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[Cioran]

Minstrelsy is the word that most closely describes the element of the strip that I'd like to draw attention to here, though rest assured that I mean no disrespect to Onstad or to anyone else by it.

A lot of the funny of the strip derives not just from the fact that some of the characters speak in ways that draw heavily from black American dialect, ebonics if you will, but that this black speech is being written by a white man. In my view this is not cheap racial humor but part and parcel of Onstad's investigation of modern manhood. In the United States black and white men construct their identities in part by referencing the "opposite race", as Chuck D once put it, sometimes through imitation and sometimes by rejection.

Eldridge Cleaver's Soul On Ice is a good book to check out on the subject.

[Choop]

no thanks, i gave at the office

[AugustWest]

Seriously -- are you (or did you) write a research paper that you are oh so graciously enlightening us with?  Because it's hell of tedious.

This is not an academic journal.  It's an internet message board about cartoon cats and the folks who love them.  For five years or so we've managed to get by without sucking the joy and humor out of the best comic going.  Please help us keep our streak alive!

[Cioran]

You just made me take away one of your tiny cans of Dr Pepper.

[AugustWest]

Heh.

[pmcd9]

Frank.  I was thinking Tha Sugah Rain too.  However, I would have thought that a group of literary types like we are here would enjoy deconstructing our favorite cartoon.

[AugustWest]

I am speaking only for myself. 

It's a free country.  Pontificate away.  I'll just sit here and snipe.

[pmcd9]

I'm looking to you to lead the way.  I'd just be typing gibberish.

[JorgeFabregas]

I'm enjoying this guy's deal and vaguely agree with some of his statements. What else is there to talk about? I'd also like a Molly mega-thread where Molly haters and lovers sort through their differences, but I'm too busy/lazy to to start it.

[Bobby Isosceles]

ebonics if you will,

Ladies and Gentlemen, this phrase is so chock-full of condescending pretense that I am forced to  present you with...

The next Andy Kaufman.

TROLLCAN'D.

[Bobby Isosceles]

Frank.  I was thinking Tha Sugah Rain too.  However, I would have thought that a group of literary types like we are here would enjoy deconstructing our favorite cartoon.

Our cynicism and bitterness outweighs our intellectual instincts.

We're more derision then Derrida all up in this bitch

[Carlos del Vaca]

I'm with Jayelle--this board has been too quiet lately.  If someone wants to come in and start some moderately thoughtful topics, so be it.

Not that I have much to say about the topic.

[Bobby Isosceles]

I'm with Jayelle--this board has been too quiet lately.  If someone wants to come in and start some moderately thoughtful topics, so be it.

Not that I have much to say about the topic.

What's wrong with quiet? It means we are all off doing other, more productive or fruitful things. That's good, right?

[wombat]

It means we are all off doing other, more productive or fruitful things.

Eh, speak for yourself.

Personally, I work at home. I have no one to chat with at the next desk or down the hall or at lunch. Or at the water cooler, do offices still have water coolers? If you guys aren't here, I end up talking to the dogs more than is strictly mentally healthy.

[Bobby Isosceles]

Eh, speak for yourself.

Personally, I work at home. I have no one to chat with at the next desk or down the hall or at lunch. Or at the water cooler, do offices still have water coolers? If you guys aren't here, I end up talking to the dogs more than is strictly mentally healthy.

I thought you worked in a zoo ...?