Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

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May 8, 2026

Bills

by David M Willis on July 18, 2019 at 12:01 am
  • 04 - Vote for Robin
└ Tags: jennifer, nash, rose

Discussion (108) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    July 18, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

    Nash is a hoot. Why is she at the bottom of the poll, anyway?

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      July 18, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

      Haven’t seen much of her, maybe?

      • ShinyNeen
        ShinyNeen
        July 18, 2019 at 12:12 am | #

        Even less back when the poll first went up.

    • butts
      butts
      July 18, 2019 at 12:05 am | #

      i voted for her

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      July 18, 2019 at 12:11 am | #

      She’s a hoot BECAUSE we don’t see much of her. Too much and she’d be irritating and make us nash our teeth.

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        July 18, 2019 at 12:17 am | #

        A quick look shows she’s been tagged in fifteen strips, ever. We can enjoy more of her.

        (Disclaimer: I voted for her too.)

      • Rabid Rabbit
        Rabid Rabbit
        July 18, 2019 at 2:03 am | #

        I cannot decide whether to boo or applaud you.

        • Kamino Neko
          Kamino Neko
          July 18, 2019 at 4:30 am | #

          With a pun, they’re the same thing.

        • He Who Abides
          He Who Abides
          July 18, 2019 at 5:01 am | #

          Do both.

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        July 18, 2019 at 7:48 am | #

        “Nash our teeth” I missed, somehow. Well done.

    • Moon
      Moon
      July 18, 2019 at 1:05 am | #

      I like her but I tend to forget Forest quad exists unless the strip is taking place in it

    • GoblinScribe
      GoblinScribe
      July 18, 2019 at 10:44 am | #

      Isn’t Nash they/them?

      • showler
        showler
        July 18, 2019 at 10:52 am | #

        I’ve seen no such indication. Are you perhaps confusing her with Zaph?

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        July 18, 2019 at 10:56 am | #

        I don’t think so, but I might have forgotten. Zaph is trans, but I don’t remember anyone else in that dorm.

      • DinaJoyce
        DinaJoyce
        July 18, 2019 at 11:01 am | #

        I just looked through the tagged strips with her and saw no indication she isn’t the gender she presents as (ie female). And I would say the hijab definitely indicates she’s intending to present as female.

  2. BBCC
    BBCC
    July 18, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

    Nash, stop that. You too, actually Rose, don’t read over people’s shoulders.

    Oh, Billie, honey. Pretending to be the perfect girl never goes well.

    • Woomy
      Woomy
      July 18, 2019 at 12:05 am | #

      Is telling the characters how to behave every strip just your brand now?

      • Marsh Maryrose
        Marsh Maryrose
        July 18, 2019 at 12:27 am | #

        I thought that was the entire comment section’s job!

      • BBCC
        BBCC
        July 18, 2019 at 12:57 am | #

        I’ve always done that. What can I say? I’m a mom friend and now apparently I’m a mom fan.

        • BBCC
          BBCC
          July 18, 2019 at 1:14 am | #

          Though, granted, my mom friend-ness in real life extends mostly to things like ‘It’s cold out, maybe bring a jacket’ or ‘I brought granola bars with chocolate chips because I know how to get you guys to eat fibre’ type stuff.

        • Needfuldoer
          Needfuldoer
          July 18, 2019 at 1:42 am | #

          Hence the mommentary.

          • BBCC
            BBCC
            July 18, 2019 at 1:45 am | #

            Hey, fictional characters are the only people it’s okay to give unsolicited mom-ing to.

            • Delicious Taffy
              Delicious Taffy
              July 18, 2019 at 1:58 am | #

              I’d argue that fictional folks need it more, since authors seem intent on killing off their moms in really contrived ways.

              • BBCC
                BBCC
                July 18, 2019 at 3:18 am | #

                Exactly! Or they have terrible parents! They need some mommentary.

            • Dark
              Dark
              July 18, 2019 at 5:06 pm | #

              Depends on how well you know the Real people.

              My entire social circle is made up of people who Mom the rest of the circle.

              Gets really funny when they try to out-Mom each other.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      July 18, 2019 at 4:08 am | #

      Perfection is boring anyway

  3. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    July 18, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

    “No problem, I’ll leave you to it. It’s 3:00, that gives me only half an hour to paw through your garbage before it’s emptied.”

    • StClair
      StClair
      July 18, 2019 at 12:05 am | #

      “What, do you go through my trash?”
      “Please. I go through everyone’s trash.”

      • Delicious Taffy
        Delicious Taffy
        July 18, 2019 at 1:50 am | #

        Is that a Pearl quote?

        • AbelUndercity
          AbelUndercity
          July 18, 2019 at 5:32 am | #

          The Question.

          • Delicious Taffy
            Delicious Taffy
            July 18, 2019 at 8:48 am | #

            You fibber, Pearl doesn’t have any lines in that episode.

  4. Regalli
    Regalli
    July 18, 2019 at 12:03 am | #

    Hey, haven’t seen that plot thread in a hot monute.

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 18, 2019 at 12:11 am | #

      I promise I’m not making fun of you. Monute sounds like a cool biology word. What would a monute be, if there were monutes?

      • Poofdepoof
        Poofdepoof
        July 18, 2019 at 12:32 am | #

        My brain is saying it’s got to be related in some way to manatees

        • Geneseepaws
          Geneseepaws
          July 18, 2019 at 6:47 am | #

          I think that it’s the ur-marmot.

      • OBBWG
        OBBWG
        July 18, 2019 at 12:44 am | #

        A protozoa-like critter that causes foot odor (in manatees?)

        (Yes, I know manatees don’t have feet. That’s why we’ve never discovered monutes.)

      • EmCaCo
        EmCaCo
        July 18, 2019 at 12:49 am | #

        It would be pronounced Mon-oot or mon-ut for the singular depending on region, Mon-oo-tee is the official plural and they’d be little floaty air jellyfish, adorably fuzzy, curiously floaty with a poorly-understood flight mechanism (some argue it is only “advanced floating”). Also bit of a hazard to people’s lungs, both because of it being like inhaling a bunch of hairs but also because of the stinging. People often walk into clouds of monute thinking they were gnats only to realize the unpleasant truth once their nose and mouth start burning. Their stingers otherwise have little effect on most human skin so prepared admirers can handle them carefully and enjoy their light, soft dandelion textures before they float away. “Hold your breath for a monute” is a common dad joke as well as a cautionary reminder.

        And this word doesn’t come up as anything on a google so it is fair game to get muggled for someone’s fantasy series.

        • Delicious Taffy
          Delicious Taffy
          July 18, 2019 at 12:57 am | #

          Party encounters 2d4 Monute Clouds in coastal areas.

        • Marsh Maryrose
          Marsh Maryrose
          July 18, 2019 at 2:22 am | #

          “Tiny airborne jellyfish” is the scariest thing since silicosis, and maybe half as scary as phosgene. In a world where we already have an airborne fungus that can be breathed in and cause Valley Fever, let us pray that no monutes, adorable or otherwise, are ever discovered.

      • Mopey
        Mopey
        July 18, 2019 at 6:25 pm | #

        A Hot Monute is clearly some sort of fire-type pokémon. Ultimately evolves into the Last Monute.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      July 18, 2019 at 8:15 am | #

      monute – a minute in-story, a month in RL

  5. Delicious Taffy
    Delicious Taffy
    July 18, 2019 at 12:05 am | #

    To the untrained eye, it looks like a news article. For those in the know, she’s clearly playing a journalism-themed MUD.

    • Kyoulkoa
      Kyoulkoa
      July 18, 2019 at 12:16 am | #

      MUDs, there is a term I haven’t heard in a long time

      • Delicious Taffy
        Delicious Taffy
        July 18, 2019 at 12:18 am | #

        Should I have said MUSH instead? Admittedly, I haven’t played any since high school, and even then I could barely figure them out.

      • Keulen
        Keulen
        July 18, 2019 at 12:30 am | #

        There are still some MUDs around with a decent number of people playing them. I play one called Gemstone IV.

        • Felgraf
          Felgraf
          July 18, 2019 at 7:19 am | #

          Oh shit, I vaguely recall Gemstone III back on prodigy.

  6. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    July 18, 2019 at 12:06 am | #

    Ell! Ay! Pee! Pee! Tee! Oh! Pee! Pee!
    LAPPTOPP!
    LAPPTOPP!

    • Leorale
      Leorale
      July 18, 2019 at 7:44 am | #

      Scoodly-oop BAP dee-adah, LAPTOP

      (it was a hit in the 1940s)

  7. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    July 18, 2019 at 12:10 am | #

    Oh hey, these two, been a hot minute.

    Also, forgot Billie doesn’t wear her glasses around this wing much. Hope she’s got some contacts in.

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 18, 2019 at 12:16 am | #

      Glasses are for people who don’t have a compulsive need to submit to brown-nosers.

  8. etherealdesiign
    etherealdesiign
    July 18, 2019 at 12:13 am | #

    billie, you made a mistake by starting to actually do your journalism work again. don’t you know that in a few years…… weeks… whatever, sliding timescale, people like you and i will be the first ones up against the wall?

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 18, 2019 at 12:14 am | #

      Too real.

    • Lacuna
      Lacuna
      July 18, 2019 at 12:19 am | #

      I don’t have a pithy comment, but there’s an Internet hug here if you need it.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 18, 2019 at 2:00 am | #

      I do not envy the folks working in the field every day, especially when they’re driving marked vehicles and relatively slow vans. That’s just an automatic 100 point stealth penalty. At least this area is pretty solid blue, so we get more trouble from idiot teenagers who think they’re funny than we do from Orange Julius superfans.

  9. ShinyNeen
    ShinyNeen
    July 18, 2019 at 12:15 am | #

    Oh, cool, there’s still a chance we can hear how Becky’s interview went!

    Seriously Billie, talk about Becky and what she’s up to. I bet Nash and Rose would totally be into that. And then we’d get to learn how the interview went!

    • Poofdepoof
      Poofdepoof
      July 18, 2019 at 12:35 am | #

      LOL the power of favoritism I was neutral about this and then you reminding me about the Becky connection has got me all atwitter.

  10. abysswatcher1993
    abysswatcher1993
    July 18, 2019 at 12:21 am | #

    Billie is going to regret being idolized by these girls.

    • Marsh Maryrose
      Marsh Maryrose
      July 18, 2019 at 12:54 am | #

      As a longtime reader of Something Positive, I can’t help thinking of Davan MacIntire’s catgirl fans. (Spoiler: it did not end well.)

      Billie may believe that the Fan Girls 3 adore her, but the reality is that they worship an idol that they have constructed in their own minds. If she ever fails to be that idol, things might not go well for her either.

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        July 18, 2019 at 1:32 am | #

        As I recall the Will Weaton of that universe is no longer ambidextrous. Since he lacks the requisite number of hands to be ambidextrous.

  11. Keulen
    Keulen
    July 18, 2019 at 12:22 am | #

    I know the girls in this hall are in general pretty nice, but I think I would find their nosey behavior irritating after a while.

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 18, 2019 at 12:38 am | #

      Gosh, you’d be irritated by having instances of SCP-001-A as dorm mates? I guess I could see it.

      • Newllend(henryvolt)
        Newllend(henryvolt)
        July 18, 2019 at 1:18 am | #

        Yo are on fire tonight.

        • Delicious Taffy
          Delicious Taffy
          July 18, 2019 at 1:49 am | #

          Well, ya better put the poor fellow out! Huh-ha! Huh-ha!

          • etherealdesiign
            etherealdesiign
            July 18, 2019 at 3:54 am | #

            : |

    • Isactuallyabear
      Isactuallyabear
      July 18, 2019 at 12:59 am | #

      I’m surprised Billie wasn’t more annoyed at their nosiness.

  12. Dean
    Dean
    July 18, 2019 at 12:37 am | #

    Tomorrow’s newspaper headline: PLAGUE OF NOSEY-PARKERISM IN FORREST QUAD CONTINUES UNABATED.

  13. Bagge
    Bagge
    July 18, 2019 at 12:56 am | #

    Billie ALSO wants to gossip… but she has work to do.

  14. JessWitt
    JessWitt
    July 18, 2019 at 12:59 am | #

    Interesting that Billie got a slight redesign on her lips. Just pointing it out.

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 18, 2019 at 1:51 am | #

      Has she had lips before?

      • Sunny
        Sunny
        July 18, 2019 at 6:09 am | #

        She wore lipstick for her date with Ruth, so that’s one piece of evidence for her lips existing.

        • StClair
          StClair
          July 18, 2019 at 9:21 pm | #

          “My art teacher wants me to stop making up anatomy that doesn’t exist.”

      • JessWitt
        JessWitt
        July 18, 2019 at 2:37 pm | #

        Exactly. Well except for that time Sunny mentioned.

  15. tirachokko
    tirachokko
    July 18, 2019 at 1:08 am | #

    sometimes i wonder if i’ve been/i am a billie and then wonder what that means for life. i just wanna be cool, man

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      July 18, 2019 at 1:48 am | #

      You can find books on how to be cool (and lots of other books, too) at your local library.

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        July 18, 2019 at 4:04 am | #

        If you ever see a copy of True Hip by Ignatius Jones, take it as heartily recommended. “Instant style for the modern desperado”.

  16. Sporky
    Sporky
    July 18, 2019 at 1:09 am | #

    Is it just me, or is the shading different in this strip? It feels like there are more flat colors, and they’re a little more saturated than normal too. Maybe it’s just to make this dorm look different from the other one. (I forget their names)

  17. Delicious Taffy
    Delicious Taffy
    July 18, 2019 at 1:16 am | #

    So, I was watching a video and one of the guys in it mentioned people online wanting to start using “dismantled” instead of “disabled”. Has anyone else heard of this? I can’t find anything with a quick Google search, but maybe it’s just obscure?

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 18, 2019 at 1:50 am | #

      Being dismantled sounds like the worse option, honestly.

      • Delicious Taffy
        Delicious Taffy
        July 18, 2019 at 1:56 am | #

        Right? It sounds a lot more active, like something deliberate was done to the person. It brings to mind images of mad scientists or alien vivisection.

        • Inahc
          Inahc
          July 18, 2019 at 10:00 pm | #

          It sounds like what happened in Connie Swap Episode 35. :/ It was not pretty.

      • DonDueed
        DonDueed
        July 18, 2019 at 6:55 am | #

        No disassemble! No disassemble!

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      July 18, 2019 at 4:10 am | #

      Dismantled sounds like you have limbs and other bits removed from ya.

      • Kamino Neko
        Kamino Neko
        July 18, 2019 at 4:53 am | #

        Even worse than that…that would be amputation or dismemberment (depending on how and why it happened)…

        Dismantling isn’t something that’s done to humans, or even animals…it’s something done to inanimate objects.

    • Kamino Neko
      Kamino Neko
      July 18, 2019 at 4:35 am | #

      That’s a seriously dehumanizing phrasing.

      • Zee
        Zee
        July 18, 2019 at 12:25 pm | #

        It sounds like a joke an amputee would make to make light of their own situation. Which is always something I dig

  18. nooB
    nooB
    July 18, 2019 at 1:26 am | #

    I still can’t get used to Billie with her hair open…

  19. PB
    PB
    July 18, 2019 at 1:32 am | #

    Hey Billie! Tired of the boot-licking yet?

  20. Jay
    Jay
    July 18, 2019 at 2:17 am | #

    I love these nosy and annoying characters so much.

  21. BenRG
    BenRG
    July 18, 2019 at 2:40 am | #

    In which Billie learns that most of her problems appears to be other people!

    • Deathjavu
      Deathjavu
      July 18, 2019 at 8:09 am | #

      I don’t buy this…some large portion of her problems are definitely from herself, not from any other people.

      • Jago
        Jago
        July 18, 2019 at 11:23 am | #

        Yeah but since when is Billie very observant.

  22. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    July 18, 2019 at 3:46 am | #

    At least put your glases on when using a computer~

  23. Pylgrim
    Pylgrim
    July 18, 2019 at 4:11 am | #

    Man, for once I relate to Billie. Sometimes when you are busy and trying to get things done, you don’t have the mind to stop and explain exactly what you are doing to random curious people; you don’t even have the mind to search for the right words so you say “things” and “stuff”. NO, that doesn’t mean I’m trying to be “mysterious” or “evasive!!!

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      July 18, 2019 at 8:57 am | #

      Except that Billie is likely to be trying to be evasive, since she’s been shown to be invested in her cheerleader image here and in her mind that likely doesn’t include journalism. She’s been evasive about lots of other things in this dorm.

      • Charlotte
        Charlotte
        July 18, 2019 at 11:42 am | #

        Oh, I think writing for the student newspaper counts as cool. Billie was the editor of the paper in high school, too, and it was part of her successful high school persona.
        Her new dorm-mates are going to lap this up.

        • BBCC
          BBCC
          July 18, 2019 at 12:53 pm | #

          Journalism ‘isn’t what her dorm mates pictured’ about her, so she doesn’t talk about it.

          • Liquid Len
            Liquid Len
            July 18, 2019 at 3:48 pm | #

            Maybe this kind of journalism? 😀

  24. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    July 18, 2019 at 7:51 am | #

    Ugh..people who read someone else’s journal are the worst! It’s a huge violation of the privacy.

  25. Eyebrow
    Eyebrow
    July 18, 2019 at 8:18 am | #

    It looks like Rose is trying out for a job as Clippy. Would she like a CV template?

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      July 18, 2019 at 8:34 pm | #

      Intended meta joke? Great stuff.

  26. yo
    yo
    July 18, 2019 at 8:45 am | #

    I forgot Billie existed for a bit there lol. Been so much else going on story wise for a while. Last we saw of her she was rude to Ruth and Ruth got super upset right? Hope they talk about that rather than keep drifting apart.

  27. C.T Phipps
    C.T Phipps
    July 18, 2019 at 8:47 am | #

    Billie should hook up with one of her henchwomen and get the Ruth out of her system.

    Then find out Ruth didn’t realize they were broken up.

    BECAUSE DRAMA.

  28. Alan in DC
    Alan in DC
    July 18, 2019 at 9:03 am | #

    Nothing at all to do with today’s strip, but I’m hearing this morning about an arson fire at an animation studio in Kyoto Japan. Details are moving slowly, but anywhere from 26 to 33 artists and animation experts have been killed.
    Artists. Cartoon makers. My God….
    Whatever your faith or feelings, please devote some time today to their creativity and memory.

    • C.T Phipps
      C.T Phipps
      July 18, 2019 at 1:10 pm | #

      Oh My God, that’s horrible.

  29. Jim
    Jim
    July 18, 2019 at 9:46 am | #

    Forest Billie reminds me of Mary…

    • Jago
      Jago
      July 18, 2019 at 11:23 am | #

      That’s being really generous towards Mary.

  30. Charlotte
    Charlotte
    July 18, 2019 at 11:40 am | #

    What is wrong with the people in this dorm? How did they manage to cultivate this utterly bizarre middle school social environment?
    I’d find it so aggravating to live there, and I wonder if Billie is not going to feel this eventually, too. (Lucy is already feeling it.)

    (This does remind me of the time in 4th grade, when my best friend read the diary of another girl in the class, which obviously was not cool and caused a lot of drama.)

  31. C.T Phipps
    C.T Phipps
    July 18, 2019 at 1:09 pm | #

    I really like Forest Quad in part because it’s so out of step with the rest of the frustrating reality of college. It is weird because I’m ALSO aggravated about reality having not crushed them and made them identical drones to the rest of society.

    I don’t know why I have any feelings that way and dislike that.

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