you are a part, and want to be part of. As they are part of your world, not all your f it.
Interesting. If I recall correctly, Amber didn’t consider Danny to be her boyfriend, just Amazi-Girl’s. She was fairly adamant on that.
But now she’s talking as if he was?
It’s possibly a sign of the barriers between them breaking down, but it could also be a combination of Amber talking about her close friendship with Danny and recognising AG’s relationship with him. We will have to wait and see.
It’s interesting. It’s not the barriers breaking down, that’s for sure, but maybe more of them continuing to get worse. At first he was AG’s boyfriend, but that was mostly a “secret identity” thing. When in private, he treated them the same, despite her occasional protests. Mostly due to not understanding quite what was going on.
Their first time having sex, for example, it was Amber in bed with him after.
They still spent a lot of time together and were flirty from time to time.
The divide got stronger as time went on, but emotionally it never was “He’s dating Amazi-Girl, we’re just friends.”
amber pls
No, no, no, Amber, not that kind of uke!
Dorothy: Well, Walky is nerdy and single now. You seem to have a thing for my Leftovers.
Yeah, no!
The complexity of the relationship between Danny and Amber is as nothing besides the complexity of the relationship between Amber and Amazigirl. Even though Amber may have told herself that she was donning the mask to destroy Amazigirl, the fact is she was doing Amazigirl things, patrolling the campus, breaking up fights, being seen as a mysterious figure, filling the Amazigirl role. After the bit of apparent memory loss she may intentionally not be “being” Amazigirl but she is still “doing” Amazigirl, filling the Amazigirl role, just doing so as Amber. And there was never a clean distinction between them anyway, even if she wanted there to be. It was Amber who practiced Amazigirl’s skills and they are Amber’s skills too. If she was actually separate from Amazigirl, Amber’s reaction to Sal wouldn’t have changed for example. And the thing is, as long as the Amazigirl role is important to Amber and Danny won’t support her in that role, then I don’t see how there can be a future together for them. Though I suppose she could still tear off his clothes now and then anyway, I kind of question whether either of them would be okay with that, except as a thing that accidentally happened once.
Though I have to admit that Mike’s shenanigans throwing Amber and Danny back together would make me happy.
“If Amber was actually separate from Amazi-Girl, her reaction to Sal wouldn’t have changed”
I don’t understand how that makes any sense. The different reactions make more sense with them being separate personalities, which they pretty clearly are. The memory loss she experienced is a classic sign that she dissociation is getting worse. Her brain is not allowing her to access Amazi-Girl’s memory’s as Amber. That’s not something you can “pretend” to do.
I think your answer is in your implied question.
there never was a clean break … Until Amber Attacked * Ryan.
They were alter-egos connected by dissociation. Amber broke the Rules she had set up with Amazigirl. Amber was always with Amazigirl but she described it as being a backseat passenger.
It was not mere memory loss but a complete Dissociative State. Amber didnt lose her memory of that night. She was never there.
But you raise a good point about her doing Amazigirl. That might not be such a good thing. Amber may have the limited power to keep Amazigirl from surfacing. But that doesnt mean she can stay in control In times of extreme stress. Ive suspected for a while that *Red background* pages arent just triggers for dissociation, But a separate Rage personality bleeding through. Amazigirl thinks this is Amber. She exists to channel that rage and passion in a controlled way.
BUt Amber still hates herself and is deeply ashamed of these feelings. I think if Amber goes into competition with Amazigirl, she will just split this off into a 3rd.
i think its was borderline ( synchrony ) whether she had BPD with dis-associative features, or full on Dissaociative Identity Personality Disorder.
But now instead of merely “splitting” **, she has full persona splits.
INMYHO
* attacked sounds undeserved. Amber Justiced Ryan gashface Batman-Style.
Amber Batmanned the fuck out of him.
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_(psychology)
“”a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation”.[9][10] In psychoanalytic theory, people with borderline personality disorder are not able to integrate the good and bad images of both self and others, resulting in a bad representation which dominates the good representation.[11] This school hypothesizes that they consequently experience love and sexuality as perverse and violent qualities which they cannot integrate with the tender, intimate side of relationships.[12]
Sounds just like Amber doesnt it? BUt Now I’m in the DID camp.
the last sentence of that quote is … kind of messed up.
…
ah, [12] is something involving freud. no wonder it’s messed up. 😛
“Though I suppose she could still tear off his clothes now and then anyway, I kind of question whether either of them would be okay with that,”
Also If Amber and Amazigirl fully split It makes zero sense for Amber to let Amazigirl date Danny For her.
Right now i think she regrets Her refusal of Dannys offer.
Is Amber is going to perform Amazigirl why shouldnt she get Danny?
This was sort of Dannys Idea. suppress Amazigirl , be Amber. Be Amber with Danny.
Needs one more panel. With Amber saying: ” . . . And then use his clothes as kindling to burn that farging ukulele”.
I couldn’t say this on the comics when it was relevant — was having trouble keeping up, and comments close after a while — but I need to get it out there. I actually prefer the NIN version of “Hurt” to the Johnny Cash version. I mean, I love Johnny Cash, and his cover is technically superior in most every way, but the quiet, drawn-out, pleading tone of the original speaks to me much more than the loud, almost confrontational, mournful drawl.