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Of course they are. Journalism students have to learn about form, copy, spelling, punctuation, proper formatting, and all the niceties so they can ignore every last little bit of it when they become bloggers.
Don’t forget fumbling homophones (your/you’re/yore, to/too/two, there, their, they’re) and a ignoring the proofreading comments after 5 minutes.
You should see what these kids try to write in on-air graphics in newscasts. Brevity is key! Just because you can dump entire sentences into a lower third, that doesn’t mean you should!
The student paper at my first university was Tharunka, where the compositor managed to spell “students” as “studnets” more often than not. I never figured out whether that was some sort of surreal joke. It doesn’t seem funny, but they often don’t.
This is a qwerty-o. While your left middle finger is moving from d to e, your right index finger is hovering over the n, just raring to go, and sometimes jumping the gun.
“Rhotic” means you pronounce the R’s. Boston English is famously non-rhotic (“pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd”), but “standard” Midwestern American English is rhotic (“parrrrk the carrr in Harrrvarrrd Yarrrrd”).
English /r/ is weird anyway. Most other languages do a trill or a flap, and we do this weird retroflex approximant. If you hear a Japanese person (for example) struggling with R’s and L’s, spare them some pity: our L is normal-ish, but R is harrrrrrrrd.
(Also, the r sound is kind of the l sound pulled back. Like, that was an exercise I did in speech therapy– start out making the l sound, pull it back to the r sound. One time I was working with this person who was learning English with Korean as her native language, and she was having a hard time pronouncing the word “leprechaun” (a solidly weird word) and that was how I explained hitting the right sounds for it.)
The thing to understand about rhotic R is that despite everything you were ever taught in school, it isn’t a consonant. It’s a weird vowel. And in non-rhotic dialects of English, it shifts to some other vowel sound.
Oh, I could never be a blogger, then. I’m always going back and totally rewriting things. There doesn’t even have to be an error. I might’ve just thought of a cleverer (or at very least, more pleonastic) way of phrasing something, and obviously once I do that I have to rewrite the entire paragraph around it.
Yeah my UNi has a now very politically correct Paper and then each college has one as well with varying levels of snowflake …. well except for the Engineers … The SJW and spineless admins killed that century old rag because they refused to kowtow to the student council that contained zero engineers and a token science student. Mind you Political Science is an oxymoron.
I understand what you mean by saying the weapon was a bad idea, but it saved a huge amount of lives in what would have been an extremely bloody and destructive war as the Allies invaded Japan where each Japanese warrior would have taken out as many as they could before going down themselves. Honor meant that decision of surrender could only come from the top. The lives lost in the war in the Pacific would have been nothing. It also shifted all the deaths to one side, which was kind of the point.
Yeah, but the consequences were horrible! Thousands of deaths by radiation, and then the cold war! Humanity almost died close to 1990 because of a dick measuring contest between the USA and Soviet Russia.
And for the record? The bomb was dropped to test out the capabilities of the atomic bomb and to intimidate Russia. It had jack all to do with saving anybody. Japan was on the verge of surrendering due to lack of resources (thanks to the Allied blockade) and the Soviets were about to enter the war. This is a common but inaccurate argument.
Barton J. Bernstein’s The Atomic Bomb, William D. Leahy’s ‘I Was There’, Norman Cousins’ ‘Pathology of Power’, Henry Stimson’s Diary, and Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed’s ‘The Decision to Drop the Bomb’ all include quotes from the report by the US Strategic Bombing Group, Dwight Eisenhower, William Leahy, Douglas McArthur, William F. Halsey, Henry Stimson, Lewis Strauss, and even those deploying the bombs against it’s necessity and the choice of location if you want to check them out.
Oppenheimer and nearly everyone else wore welder’s goggles. Except for Feynmann; he figured that ordinary auto-glass would screen out the ultraviolet which was the only real danger at that range, so he watched it direct through a jeep’s windscreen.
Joyce is into something, and maybe she got lessons from Chibi RWBY about admiring your own destruction. Also, walking slowly while an explosion happens behind you will cause your death, so better run away and look at the fireworks from a safe distance.
Not to gainsay you (it IS your post), but I parsed that as ” and maybe she got lessons from RWBY Chibi!Ruby, RWBY Chibi!Weiss, RWBY Chibi!Blake and RWBY Chibi!Yang about admiring your own destruction.”
Joyce CLEARLY and regrettably hasn’t been exposed to that wondeful 2 and a half minutes lecture about how cool guys/gals/people behave when faced with (or being the cause of) a explosion!
A real pitty, since blowing shit up is a very christian thing to do!
Willis is kicking himself right now for not having Billie ostentatiously taking a bite out of an apple while telling Joyce how badass cool people behave.
As a copy editor, let me tell you, you need to read your articles after the copy editor goes over them so you can learn from your mistakes.
Also, you need a copy for your portfolio.
OK, so I read the strip on my laptop. Then I read the alt text. Then I read the strip again. Then I realized I’d literally not seen the last panel, because it looked different from all the others and my mental “don’t look at ads” filter had completely blocked it out.
And people wonder why adblockers are a thing. I think I’ll start using mine all the time. Sorry, everyone. I’ll do some Patreon signups – just don’t expect me to deal with flashing blinking zooming crud all over the screen.
It’s hilarious just how Joyce and Billie have exactly opposite ideas about what is “cool”. Billie’s is informed by the trashier parts of popular culture whilst Joyce’s is basically because her spirit animal is a chipmunk on speed!
That’s a bit of a different situation. Lot’s wife turned back, signalling she missed the debauchery of Sodom, and Yahweh is a raging asshole and killed her over being human and imperfect.
JOYCE’S VOICEOVER:
“This is Jennifer Billingsworth, or Billie to anyone who asks. As far as I know, she’s based her entire idea of ‘cool’ on what is in the movies. Now, I admit that I don’t know much more than that myself but I know enough to realise that movies are probably a bad example!”
The Freshman 15 struggle is real. She probably had a high calorie diet, with a high calorie workout and practice schedule, and dropped the second half but not the first. Also, alcohol has 7kcal/gram, second only to fat’s 9kcal/gram.
And that probably started after the DUI accident. I mean, she was drinking before (obviously, thus the DUI), but it likely got worse and she stopped doing the cheerleading workouts. She likely got a head start on that 15 over the summer.
I wouldn’t say “fat” though. Certainly not thin and not in the shape she thinks she is, but not really fat either.
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Next strip: Ruth has the article enlarged to poster size and framed, hangs so it’s the first thing visible in her room
Billie: “WHAT”
Ruth then turns away as Billie explodes. Sunglasses descend.
“badass RAs don’t look at explosions”
Caine’s Law says that you have to say a punny one-liner before you can put on sunglasses in these situations.
And then Pinball Wizard starts playing.
No, wait. Seriously, ARE School newspapers still a’thing’?!
(I’ve been outta college a LONG time.)
Yeah, mine has one.
Yep.
Of course they are. Journalism students have to learn about form, copy, spelling, punctuation, proper formatting, and all the niceties so they can ignore every last little bit of it when they become bloggers.
Depressingly accurate.
Don’t forget fumbling homophones (your/you’re/yore, to/too/two, there, their, they’re) and a ignoring the proofreading comments after 5 minutes.
You should see what these kids try to write in on-air graphics in newscasts. Brevity is key! Just because you can dump entire sentences into a lower third, that doesn’t mean you should!
I’ve never seen someone use “yore” when they mean some permutation of “you”. Please tell me this really happens.
I’ve seen it happen in a severe case of The Tpyos.
The student paper at my first university was Tharunka, where the compositor managed to spell “students” as “studnets” more often than not. I never figured out whether that was some sort of surreal joke. It doesn’t seem funny, but they often don’t.
Studnets is teh joke. Funny is where you find it.
This is a qwerty-o. While your left middle finger is moving from d to e, your right index finger is hovering over the n, just raring to go, and sometimes jumping the gun.
Australian English is non-rhotic, so we add “yaw”.
I’m not really sure what rhotic English is, but over here unless you’re pitching we spell yaw as y’all.
“Rhotic” means you pronounce the R’s. Boston English is famously non-rhotic (“pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd”), but “standard” Midwestern American English is rhotic (“parrrrk the carrr in Harrrvarrrd Yarrrrd”).
English /r/ is weird anyway. Most other languages do a trill or a flap, and we do this weird retroflex approximant. If you hear a Japanese person (for example) struggling with R’s and L’s, spare them some pity: our L is normal-ish, but R is harrrrrrrrd.
Fuck the r ⟨ɹ̠⟩ sound!
Sincerely,
My speech-impaired self
(Also, the r sound is kind of the l sound pulled back. Like, that was an exercise I did in speech therapy– start out making the l sound, pull it back to the r sound. One time I was working with this person who was learning English with Korean as her native language, and she was having a hard time pronouncing the word “leprechaun” (a solidly weird word) and that was how I explained hitting the right sounds for it.)
It’s even moah obvious down aroun’ Rho’ Dylin. We tawk real funny down heah.
Heh. When I read “pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd,” Weird-ass me heard it in JFK’s voice.
Then when I was posting this, I heard it in RFK’s voice. And both of them were dead before I was born. o_O
The thing to understand about rhotic R is that despite everything you were ever taught in school, it isn’t a consonant. It’s a weird vowel. And in non-rhotic dialects of English, it shifts to some other vowel sound.
“Fumbling Homophones” has such a nice ring to it i might actually consider it in place of “Jeremy Tingle Has No Chill” for my band name on Rock Band.
Jeremy Tingle and the Fumbling Homophobes?
Homophones. That was spell correct. Honest.
Ri-hi-hi-hi-hight.
Still, “Fumbling Homophobes.” I kinda like that.
Oh, I could never be a blogger, then. I’m always going back and totally rewriting things. There doesn’t even have to be an error. I might’ve just thought of a cleverer (or at very least, more pleonastic) way of phrasing something, and obviously once I do that I have to rewrite the entire paragraph around it.
I can only speak for my Australian uni, but yup, still a thing.
Yeah my UNi has a now very politically correct Paper and then each college has one as well with varying levels of snowflake …. well except for the Engineers … The SJW and spineless admins killed that century old rag because they refused to kowtow to the student council that contained zero engineers and a token science student. Mind you Political Science is an oxymoron.
If there is not an underground Engineering newspaper as a result, then students have really changed since the 60’s.
Yay.
Student newspapers are still a thing. It’s local newspapers that kinda aren’t.
COOL GUYS DON’T LOOK AT EXPLOSIONS
They blow things up, and then walk away.
I want to blow stuff and look at it. Openheimer and his team of scientists watched the test of their first atom bomb.
I mean, that weapon was a bad idea, but I still want to look at stuff blow up. I am not a jaded asshole like Billie and Archer Emiya.
I understand what you mean by saying the weapon was a bad idea, but it saved a huge amount of lives in what would have been an extremely bloody and destructive war as the Allies invaded Japan where each Japanese warrior would have taken out as many as they could before going down themselves. Honor meant that decision of surrender could only come from the top. The lives lost in the war in the Pacific would have been nothing. It also shifted all the deaths to one side, which was kind of the point.
Yeah, but the consequences were horrible! Thousands of deaths by radiation, and then the cold war! Humanity almost died close to 1990 because of a dick measuring contest between the USA and Soviet Russia.
I’m perfectly comfortable saying war crimes are always unacceptable. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilian targets.
And for the record? The bomb was dropped to test out the capabilities of the atomic bomb and to intimidate Russia. It had jack all to do with saving anybody. Japan was on the verge of surrendering due to lack of resources (thanks to the Allied blockade) and the Soviets were about to enter the war. This is a common but inaccurate argument.
Barton J. Bernstein’s The Atomic Bomb, William D. Leahy’s ‘I Was There’, Norman Cousins’ ‘Pathology of Power’, Henry Stimson’s Diary, and Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed’s ‘The Decision to Drop the Bomb’ all include quotes from the report by the US Strategic Bombing Group, Dwight Eisenhower, William Leahy, Douglas McArthur, William F. Halsey, Henry Stimson, Lewis Strauss, and even those deploying the bombs against it’s necessity and the choice of location if you want to check them out.
Looking directly at an atomic bomb going off is also a pretty bad idea, though.
Most of them saw it through dark glasses but of course
… as I was saying, of course Feynman had to look at it bare-eyed.
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/04/what_its_like_to_actually_see_an_atomic_explosion.html
It was hard to be cooler than Feynman. Still is.
Oppenheimer and nearly everyone else wore welder’s goggles. Except for Feynmann; he figured that ordinary auto-glass would screen out the ultraviolet which was the only real danger at that range, so he watched it direct through a jeep’s windscreen.
Cool HEDGEHOGS don’t look at explosions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd4xjPnMr00
Billie obviously needs to show Joyce that video.
While we’re on topic.
https://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/cherry-cherry-sweet-caroliiiiine
As my sons (trained combat engineers) say, if you can see the explosion, the explosion can see you. No professional would let an explosion see them.
*plays “Dirty Laundry” on the hacked Muzak*
“Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down” — the unofficial motto of DYW.
Everyone loves hearing this come on the radio in the news van.
I played it over a temporary PA setup as a test once. The station manager was not happy. (I started playing Zappa’s I’m the Slime instead.)
Cue Lonely Island Jokes
Sometimes you gotta link to the obvious video
“I mean, kinda, yeah, definitely.”
Joyce has more people smarts than her innocent blue eyes would let on.
Billie took that surprisingly well.
Awwwwww, Ruth’s adorable!
Billie, you’re right, but this means you don’t get to keep your first article.
Little late for that: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/03-the-first-step-towards-recovery/byline/
Yup, forgot about that one. Whoops. NBD then, yeah.
Although Billie should probably try to keep her copy on her computer though, if only for stuff like portfolios.
I was editor of a newspaper and I kept a copy of every issue. And read it, too.
I know, right?
SOOO CUTE!!!
**SQUEE**
Yes!
She’s got this weird thing on her face though, right below her nose.
A smile? Yeah, let’s go with that.
I’m not used to Ruth looking this adorable. I like it.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Please join me in welcoming: Mister Neil Diamond!”
Being cool’s overrated.
Being happy is awesome.
I agree. I stopped caring about looking cool and just want my pizza, my games and a to get a job so I can continue playing more games.
It’s good to know what your priorities are. I’ve heard worse. Much worse.
‘Do I LOOK like someone who requires that kind of validation?’/‘yes.’ Is just delightful. Also aww, Ruth smiling with hearts. Yay Ruth.
Oh Ruth youre god damned adorable
Joyce is into something, and maybe she got lessons from Chibi RWBY about admiring your own destruction. Also, walking slowly while an explosion happens behind you will cause your death, so better run away and look at the fireworks from a safe distance.
RWBY Chibi*
Not to gainsay you (it IS your post), but I parsed that as ” and maybe she got lessons from RWBY Chibi!Ruby, RWBY Chibi!Weiss, RWBY Chibi!Blake and RWBY Chibi!Yang about admiring your own destruction.”
That works too. An artists must watch their own creation unfold to the world.
This is super cute, also, a few years ago, I wouldn’t picture Joyce Brown ever saying the sentence “The explosion’s the best part”.
Joyce CLEARLY and regrettably hasn’t been exposed to that wondeful 2 and a half minutes lecture about how cool guys/gals/people behave when faced with (or being the cause of) a explosion!
A real pitty, since blowing shit up is a very christian thing to do!
Willis is kicking himself right now for not having Billie ostentatiously taking a bite out of an apple while telling Joyce how badass cool people behave.
I really don’t think of Billie as an a**hole, though.
Ruth is so proud of her Billie. I bet she sends Sir Gramps a copy. Well, I bet she thinks of sending Sir Gramps a copy.
It’s hard to be cool if you have to explain that you are cool
awwwww, Ruth <3
As a copy editor, let me tell you, you need to read your articles after the copy editor goes over them so you can learn from your mistakes.
Also, you need a copy for your portfolio.
And your girlfriend needs a copy because she is proud of you!
Yeah, Billie is not really into that whole “learning from her mistakes” gig
Learn from your misteaks, that’s unlikely.
also http://www.poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/learn/
This. Fortunately, it’s obvious reporters rarely read their own edited copy, which I suppose keeps us in business.
I’m continuing to be happy about Ruth’s progress. Look at her go! Hearts above her head!
Much better than boozles.
And now Ross knows where to find Becky.
Ugh. You are almost certainly correct. Hopefully since she’s off-campus her new address isn’t published?
He just saw her on the news. If he’s reading the school paper he’s too close already.
the fundamentalist makes a distressingly good point
More like an existentialist now, and probably an atheist if she discovers what her mom has been doing.
Eh, she doesn’t have to become an atheist for that. She just has to flip the bird at the fifth commandment.
Historical Jesus would probably tell her the same, if he was in this comic.
I don’t think Joyce should start killing people…
She could stop after Ross and Blane.
Killing’s like Pringles…once you pop, you can’t stop.
Now, how might you know something like that? Got something to share with the class? WHERE ARE THE BODIES, KAMINO NEKO???
OK, so I read the strip on my laptop. Then I read the alt text. Then I read the strip again. Then I realized I’d literally not seen the last panel, because it looked different from all the others and my mental “don’t look at ads” filter had completely blocked it out.
And people wonder why adblockers are a thing. I think I’ll start using mine all the time. Sorry, everyone. I’ll do some Patreon signups – just don’t expect me to deal with flashing blinking zooming crud all over the screen.
This strip makes me so happy, like Billy and Joyce have their funny dynamic, and Ruth is so dang sweet, what the heck
No booze bubbles for Ruth! Only lovey-dovey hearts instead!
That last panel may just be the cutest thing ever. (Even though Joyce and her delightful expressions are in this strip!)
It’s hilarious just how Joyce and Billie have exactly opposite ideas about what is “cool”. Billie’s is informed by the trashier parts of popular culture whilst Joyce’s is basically because her spirit animal is a chipmunk on speed!
Aww, it’s sweet how proud of Billie Ruth is in that last panel.
Panel 5:
Say it with me now.
D’AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW~!!!
Ah, I’m a big old sap and I’m rooting for these two again.
This might be the most adorable Ruth we’ve seen so far.
Ain’t nothing cuter than rooting for someone you love.
Eheheheheheheh
And Billy has an actual tape recorder instead of a phone and Ruth reads literal paper instead of a phone.
They really are made for each other.
I am so happy for Ruth and her complete sincerity of happiness here.
Shouldn’t Joyce, of all people, know better than to look back at an explosion? After what happened to Lot’s wife?
I doubt that Joyce perceives that as a ‘dangerous explosion’.
That’s a bit of a different situation. Lot’s wife turned back, signalling she missed the debauchery of Sodom, and Yahweh is a raging asshole and killed her over being human and imperfect.
Liking a city where a communal tradition is the gang-rape of attractive travellers is probably a red flag.
Valid point, but striking people dead over red flags still sounds like overkill to me.
Given Lot offered up his daughters and what his daughters did to him, that family wasn’t meeting any bare minimum standards.
The sad part is that I’m currently taking an evening course that’s about half undergrads and I still don’t know. (The curse of the aging millennial…)
Man, Ruth looks so proud of Billie in that last panel. And smitten.
Billie, you might want to hang onto this one. Just sayin’.
“Run downstairs”? Don’t they slide the paper under the door anymore?
They did when Amber read that Dorothy kept her secret safe.
But who do you think slid it under her door.
Also I think that went under the door to their shared bathroom, not the hallway door.
JOYCE’S VOICEOVER:
“This is Jennifer Billingsworth, or Billie to anyone who asks. As far as I know, she’s based her entire idea of ‘cool’ on what is in the movies. Now, I admit that I don’t know much more than that myself but I know enough to realise that movies are probably a bad example!”
Wow, for an ex-cheerleader, Billie’s fat.
I forgot that she’s a Murican cheerleader. Most of them probably have Rascals.
The Freshman 15 struggle is real. She probably had a high calorie diet, with a high calorie workout and practice schedule, and dropped the second half but not the first. Also, alcohol has 7kcal/gram, second only to fat’s 9kcal/gram.
And that probably started after the DUI accident. I mean, she was drinking before (obviously, thus the DUI), but it likely got worse and she stopped doing the cheerleading workouts. She likely got a head start on that 15 over the summer.
I wouldn’t say “fat” though. Certainly not thin and not in the shape she thinks she is, but not really fat either.
She was also probably fairly curvy to begin with. Not all cheerleaders are rail-thin.
Ruth in the last panel. SHE’S TOO SWEET… I…I can’t AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! ! ! !…(faints, but with a huge smile).
Joyce in the second panel: mentally fill in the rest of her torso doing that lean-in towards Billie, and tell me what’s keeping her from tipping over?
I know, I know … the same Cartoon Physics that allows A-G to do all her cool moves.
father i cannot click the newspaper
Click harder.
If that doesn’t work, try rebooting it.
‘Click’? What 1990s nostalgia trip are you on, child! You SWIPE now! SWIPE!
Oh, Billie. Of course you wanna keep your damn clippings. Your journalism professor’s gonna tut at you disappointedly.
Betcha Toedad sees this.
Awwww so cute ruthbl is adorable and smitten i am rooting so hard for healthy
Also I think that went under the door to their shared bathroom, not the hallway door.