*Sigh* It really annoys me when people wilfully misunderstand the use of “possessive” pronouns- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possessive#Semantics
“The relationship expressed by possessive determiners and similar forms is not necessarily one of possession in the strict sense of ownership. In English, strict possession has been found to be expressed in only about 40% of the situations labeled as “possessive” by linguists, a fact which may incline some to prefer the more traditional term “genitive”.[1] The “possessor” may be, for example:
the person or thing to which the “possessed” stands in the designated relationship (my mother, his wife, your subordinates, our boss);
…”
Tip’s girlfriend…
At the same time, someone with Tigerlily’s (assumed) background might very well make the objection in Candace’s comment because that was a not-uncommon independent, feminist reaction to the background actual-possessiveness frequently inherent in such a relationship in a patriarchal culture.
maar…going into Wikipedia, looking up definitions, and so on, risks implying a negative respect of the other person’s intellect. I know you didn’t intend that; it just risks coming across that way, you know? And, it likely wasn’t intended on your part.
One of the ways I’d read the reply was, well, an acknowledgement that she is that independent that she’d not acknowledge or see the possibility.
Tigerlily is a fiercely independent /person/. Is she someone who would consider a fulltime partner status, with anyone? She’s seemed more interested in flings, but there may be strips I’m forgetting. Maybe someone can dig those out. 😀
Something I haven’t seen mentioned, and that I may be misrembering: there’s some significant intellectual disparity between T and T, that may prevent her from considering that fulltime partner status, even if she did believe in it for herself. I believe that disparity was explored earlier in the strip, alongside Virginia and Arty. Again, I may be misremembering this; if so, someone please speak up.
Also, what happens when someone Mad is attracted to someone Sane? You’d be living in two worlds; how would that work, if at all, longterm? Would both partners possessing a second power, that of Funk, be unique enough to overcome the differences?
There are many interpretations, here, and quite a bit of food for thought.
That doesn’t involve Tigerlily, so I’d misremembered. Yet: Is Tigerlily on the level of Dr. Lee and Artie? I assume so. If so, where, intellectually, does that place Tip relative to her?
Mad scientists are smarter than Artie. Dr Lee probably is too, in specialized fields. Artie never struck me as much of an engineer. He’s just got crazy analytical prediction ability.
I STILL want to see someone beat Artie at strategy by throwing dice.
One of you is randomly rappelling from the ceiling and one of you is so far up denial that you’re officially a resident of the upper kingdom. I think it’s kind of a wash as to who the real sane one is.
I do kind of wonder if Artie might have any useful advice for them from watching Helen and Dave try to get together. Granted Dr. Lee isn’t a mad scientist, but she does enough evil in general and to Nick in particular, that I can’t help but see some parallels with Helen and Dave’s relationship.
The words “EMET” glow brightly across my forehead for no particular reason other than TRUTH has been written here today.
Waits patiently for the multiple paragraph dissection of the truth behind the Golem in jewish folklore….which will not make Mr. Loughery’s statement any less true.
It’s an almost criminal shame that many young people have no idea who Yvonne Craig was. She set the bar so high that no Batgirl since has dethroned her.
Call me stuck in the 00’s, but I prefer Cas. Just because she was so quiet. It says “I’m a mystery to you”. Plus she had this sweet friendship with Coldcast, and she never stopped believing in him.
Also… Virginia, love you lots, but: unless you put it as “Does your repeated assertion that you wish to become a helicopter again indicate that you do not wish to engage into a sexual relationship with me?” in a comic strip that I somehow missed, then no, you didn’t ask. And, honestly, circumstances are such that you really might – legitimately – have to spell it out like that.
And continue forward a few strips, until you see Nick say (on the phone): “I totally like you Dr. Lee. As, uh, a friend.” (and only think to himself, “My best friend I would so try to bang if I had a schvantz”)
Asking “How do you feel about me?” over the phone years ago is not even close to asking him now that he has the ability to do something about it.
No, I’m with Moe on this one. Those two make me look socially ept. And believe me, I’m not. They are definitely not the ones to watch to figure out how I should try to get a girl.
This. Don’t get me wrong, it’s reasonable to think that you could ask ‘How do you feel about me?’ and then you could expect to get a forthright answer. For anybody but these two. These two having been putting band-aids on their interactions with each other from the very start, one on top of the other — and the day shall come when they need to rip ’em all off. At once.
The question about Nick is, is he strong enough to give a good jumping? He used to sit in his room playing video games non-stop. That’s not exactly strenuous physical activity. His only strong muscles were in his thumbs. Hopefully Tigerlily’s “enhancements” included stamina.
If she isn’t mad, she’s at least mad-adjacent. Of course, Anasigma may have been damping her down – literally forcing her to remain sane – while she was working for them, so a breakthrough may be in order. I don’t think Nick will mind either way, truly.
She wouldn’t need a broach from a different universe, when there was a solution right here in this one. Helen’s first attempt at a Cure was only temporary. She had to keep slipping it into Clone-Dave’s coffee to keep him sane.
Of course, my theory has long been that she already broke through at a very young age – so young that she didn’t know what had happened. And her parents taught her to act “normal”, and never let her know that she was Mad. So she can understand Mad science creations so easily because she’s always been Mad, but she claims to be sane because she thinks she is.
Simple
A) She’s already a genius.
and
B) Her Madness is centered on analysis of Mad Science.
That particular form of Madness would only manifest itself when she’s confronted with something that seems to defy mundane reality. And her genius is what’s needed to tell the two apart.
Right, so Dr. Lee is getting advice from a madwoman (who’s more sensible than she is). And the plot is veering into “DAMMIT WHY CAN’T PEOPLE TALK TO EACH OTHER!” territory. Not that I haven’t been guilty of that IRL…. 🙁
Oh, yeah. Linking to just one would do it, since they point to eachother. The main reason that springs to mind is that not listing it makes it feel a little more real. On the other hand, if you don’t know about it–it’s missing a lot of really, really wonderful content.
I *love* how the authors type Nik’s entries. Very character illustrative. The tags are just zomg.
I guess it’s a trade-off. The thought of folks missing out though, makes me sad–/because/ it’s so awesome. Does that make sense?
Speaking of which, perhaps Nick should be exporting his LiveJournal to Dreamwidth? I dunno if the Russians of his world are pulling the same hijinx as in ours, but….
Don’t know why it’s not linked here, but wanted to say if Nick was looking for the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge around Miami, he was on the exact opposite coast.
Imaginary girlfriends
Never cost a dime.
With all the real ones breaking their dates,
They’re on time.
It’s a hormone pleasure,
Neuroendocrine.
Someone to do the video gaming routine.
Imaginary girlfriend, she’s fine, every time.
Imaginary girlfriends, oh yeah.
When great potential girlfriends
Cause some disconcert.
And screaming fear and terror ruin a flirt.
Imagination won’t hurt.
Imaginary girlfriend, imaginary girlfriend,
They’re great, procreate.
Imaginary girlfriends, costumed fantasies,
Looking all right,
In costumes skin-tight when you read.
Adventure-action guaranteed.
Imaginary girlfriend, imaginary girlfriend,
They’re great, never late,
Our imaginary girlfriends,
They’re great, procreate.
—from “Imaginary Lover,” the Atlanta Rhythm Section. (Play it on fast speed and it sounds like Fleetwood Mac.)
I’ve had to train myself to stop saying “I’m sorry” when someone tells me they’ve had some misfortune, and instead say “I’m sorry to hear that”, because no matter how many times I explained “Yeah, no – I know it’s not my fault, I’m just offering my condolences”, they still just couldn’t grok that fact, even with very close friends and family.
Apparently they don’t realize that one of the principal synonyms for “sorry” is “sympathetic”. It comes from the same root as “sorrow”. The word “sorry” has been used as an apology for less than 200 years.
Frankly, their misunderstanding of my simple “I’m sorry” would make me feel slightly less sympathetic. And depending on how much less, I might be tempted to say “You know what? I’m not sorry any more.”
“So I don’t know if anyone told you, but Fred was in a car crash.”
“Oh, that’s terrible! I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry – it’s not your fault.”
“It’s nice of you to say that, but I know what I did.”
“Wait, what?”
I wonder if Tigerlily quite realizes that she more or less qualifies as Tip’s. I mean, whether she gets it in her *bones*.
Tigerlily belongs to no one but herself.
*Sigh* It really annoys me when people wilfully misunderstand the use of “possessive” pronouns-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possessive#Semantics
“The relationship expressed by possessive determiners and similar forms is not necessarily one of possession in the strict sense of ownership. In English, strict possession has been found to be expressed in only about 40% of the situations labeled as “possessive” by linguists, a fact which may incline some to prefer the more traditional term “genitive”.[1] The “possessor” may be, for example:
the person or thing to which the “possessed” stands in the designated relationship (my mother, his wife, your subordinates, our boss);
…”
Tip’s girlfriend…
At the same time, someone with Tigerlily’s (assumed) background might very well make the objection in Candace’s comment because that was a not-uncommon independent, feminist reaction to the background actual-possessiveness frequently inherent in such a relationship in a patriarchal culture.
I parsed it as ‘Tip’s imaginary girlfriend’ …
Exactly. She’s certainly not his *actual* girlfriend. 🙂
maar…going into Wikipedia, looking up definitions, and so on, risks implying a negative respect of the other person’s intellect. I know you didn’t intend that; it just risks coming across that way, you know? And, it likely wasn’t intended on your part.
One of the ways I’d read the reply was, well, an acknowledgement that she is that independent that she’d not acknowledge or see the possibility.
Tigerlily is a fiercely independent /person/. Is she someone who would consider a fulltime partner status, with anyone? She’s seemed more interested in flings, but there may be strips I’m forgetting. Maybe someone can dig those out. 😀
Something I haven’t seen mentioned, and that I may be misrembering: there’s some significant intellectual disparity between T and T, that may prevent her from considering that fulltime partner status, even if she did believe in it for herself. I believe that disparity was explored earlier in the strip, alongside Virginia and Arty. Again, I may be misremembering this; if so, someone please speak up.
Also, what happens when someone Mad is attracted to someone Sane? You’d be living in two worlds; how would that work, if at all, longterm? Would both partners possessing a second power, that of Funk, be unique enough to overcome the differences?
There are many interpretations, here, and quite a bit of food for thought.
Edit: Here we go: http://skin-horse.com/comic/2013-11-06/ and a bit onward.
That doesn’t involve Tigerlily, so I’d misremembered. Yet: Is Tigerlily on the level of Dr. Lee and Artie? I assume so. If so, where, intellectually, does that place Tip relative to her?
Mad scientists are smarter than Artie. Dr Lee probably is too, in specialized fields. Artie never struck me as much of an engineer. He’s just got crazy analytical prediction ability.
I STILL want to see someone beat Artie at strategy by throwing dice.
One of you is randomly rappelling from the ceiling and one of you is so far up denial that you’re officially a resident of the upper kingdom. I think it’s kind of a wash as to who the real sane one is.
I do kind of wonder if Artie might have any useful advice for them from watching Helen and Dave try to get together. Granted Dr. Lee isn’t a mad scientist, but she does enough evil in general and to Nick in particular, that I can’t help but see some parallels with Helen and Dave’s relationship.
A soaking wet resident of the Upper Kingdom, in serious danger of being eaten by crocodiles.
We are talking about Dr. Virginia “Queen of the Brain Schlorpers” Lee. I’d be more worried for the crocodiles. But yes, your point is eminently valid.
I’m stealing that expression.
Batgirl? Kid has good taste in women.
+1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/grantbrummett/22087057038/sizes/z/
+2
He never said *which* Batgirl, though…
… but we all know it’s Babs.
No one shall ever supplant Yvonne Craig.
The words “EMET” glow brightly across my forehead for no particular reason other than TRUTH has been written here today.
Waits patiently for the multiple paragraph dissection of the truth behind the Golem in jewish folklore….which will not make Mr. Loughery’s statement any less true.
It’s an almost criminal shame that many young people have no idea who Yvonne Craig was. She set the bar so high that no Batgirl since has dethroned her.
I liked her as Marta as well. ^_^
Call me stuck in the 00’s, but I prefer Cas. Just because she was so quiet. It says “I’m a mystery to you”. Plus she had this sweet friendship with Coldcast, and she never stopped believing in him.
As…inspiring as Yvonne Craig was for me, back in the day, I’m pretty sure Nick really prefers his Warrior Goddess:
http://skin-horse.com/comic/remarkably/
Keep in mind she already kicked-ass in World of Warcraft *before* the safehouse story arc.
True, but Nick is going to have to come right out and say so before Virginia will believe it.
Also… Virginia, love you lots, but: unless you put it as “Does your repeated assertion that you wish to become a helicopter again indicate that you do not wish to engage into a sexual relationship with me?” in a comic strip that I somehow missed, then no, you didn’t ask. And, honestly, circumstances are such that you really might – legitimately – have to spell it out like that.
God. Those two make *me* look socially ept.
No, Virginia asked a while back, during the . . . Wow, “My Brother Sam is Dead” chapter. A few years back, real time.
Begin here: http://skin-horse.com/comic/lavender-to/
And continue forward a few strips, until you see Nick say (on the phone): “I totally like you Dr. Lee. As, uh, a friend.” (and only think to himself, “My best friend I would so try to bang if I had a schvantz”)
Asking “How do you feel about me?” over the phone years ago is not even close to asking him now that he has the ability to do something about it.
No, I’m with Moe on this one. Those two make me look socially ept. And believe me, I’m not. They are definitely not the ones to watch to figure out how I should try to get a girl.
This. Don’t get me wrong, it’s reasonable to think that you could ask ‘How do you feel about me?’ and then you could expect to get a forthright answer. For anybody but these two. These two having been putting band-aids on their interactions with each other from the very start, one on top of the other — and the day shall come when they need to rip ’em all off. At once.
Yeah I’d say ‘As a friend’ too, if I thought the relationship was going to be impossible.
“You know, the kind of friend whose underwear a guy would scope out using the X-ray filter on Camera 3.”
Dammit Lee, don’t you realize people lie about their feelings when things get complicated?
I like ‘socially ept’ but I think it’s supposed to shorten to ‘apt’. Because English is stupid.
Ginny casts ‘Deny Reality’. It fizzles.
I feel like panel three from this strip is appropriate here.
http://skin-horse.com/comic/who-will-just/
This.^
Are cloned bones strong enough to take a good jumping?
The question about Nick is, is he strong enough to give a good jumping? He used to sit in his room playing video games non-stop. That’s not exactly strenuous physical activity. His only strong muscles were in his thumbs. Hopefully Tigerlily’s “enhancements” included stamina.
Again, that invention already exists.
It’s called a strap-on.
As several folks noted, he was looking surprisingly buff when he first woke up.
I notice Dr. Lee did not protest that *she* doesn’t think of Nick that way!
But she’s determined to demonstrate her love by setting Nick free…
I do like Tigerlily’s response. You can practically hear her rolling her eyes.
Man, how often has this comic put into question the possibility on whether Dr. Lee counts as a Mad Scientist?
I would like to see her “break through”, it would be terrifying and brilliant.
If she isn’t mad, she’s at least mad-adjacent. Of course, Anasigma may have been damping her down – literally forcing her to remain sane – while she was working for them, so a breakthrough may be in order. I don’t think Nick will mind either way, truly.
I see no trilobite broach.
She wouldn’t need a broach from a different universe, when there was a solution right here in this one. Helen’s first attempt at a Cure was only temporary. She had to keep slipping it into Clone-Dave’s coffee to keep him sane.
Of course, my theory has long been that she already broke through at a very young age – so young that she didn’t know what had happened. And her parents taught her to act “normal”, and never let her know that she was Mad. So she can understand Mad science creations so easily because she’s always been Mad, but she claims to be sane because she thinks she is.
I hope you’re right, because the alternative would yield a Mad surpassing Agatha Heterodyne!
Recent revelations about Albia spring to mind…
It’s a good theory, but how is she reverse-engineering the Mad Science stuff, then?
Simple
A) She’s already a genius.
and
B) Her Madness is centered on analysis of Mad Science.
That particular form of Madness would only manifest itself when she’s confronted with something that seems to defy mundane reality. And her genius is what’s needed to tell the two apart.
Thank you, Tigerlily, for providing some needed perspective.
Right, so Dr. Lee is getting advice from a madwoman (who’s more sensible than she is). And the plot is veering into “DAMMIT WHY CAN’T PEOPLE TALK TO EACH OTHER!” territory. Not that I haven’t been guilty of that IRL…. 🙁
To be fair, this IS people just talking to each other.
In my experience, the reason why people can’t just talk to each other is that one or both don’t want to risk anything changing.
There is so much sexual tension, they’ve renamed it sexual elevension.
That pun is so terrible that it deserves a courtesy laugh and a golf clap.
I’d volunteer a Lurch groan.
Thank you, Victor Borge.
So I guess you’re saying, then, is that the mental pressure on both is getting to the point where they both might need a spinal tap?
Honey, the only reason Batgirl is his imaginary girlfriend is that you’re real.
Whatya bet his Batgirl is Ginny?
Just wonderin’ why this isn’y linked on the right-hand side? https://nickzerhakker.wordpress.com/
Same reason this isn’t:
https://zerhakker.livejournal.com/
I don’t know what that reason is, but I’d bet it’s the same reason.
Oh, yeah. Linking to just one would do it, since they point to eachother. The main reason that springs to mind is that not listing it makes it feel a little more real. On the other hand, if you don’t know about it–it’s missing a lot of really, really wonderful content.
I *love* how the authors type Nik’s entries. Very character illustrative. The tags are just zomg.
I guess it’s a trade-off. The thought of folks missing out though, makes me sad–/because/ it’s so awesome. Does that make sense?
Unfortunately, there’s no year on the wordpress blog dates, but IIRC it was all in 2013. Too bad; I’d have liked to continue reading that. ^_^
If you hover over the date, it shows the full date. The final entry was Nov 27, 2014.
Speaking of which, perhaps Nick should be exporting his LiveJournal to Dreamwidth? I dunno if the Russians of his world are pulling the same hijinx as in ours, but….
Don’t know why it’s not linked here, but wanted to say if Nick was looking for the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge around Miami, he was on the exact opposite coast.
Imaginary girlfriends
Never cost a dime.
With all the real ones breaking their dates,
They’re on time.
It’s a hormone pleasure,
Neuroendocrine.
Someone to do the video gaming routine.
Imaginary girlfriend, she’s fine, every time.
Imaginary girlfriends, oh yeah.
When great potential girlfriends
Cause some disconcert.
And screaming fear and terror ruin a flirt.
Imagination won’t hurt.
Imaginary girlfriend, imaginary girlfriend,
They’re great, procreate.
Imaginary girlfriends, costumed fantasies,
Looking all right,
In costumes skin-tight when you read.
Adventure-action guaranteed.
Imaginary girlfriend, imaginary girlfriend,
They’re great, never late,
Our imaginary girlfriends,
They’re great, procreate.
—from “Imaginary Lover,” the Atlanta Rhythm Section. (Play it on fast speed and it sounds like Fleetwood Mac.)
I’ve had to train myself to stop saying “I’m sorry” when someone tells me they’ve had some misfortune, and instead say “I’m sorry to hear that”, because no matter how many times I explained “Yeah, no – I know it’s not my fault, I’m just offering my condolences”, they still just couldn’t grok that fact, even with very close friends and family.
This was supposed to be in reply to maarvarq’s comment, but I guess something screwed up somewhere…
Apparently they don’t realize that one of the principal synonyms for “sorry” is “sympathetic”. It comes from the same root as “sorrow”. The word “sorry” has been used as an apology for less than 200 years.
Frankly, their misunderstanding of my simple “I’m sorry” would make me feel slightly less sympathetic. And depending on how much less, I might be tempted to say “You know what? I’m not sorry any more.”
I just like to copy the one xkcd comic.
“So I don’t know if anyone told you, but Fred was in a car crash.”
“Oh, that’s terrible! I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry – it’s not your fault.”
“It’s nice of you to say that, but I know what I did.”
“Wait, what?”
ROFL!
Seriously! It’s so annoying.
Okay, we are veering from dim lights and mood music and going straight into “clonk their skulls together like coconuts” territory.
Also, Ginny Blushes #32, which I also missed the first time through.
#31 http://skin-horse.com/comic/the-ropes/
1-30 listed in the comments here http://skin-horse.com/comic/it-was-not/