Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2013-03-12
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2013-03-12

by shaenon on March 12, 2013 at 12:00 am
Chapter: Railway Children
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Discussion (45) ¬

  1. Moe Lane
    March 12, 2013, 12:05 am | # | Reply

    Well, now we know.

    • DSimon
      March 12, 2013, 12:54 am | # | Reply

      And based on data collected to date, knowing is a statistically significant portion of the battle!

      • Sparks
        March 12, 2013, 1:41 am | # | Reply

        The remaining portion consists of red lasers and blue lasers.

        • Moe Lane
          March 12, 2013, 8:20 am | # | Reply

          …Doesn’t everything?

        • Wayne Zombie
          March 12, 2013, 1:40 pm | # | Reply

          The laser my wife bounces off the moon is green!

    • Robert Loughrey
      May 23, 2018, 4:57 pm | # | Reply

      And knowing is half the battle!

  2. Sandy C
    March 12, 2013, 12:54 am | # | Reply

    As a student of German, I totally concur. It turns out, German is useful for lots more things than just threatening the French or cutting deals with the Russians. Who knew?

    • Norman
      March 12, 2013, 1:21 am | # | Reply

      Of course, I’d be hard pressed to think of a language that Sergio doesn’t know well enough to save the day if someone has trained guard dogs in that language exclusively. He’s fairly smart for someone who almost got sent to a “Special Needs School” on his first day of first grade ^_^

      • Ebony Sable
        March 12, 2013, 3:51 am | # | Reply

        It was a special needs school for kids who were brighter than average, not one for kids less bright than average.

        • Norman
          March 12, 2013, 9:19 pm | # | Reply

          Well, yes, but he didn’t know that then ^_^

      • John Campbell
        March 12, 2013, 5:37 am | # | Reply

        How’s his Gwich’in?

        • reynard61
          March 12, 2013, 9:15 pm | # | Reply

          Bitchin’!

          (I’ve been waiting years to write that!)

    • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
      January 23, 2014, 7:32 pm | # | Reply

      Like physics and psychology

  3. Prester Fred
    March 12, 2013, 1:39 am | # | Reply

    Well yes, German _can_ be used for good; it just has a bad reputation because…well, for instance:

    English: Butterfly
    French: Papillon
    Spanish: Mariposa
    German: SCHMETTERLING!!!

    That…explains a lot, right there.

    • Sparks
      March 12, 2013, 1:42 am | # | Reply

      German is the language which gave us the term ‘schadenfreude’. I think that says everything.

      • John Campbell
        March 12, 2013, 5:36 am | # | Reply

        Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude.

      • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
        January 23, 2014, 7:42 pm | # | Reply

        Its also the only language which has “götterdämmerung”

        Also the meats are all are called things like “schweinefleisch” and “rindfleisch”, which literally mean “pig flesh” and “cow flesh”. Admittedly that’s what they are, but not really the sort of thing you want to think about while you’re eating it.

    • davidbreslin101
      March 12, 2013, 8:58 am | # | Reply

      Mind you, by those standards the Dutch must be repressing a serious inclination for evil. The two “G”s in “Goedemiddag” (“Good afternoon”) are both pronounced with a sound best described as phlegmish.

      • Sandy C
        March 12, 2013, 1:34 pm | # | Reply

        The Dutch did give us the wonderfully-named weapon known as the “goedendag,” (“good day!”), which was essentially a steel spike-onna-stick used to dismount and dispatch knights. It takes a special kind of evil to name that a stabby implement.

        • Altarboy
          March 13, 2013, 3:10 am | # | Reply

          Well, it is the polite thing to say as you’re smashing the cream of the French knighthood from his horse.

    • Saberbeam
      March 12, 2013, 3:43 pm | # | Reply

      German, the only language that can make a love letter sound like a death threat.

      • reynard61
        March 12, 2013, 9:22 pm | # | Reply

        And, of course, they don’t have a word for “fluffy”…

        (Well, actually they do: “flauschig”. But even that sounds at least *slightly* evil.)

      • Ben
        May 13, 2013, 9:46 pm | # | Reply

        The word Gift means poison in german.

    • JET73L
      February 28, 2015, 1:28 am | # | Reply

      But… But “schmetterling” is adorable! The only listed word that sounds prettier is “mariposa”, and it sounds more like a flower than a flutterby!

  4. Tetra Valent
    March 12, 2013, 2:30 am | # | Reply

    The last time we saw the guard dogs, they were with Sergio and Virginia at the Brain-O-Mat. When have they ever been in the engine?

    • Dave Van Domelen
      March 12, 2013, 7:32 am | # | Reply

      Also, if in the engine, there’s the whole “anything with a nervous system” gas.

      • Axel
        March 12, 2013, 11:29 am | # | Reply

        Anything with a *human* nervous system.

        • Anderson
          March 12, 2013, 4:46 pm | # | Reply

          Which is still going to be an issue when they smash the door down and get a face full of neurotoxin.

          • Shadowmehr
            March 12, 2013, 6:51 pm | #

            Does U.N.I.T.Y. count as having as a nervous system? Her “nerves” are probably just nanotech stemming from her “blood” stream. It might knock down the rest, but Violet would still have to deal with her.

            Depending on Bee’s onboard defenses, that could get a bit messy.

          • WJS
            July 8, 2019, 7:34 am | #

            If everyone but Unity is incapacitated, the question then becomes “does Violet know about Blueberry Waffles?”

  5. Michael
    March 12, 2013, 3:23 am | # | Reply

    Verdammt noch mal, ich hätte nie gedacht!

    • DrunkPhilosopher
      March 12, 2013, 4:45 am | # | Reply

      “Verdammt noch mal, wer häts gedacht!” But nice try…

      • The Office Pedant
        March 12, 2013, 8:32 am | # | Reply

        Another one! Willkommen zu meinem Stamm, fellow pedant!

      • Rex Vivat
        March 12, 2013, 9:51 am | # | Reply

        Shouldn’t that be “hätts”?

        • DrunkPhilosopher
          March 12, 2013, 6:08 pm | # | Reply

          I should stick to english, that way I at least can say that my bad spelling comes from it not being my first language.

        • Finn MacCool
          April 21, 2014, 9:50 am | # | Reply

          it should be “hätt’s”.

      • Michael
        March 14, 2013, 4:58 am | # | Reply

        You must be German. I can tell by your social skills.

        “hätt’s”. It’s a contraction. But nice try.

  6. Eddurd
    March 12, 2013, 6:32 am | # | Reply

    (TUNE: “Spanish Harlem”, Jerry Leiber & Phil Spector)

    I’ll give commands to German guard dogs!
    Bet she can’t stand those bite-so-hard dogs!
    I’ll tell them “Beißen!”, then
    They’ll also “Angreifen!”
    Then she’ll say “Ow!” an’ I’ll say “Kauen!”
    She’ll be bowin’ to our will so quick now!
    When those dogs chew away,
    I’m just hoping that they …
    Don’t get sick now!

    • Eddurd
      March 12, 2013, 6:35 am | # | Reply

      (Translation: “Bite”, “Attack”, and “Chew” respectively. Not sure if this is proper imperative form, but it’s the best I could do with Google Translate.)

  7. Evil Midnight Lurker
    March 12, 2013, 7:25 am | # | Reply

    No one who speaks German can be an evil man!

    • DrunkPhilosopher
      March 12, 2013, 6:09 pm | # | Reply

      Is that so?

      Dann stellen sie sich doch bitte mal kurz auf das rote Kreuz hier.

  8. schep
    March 12, 2013, 8:36 am | # | Reply

    Ausgezeichnet!

  9. krautkopf
    March 12, 2013, 6:05 pm | # | Reply

    Schadensfreude? Wie wäre es denn mit Kindergarten? Das ist doch ein schönes Wort, oder?

    • DrunkPhilosopher
      March 12, 2013, 6:10 pm | # | Reply

      Don’t forget Schnitzel and Angst.

  10. justthebast
    June 25, 2014, 5:50 am | # | Reply

    Sure, it *can* be used for good, but why would you? Better to use it for the tasks for which the German language is uniquely suited: overly complex technical manuals and legalese.

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