First thing I thought of. This is probably going to lead to a scene where Uncle Shelby has to act as translator between Sweetdaddy and the other residents. (Translating in both directions, of course.)
“Damn. Dealing with all these humans and organic non-robots is really getting to me. I’m going to step outside and grab some fresh air.”
“No problem, man, you do that. By morning, you’ll be right as rain.”
“…I had no idea you could speak my native lingo. I am impressed and consider you to be very cool.”
“Thanks! I am quite proud of my varied skill-set!”
Echoing others here: “frail” is old jazz speak for a woman. See Cab Calloway’s “Minnie The Moocher” : “She was the roughest, toughest frail / But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.”
Full Translation for terminal squares:
Shelby: Where are you going at this hour?
Sweet Daddy: dag (damn)
Sweet Daddy: got the jims fierce (I’m out of sorts) dealin with frails (from interacting with women)
Sweet Daddy: catch the air for a tick (I need to go for a walk outside for a minute)
Shelby: Righteous, gizz. (That’s ok machine ) Come bright, (By morning) you’ll be stickin like a hustler. (You’ll be back to form)
Sweet Daddy: Legit (You’re right)
Shelby: I also speak Italian
I think we’re heading into horror movie territory. Poor Sweet Daddy, you get to show us how the monster works. (This is happier than my last guess; Tigerlily takes him apart in search of her mojo.)
He’s so adorably proud
I must say I love the fistbump in the last panel.
Is anyone else having an “Airplane!” flashback?
I just have tote that Jive Lady was played by the same actress who played June Cleaver.
(*raises hand*)
First thing I thought of. This is probably going to lead to a scene where Uncle Shelby has to act as translator between Sweetdaddy and the other residents. (Translating in both directions, of course.)
“Miss? I speak Jive.”
Oops: “Oh, stewardess! I speak jive.”
Nope. Not even a word.
My attempt:
“Where are you going?”
“Out”
“Are you stupid or something?”
…
“You’re right, thanks”
My assumed translation:
“Damn. Dealing with all these humans and organic non-robots is really getting to me. I’m going to step outside and grab some fresh air.”
“No problem, man, you do that. By morning, you’ll be right as rain.”
“…I had no idea you could speak my native lingo. I am impressed and consider you to be very cool.”
“Thanks! I am quite proud of my varied skill-set!”
I’m going with this as a pretty good approximation.
Yeah, this.
Also my take, with the exception that several old jazz songs would lead me to believe that “frails” specifically refers to the fair sex.
I think “frails” refers to biological people, who are very fragile and easy to break when you’re made of metal.
We refer to them as the fragiles, not frails. I can see how your wetware got confused.
Female/ex-girl/lover. That is what a frail is. Bubbles relationship status got him down.
I agree on “frails” referring to women. I’ve read books set in that era.
This puts a new complexion on the Barrayaran tendency (from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels) to refer to women as “frills”.
Yup. “And from a jail came the wail of a downhearted frail..” From ‘The birth of the blues’
i actually had written something like this, and deleted it. To my half-asleep brain it just “didn’t sound right”
Echoing others here: “frail” is old jazz speak for a woman. See Cab Calloway’s “Minnie The Moocher” : “She was the roughest, toughest frail / But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.”
Full Translation for terminal squares:
Shelby: Where are you going at this hour?
Sweet Daddy: dag (damn)
Sweet Daddy: got the jims fierce (I’m out of sorts) dealin with frails (from interacting with women)
Sweet Daddy: catch the air for a tick (I need to go for a walk outside for a minute)
Shelby: Righteous, gizz. (That’s ok machine ) Come bright, (By morning) you’ll be stickin like a hustler. (You’ll be back to form)
Sweet Daddy: Legit (You’re right)
Shelby: I also speak Italian
The definitive translation.
Beachfox has a slightly different take on “legit” which I also like.
Definitely. My feel on it is that both are true at once. Agreement and acknowledgement.
Based purely on Shelby’s response, I have to go with Beachfox’s translation of “legit,” but either one works, and this one is truly amazing..
Oh, gizz for gizmo, not for geezus. That does change everything
Ah, I was wondering about that one! Interesting.
Outside. With the Jersey Devil. The question is, is Sweetdaddy Hip enough to survive?
Enough of Sweetdaddy will survive for Shelby to translate to the rest of the crew, but how damaged is the question.
Oh, Stewardess! I speak Jive!
The beat panel is awesome – it reads two incredibly different ways.
“OMG – he speaks jive!”
“WTF did he just say? I’d better play along”
So is “stickin’ like a hustler” good or bad?
It’s good.
I translated that as, “Come morning, you’ll be in top form again.”
Really? ‘Cause, given what’s believed to be running around out there, “stickin’ like a hustler” could involve actual stickin’….
Think of a pool hustler with his (or her) cue. He ( or she) handles the stick with perfect accuracy.
I think we’re heading into horror movie territory. Poor Sweet Daddy, you get to show us how the monster works. (This is happier than my last guess; Tigerlily takes him apart in search of her mojo.)
Nah. No way Shaenon’d go for the whole “black robot dies first” cliche.