Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Slightly Damned
Chu
Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
BOOKMARK Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
BUFFER WATCH
Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:
Well,yes, in that Dorothy is keeping it secret from Joyce, and Joyce probably isn’t going to go straight out and google it now that Dorothy has said it’s up to the secret trans person if they want her to know, so from Joyce’s perspective, it’s a secret.
If everybody in the world except you knows something, and they won’t tell you what it is, then we’re… that is, they’re keeping it secret. W… they’re just keeping it secret from you specifically.
Carla would prefer to have “the” preface any description of her. The one on the skates, the tall redhead, the girl with the pies, and so on, not because she is the only one but because it implies being the definitive example.
There may be other tall redheads, but she is the tall redhead.
Today is my Mum’s birthday, which used to be an interesting coincidence, and is now kind of disconcerting, with the religious slot on the radio saying “All Souls’ Day is a day to remember those we have lost” and me thinking “Yeah, no kidding.”
I recently learned that a couple of days before Halloween is another Dia de los Muertos, but for pets. It used to be just for dogs, but now it’s for all pets. They put pet treats on the graves.
Source: A person in the California Bay Area whom I complemented on her Dia de los Muertos decor.
I think my favorite one that I saw was someone on Twitter claiming Margot Robbie was actually a man, to which someone else replied “we have seen this woman’s entire vagina.”
A full frontal would not show the vagina. It would show the vulva. We have most certainly NOT seen Margot Robbie’s vagina, because that’s the inside part.
Also, not for nothing, but trans women can, and do, have vaginas. Source: me. I’m a trans woman. I have a vagina.
Transvestigators are the lowest form of the terf because they’ve wrapped their petty, stupid little greivance against the world into a disease that has fully enveloped their brains. You could literally just tell them “they did porn and there’s a video of them giving birth, they are not trans” and they would go “But do we *KNOW* that though???” and spam more charts of bone structure in faces.
the version I have heard is “Hollywood/The Elites mandates that you transition to become famous as an initiation ritual” so, for example, Elliot Page actually DEtransitioned, and every other currently-active movie star is Assigned Counter To Their Presentation at Birth.
I used to think “how do weird kids’ characters work, biologically?” was a fun game of the “subjecting something to more analysis than it’s intended to bear is funny” variety, until a Twitter terf freaked out that there was a nonhuman character who had they/them pronouns, and started demanding that the creator explained how the entire species worked.
(But, seriously, where did the baby Teletubbies in the newer episodes come from? AFAIK, there’s no suggestion the “grown up” Teletubbies are their parents, which would be kind of weird anyway, since the “grown up” Teletubbies aren’t really protrayed as actually being grown ups. Are they younger siblings? And does that mean there are actually grown up Teletubbies, who are presumably ten feet tall or something?)
There are TERFs who like Steven Universe and that just makes me sad. Because the gems aren’t “biologically female” but look feminine and use she/her pronouns. And the creator is non-binary. And the last episode of the original series is a blatantly obvious transgender allegory.
“Natty” is an abbreviation of “natural” and is used in the body building community in reference to whether the condition and appearance of physiques are naturally achieved or aided with the use steroid enhancement, but it can also be used generally to refer to any trait. In this case the alt text implies Carla is not a natural red head. She dyes. She ain’t natty.
I swear to flying spaghetti monster that the best indicator of my age is that I keep learning new slang and also I’m grumpy about it because I have a headache right now.
I actually would argue that that is *not* an indicator of age, because minus the headache, that’s how I’ve been reacting to new slang since I was like 10. Frankly, I get annoyed that certain older, obsolete slang terms are cooler or more useful than many modern ones. 23skiddoo will ALWAYS be better than GTFO, but nobody knows what I mean when I say it. And “going steady” is an incredibly useful phrase that hardly anyone has used since the 1950s despite MANY people having expressed a desire for a simple phrase to sum up the classic “define the relationship” conversation. It’s SO much simpler to just ask “do you want to go steady?” than it is to be all like “so, we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now, I haven’t been really seeing anybody else, and I really like you, so do you wanna, like, be my exclusive significant other?”
If you mean “natty” for “natural hair” then no. Further to khn0’s point above, I was inspired to do some research, suspecting the two terms might be related, and it seems the Creole word actually derives from “knotty”.
OK, but before that it meant carefully and stylishly, usually referring to dress, which is why some of us gave you a confused look. Carla is always well turned out.
khn0 are you suggesting the english language makes sense? :p
Ate eight wait weight, all pronounced differently than height and mostly spelled differently than hate XD the mostly makes it worse tbh.
Words in a living language happen. This natty already sounds like AAVE, and in fact referencing hair or anything else natural seems a logical step actually. As opposed to people “buying the farm” as in needing to buy a grave, or “being a monday night quarterback” as in questioning choices after the fact.
No, I’m not saying it’s consistent (different from making sense) nor phonetically nor semantically.
Just to me, it’d feel a bit insensitive to form a new word and make its use erase the former one when it comes from a community that already struggles to get recognition of its languages. In that aspect, if language even exists, even “patois” -which is derogatory in french while creole ceased to be derogatory after decades of Matinik, Gwada, Haiti born academics, poets and philosopher updating it- comes from the unification of a group where a majority founds the rules and a minority gets its own practices overruled.
So english language is not a thing, hence can’t make sense, hence has social practices as ever evoluting basis, and like all social constructs we have to make sense out of it and, likely in this case, try to keep in mind the self designation of a religious aspect that may be a basis of a post-colonial identity, over some marketing target slang (even if ofc it can always be a subversion led by people who rightfully comprehend the subtext, but I somehow doubt of that).
If “natty” for natural originated in bodybuilding (as comments above state), then it’s coincidence, not appropriation. I really can’t see that it’s disrespectful to use a word in one of its original senses that’s unrelated to its other origin.
It may be confusing. And it may seem disrespectful to someone who only knows the other origin. But I don’t think we can call someone disrespectful for using a word with a 100% legitimate original meaning, just because it happens to be the same spelling as another word.
If someone feels disrespected by the use of a word like this, I’d hope they would have at least enough chill to learn the reason it was being used, and would then decide to live and let live rather than trying to eradicate part of someone else’s language.
First some people (not you) implies I don’t know how languages works. Fine, it’s my field of work, albeit not in english, and I spent several years studying how it works, included how it is socially used in struggles between groups, and how words themselves struggle to be kept alive and the idea they represent.
Whatever, this is internet, everyone is an expert (and it’s maybe even true).
Then you go and accuse me (indirectly with “if someone”, so the hypothetic target isn’t there but I still get how unchill *I* am for dining it disrectful, nicely done) of cancelling when I am trying to educate. I was never saying the OP is bad for employing it – I’ve read them enough to know they wouldn’t be OK with whitewashing. I was giving the word a context *when it regard hairs* (so in a context that even differs from the use of community of bodybuilding) to make observe it’s related to rasta religion, and that designing then the white hair as natural (for her I get it’s implied) wouldn’t be in better taste, a statement I made it with introductory words expressing subjectivity AND a modal verb. I may not be a native speaker, but what the hell.
So now I’m mad, and I even had to calm down in order to justify myself of something I didn’t do so I’m even angrier. Good job internet. Good job english as a global language and domination tool. You’ve won: now I will only post in esperanto or baleybelen.
And now I’m imagining a sitcom misunderstanding where someone thinks she’s trying to emulate Ruth, they’re already the two characters I’m most likely to confuse for each other.
I’m more concerned that she is “despectacled” – which I guess means her glasses are either for show (or more disturbingly) she has another pair of glasses which she has removed. Did she used to wear two pairs of glasses on top of each other? Does she have another secret pair of eyes? Is Carla an X-man (X-womans? Having female members of the x-men always confused me when it comes to grammar)?
Could also be that she needed glasses when she was older. I didn’t start needing glasses until 5th grade. Was very cranky about having to get them and my eyes have only slowly gotten worse.
My logic is that “man” means actually “human”, “woman” means “female human” specifically, and male humans don’t need a specific word anymore.. But of course I am not a native speaker!
With the words “Man, Woman, Human” having the unmodified version refer to only a single sex genuinely makes me angry. “Man” should obviously be unisex and there should be some other word to refer to male humans.
Yeah it’s not common. Also if you have hair that’s naturally that colour you will get consistently complimented in public by people who love your hair no matter how badly you’re styling it
Went to Junior High School & High School with a young woman whose hair was just that color. She most definitely did not dye – sat behind her quite often in class (assigned seating – bleh) and her roots *never* changed.
That said, she *was* the only woman I’ve ever known with the shade that *didn’t* have some augmentation along the way. So yeah, very fair point from my experience.
Carla successfully pulled what I did in college! I dyed my hair red from 9th grade till a few years after college (it’s teal now). Once I entered college, only one person there had seen me before I started dying it, everyone else assumed it was natural.
At the U-Wisconsin branch where I used to work, most students had a microwave in their rooms, and crockpots and the occasional hotplate could also be found. I’m just wondering how students keep their foodstuffs separate and secure if that refrigerator in the rear is the only thing they have to keep cold things (like butter) cold.
But only by googling everyone she knows. From what Dorothy said, it’s not even clear the secret trans person is on their floor. Could be someone she knows from a class or something.
“Robin DeSanto secret trans” is probably going to return some pages. you know, Robin is probably the best person Joyce could ask too personal questions to.
Grilled cheese, maybe? Though her taking it with her out of this area is a bit odder. Uhh, maybe she already has food in her room and just wants to put butter on it?
In the US we sometimes call cannabis candies space gummies LOL
But according to bonus strips, Carla ain’t gonna share weed with anyone on account of how expensive it is.
We just have to wait and see if that includes Charlie I guess hehehe.
(but even if it is pot cookies she probably wouldn’t be baking it in the dorm on account of the smell, unless of course she just infusing a microdoses via cannabis butter into a simple glaze or something…)
In the US, I’ve only heard Space to mean a pot baked good that had like shroom’ icing or some shroom component to it. And that’s only because I watched a thing on Amsterdam, so idek if they’d actually be called that here lol.
Initially, I just assumed it was for a weird gadget and/or prank, but @HueSatLught’s comment has reminded me that Carla’s arc in this storyline is all about her totally-not-a-courtship of Charlie, Booster’s sister. So now I’m guessing pie. …Which she’s somehow not making in the kitchen? Hm. Definitely has to be SOMETHING Charlie-related, though.
Though also, I did kinda notice she’s in a more revealing outfit here than usual. Guns out, cleavage showing, the works. Which obviously helps make the punchline here that much funnier!
I was gonna make the joke “Carla isn’t trans, she’s transformer!”, hyperlink-referencing her being Ultra Car in Shortpacked!, but to my shock, when looking up Ultra Car on the Shortpacked! website there weren’t even any one-offs of Ultra Car as a transformer to be found. If I’m wrong and it was just my laziness that made me fail the Investigation check, I welcome being proven incorrect.
Wait, Carla is trans?! But isn’t she rich? I’m pretty sure it’s been established that she was rich, and as we all know, a character can’t be more than one thing.
Her hair’s down. She wears it both up and down, but she was wearing it up talking to Booster. Is she going to use actual butter for hair butter? That can be the only logical conclusion.
I wonder if it has started to cross Dorothy’s mind… “Should I continue to respect Carla’s privacy or should I let Joyce know so she doesn’t accidentally say something offensive” (Not that Joyce would do so out of malice, but its a new experience for her to deal with.)
If Dorothy tells her, she’ll be the one who enabled whatever happens next. That’s probably a bigger concern than privacy at this point. “It was national news” but “I’m not gonna tell you if you act this weird.”
I want to make a comment about there being no spooooky transgenders around, what with this being November now, but that makes no sense in comic time, and I have no idea what day it is on campus either.
I wonder if Joyce came to her for help figuring out who the secret transgender is would Carla play along for amusement or just instantly tell Joyce it’s her
Given it was a huge news story is probably doesn’t even occur to Carla someone might not know she’s trans
Assuming Carla did not instinctively reveal it was her before recognizing the opportunity for hijinks she’d probably do some sort of bit, although overt transphobia does seem to be something that does knock Carla off her game a bit
I was under the impression that Carla’s trans status was an open secret: Not everyone knows, but she won’t bother to hide it, if one inquires directly. Am I incorrect in this?
I get the impression that Dorothy is solely holding back the information because she (somewhat justifiably) feels like it would be gauche to tell someone who doesn’t already know about Carla’s queer status. And this is absolutely going to end up biting her in the ass at some point.
It takes something like five separate devices flagging a post to have any effect.
Then all that happens is the post gets bumped into a moderation queue, and if it’s benign Willis will approve it. Then it reappears exactly where it was, but the Flag link will be un-clickable text that says “Moderated” so the post can’t get flagged again.
Yep, saw this one coming a mile away. Mebbe two. Through the snow. Uphill both ways. yada yada… oh wait, that’s sex, never mind, these aren’t the droids you seek.
Dorothy: “Is there a melon baller in one of the kitchen drawers?”
Joyce: “Here, I found one. What do you need it for?”
Dorothy: “To scoop my eyeballs back in.” (see the fifth frame)
Carla lookin’ good lately, I wonder if this is related to that “does Carla look bigger to you?” comment Joyce had earlier. If she’s so oblivious she sees Carla developing in her too-late second puberty and goes “huh, that’s weird” and never thinks about it.
Also I really wish I could see her sister taking a more central role in the comic… but that would be a different comic. (Which I would also read for over a decade.)
She’s frequently friendly, behind a layer of being obnoxious. For example, she loaned Sarah the use of a car to take her sister back to Muncie, “as a prank”. Her obnoxiousness has been emphasized since the timeskip, possibly for narrative purposes.
I fell in love with a wonderful, beautiful transgender lady. And I was too damn stupid to work out my feelings for her before she moved away. I can’t just go after her, much as my heart wants. It’s painful, and it sucks royally. But there it is. Don’t ever let the one you love get away from you, okay?
I just noticed how much mac and cheese Joyce has left and I am insulted. I’m stealing the bowl and eating the rest myself, cooties be damned. (And gravitar roulette cause I’m not fond of mafia boy)
Joyce, STOP.
There is literally no need for you to know who’s trans and who isn’t. Until you are at the point where knowing does not make you treat them differently, you don’t really need to know. Just treat everyone as people and don’t assume things like their gender about them.
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 3d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 3d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
Loading ...
“the” secret trans person
only one, folks, sorry
Carla: “and they’ll do it again!! …and by they I mean I“
Joyce: “But that still leaves the question of who it is!”
Also, the “secret” trans person.
Dorothy just said it was national news, but she won’t tell Joyce, so it’s a “secret”.
Well,yes, in that Dorothy is keeping it secret from Joyce, and Joyce probably isn’t going to go straight out and google it now that Dorothy has said it’s up to the secret trans person if they want her to know, so from Joyce’s perspective, it’s a secret.
If everybody in the world except you knows something, and they won’t tell you what it is, then we’re… that is, they’re keeping it secret. W… they’re just keeping it secret from you specifically.
You know, hypothetically.
Nice save – a l m o s t let the cat out of the bag!
So startle them away. They’ll soon be back, and in greater numbers.
Carla would prefer to have “the” preface any description of her. The one on the skates, the tall redhead, the girl with the pies, and so on, not because she is the only one but because it implies being the definitive example.
There may be other tall redheads, but she is the tall redhead.
“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman…”
Carla just wants to be the Irene Adler of the spoooky transladies.
To Joyce, she’ll always be the redhead with the big plastic jugs.
One to a customer. Thank you for understanding.
Well technically Carla doesn’t keep it secret
and if she does, it was an oversight
feliz Dia de los Muertos to all who celebrate!!! 🪅
Feliz Dia !!!
That would be me – Nov. 1 is my B-day
Happy birthday!
¡Felicidades!
¡Feliz cumpleaños, Eagle Rock!
🥳 🪅
Happy birthday to you!!!
The world is a zoo!!!
We wish you a great party!!!
And some sweet presents too!!!
Feliz Dia de los Muertos, or Dia de Finados over here!
🥳
Today is my Mum’s birthday, which used to be an interesting coincidence, and is now kind of disconcerting, with the religious slot on the radio saying “All Souls’ Day is a day to remember those we have lost” and me thinking “Yeah, no kidding.”
*Sends a caring pat on the shoulder.*
Same ;_;
I recently learned that a couple of days before Halloween is another Dia de los Muertos, but for pets. It used to be just for dogs, but now it’s for all pets. They put pet treats on the graves.
Source: A person in the California Bay Area whom I complemented on her Dia de los Muertos decor.
I heard the secret trans person is really rich. Like a billionaire! I bet Carla knows her. All billionaires know each other.
If Carla gets wind of this, she’s going to have so much fun with it.
She’ll just take Joyce through the list of billionaires and convince Joyce that like half of them are trans.
Joyce: And did you know he used to be called Ellen Musk?
Dorothy: Dammit, Carla.
Unfortunately cis people have ruined this by starting their own right-wing conspiracy theories about everyone with a net worth being a secret trans.
I think my favorite one that I saw was someone on Twitter claiming Margot Robbie was actually a man, to which someone else replied “we have seen this woman’s entire vagina.”
Have we? I know she wears some little shorts in that one movie about the clown lady, but I didn’t know there was full frontal.
Wolf of Wall Street
A full frontal would not show the vagina. It would show the vulva. We have most certainly NOT seen Margot Robbie’s vagina, because that’s the inside part.
Also, not for nothing, but trans women can, and do, have vaginas. Source: me. I’m a trans woman. I have a vagina.
Yeah, I was just thinking about that. To see _that_ we’d need, I don’t know, some gynecologist’s equipment and a very small camera.
Always confused the hell out of me when people claimed some photo showed that.
According to the barbie movie, she has no genitals
It’s possible ( maybe not in humans) but it would be a serious illness.
Nothing most sane people want to see.
Rule 34. But Hollywood ain’t showing that
Is that how Barbie ends?
( I flagged you by mistake and I am sorry.
Willis you need to update flagging
with confirmations)
Happened to me the other day as well
And also not have ‘Reply’ and ‘Flag’ be two tiny links right next to each other.
Transvestigators are the lowest form of the terf because they’ve wrapped their petty, stupid little greivance against the world into a disease that has fully enveloped their brains. You could literally just tell them “they did porn and there’s a video of them giving birth, they are not trans” and they would go “But do we *KNOW* that though???” and spam more charts of bone structure in faces.
Everyone knows real cis women don’t have bones.
I think they’ve moved on to everyone being secret trans.
the version I have heard is “Hollywood/The Elites mandates that you transition to become famous as an initiation ritual” so, for example, Elliot Page actually DEtransitioned, and every other currently-active movie star is Assigned Counter To Their Presentation at Birth.
Then wouldn’t they hold him in esteem for coming out?
Oh right, doublethink. The lack of narrative continuity is a feature. Never mind!
Terfs ruin everything.
I used to think “how do weird kids’ characters work, biologically?” was a fun game of the “subjecting something to more analysis than it’s intended to bear is funny” variety, until a Twitter terf freaked out that there was a nonhuman character who had they/them pronouns, and started demanding that the creator explained how the entire species worked.
(But, seriously, where did the baby Teletubbies in the newer episodes come from? AFAIK, there’s no suggestion the “grown up” Teletubbies are their parents, which would be kind of weird anyway, since the “grown up” Teletubbies aren’t really protrayed as actually being grown ups. Are they younger siblings? And does that mean there are actually grown up Teletubbies, who are presumably ten feet tall or something?)
There are TERFs who like Steven Universe and that just makes me sad. Because the gems aren’t “biologically female” but look feminine and use she/her pronouns. And the creator is non-binary. And the last episode of the original series is a blatantly obvious transgender allegory.
An enby person told me, in a conversation about trans stuff, that Steven Universe was the most important show on television.
Pretty certain I remember a YouTube horror about adult Teletubbies
Joyce Brown: Master Detective.
The official title is “Love Sleuth”, remember?
Ok I’mma need Joyce doing the Chika Dance now…
Homoromantic Love Sleuth
“Homoromantic” modifies “love”, not “sleuth”. As of now, that is.
Mister Detective
–Dave, to get technical about it
We’ll never find out who it is.
Unless that someone WANTS attention…
But we’ll never even know that, what with Carla constantly jumping up and down in the way.
Dumbing of Age! Totally Gets Corrupted By the Spooky Transgenders
Carla in Panel 4 is highly entertained ‘hah, neat’ energy.
If only she knew.
I think she does know, and she’s having a go at Joyce’s expense.
> Alt Text,
Wait Carla dyes?
Carla ain’t natty?
natty? pika pika?
Short for “natural,” presumably, as in a “natural redhead.”
“Natty” is an abbreviation of “natural” and is used in the body building community in reference to whether the condition and appearance of physiques are naturally achieved or aided with the use steroid enhancement, but it can also be used generally to refer to any trait. In this case the alt text implies Carla is not a natural red head. She dyes. She ain’t natty.
I swear to flying spaghetti monster that the best indicator of my age is that I keep learning new slang and also I’m grumpy about it because I have a headache right now.
I hope your head feels better soon!
Does it help to drape a warm damp washcloth on your forehead? Sometimes that can help. Good luck!
On the plus side, having to learn new slang means you aren’t dead yet.
I actually would argue that that is *not* an indicator of age, because minus the headache, that’s how I’ve been reacting to new slang since I was like 10. Frankly, I get annoyed that certain older, obsolete slang terms are cooler or more useful than many modern ones. 23skiddoo will ALWAYS be better than GTFO, but nobody knows what I mean when I say it. And “going steady” is an incredibly useful phrase that hardly anyone has used since the 1950s despite MANY people having expressed a desire for a simple phrase to sum up the classic “define the relationship” conversation. It’s SO much simpler to just ask “do you want to go steady?” than it is to be all like “so, we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now, I haven’t been really seeing anybody else, and I really like you, so do you wanna, like, be my exclusive significant other?”
For the record, I am in my 20s.
I remember when “huck” occupied roughly the same space that “yeet” now does.
Heh, I know that one – and yet “huck a loogie” somehow seems very different than “yeet a loogie”
huh. i always heard it as ‘hock a loogie’
–Dave, cushlamochree!
In this context, should we really use slang that is already in used for other type of hairs? Natty=having dreadlocks in jamaican creole.
Eh, patois is basically it’s own language. I wouldn’t really call the vocabulary slang. Different languages share words with different meanings
Wait how does the fact that you are learning new slang say anything about your age
Oh yeah. Is that “natty” the same word they use when singing “Natty Dread”?
Talk about educational.
If you mean “natty” for “natural hair” then no. Further to khn0’s point above, I was inspired to do some research, suspecting the two terms might be related, and it seems the Creole word actually derives from “knotty”.
OK, but before that it meant carefully and stylishly, usually referring to dress, which is why some of us gave you a confused look. Carla is always well turned out.
khn0 are you suggesting the english language makes sense? :p
Ate eight wait weight, all pronounced differently than height and mostly spelled differently than hate XD the mostly makes it worse tbh.
Words in a living language happen. This natty already sounds like AAVE, and in fact referencing hair or anything else natural seems a logical step actually. As opposed to people “buying the farm” as in needing to buy a grave, or “being a monday night quarterback” as in questioning choices after the fact.
No, I’m not saying it’s consistent (different from making sense) nor phonetically nor semantically.
Just to me, it’d feel a bit insensitive to form a new word and make its use erase the former one when it comes from a community that already struggles to get recognition of its languages. In that aspect, if language even exists, even “patois” -which is derogatory in french while creole ceased to be derogatory after decades of Matinik, Gwada, Haiti born academics, poets and philosopher updating it- comes from the unification of a group where a majority founds the rules and a minority gets its own practices overruled.
So english language is not a thing, hence can’t make sense, hence has social practices as ever evoluting basis, and like all social constructs we have to make sense out of it and, likely in this case, try to keep in mind the self designation of a religious aspect that may be a basis of a post-colonial identity, over some marketing target slang (even if ofc it can always be a subversion led by people who rightfully comprehend the subtext, but I somehow doubt of that).
tl;dr: I’m not fun at parties.
If “natty” for natural originated in bodybuilding (as comments above state), then it’s coincidence, not appropriation. I really can’t see that it’s disrespectful to use a word in one of its original senses that’s unrelated to its other origin.
It may be confusing. And it may seem disrespectful to someone who only knows the other origin. But I don’t think we can call someone disrespectful for using a word with a 100% legitimate original meaning, just because it happens to be the same spelling as another word.
If someone feels disrespected by the use of a word like this, I’d hope they would have at least enough chill to learn the reason it was being used, and would then decide to live and let live rather than trying to eradicate part of someone else’s language.
I was really angry after reading your comment.
First some people (not you) implies I don’t know how languages works. Fine, it’s my field of work, albeit not in english, and I spent several years studying how it works, included how it is socially used in struggles between groups, and how words themselves struggle to be kept alive and the idea they represent.
Whatever, this is internet, everyone is an expert (and it’s maybe even true).
Then you go and accuse me (indirectly with “if someone”, so the hypothetic target isn’t there but I still get how unchill *I* am for dining it disrectful, nicely done) of cancelling when I am trying to educate. I was never saying the OP is bad for employing it – I’ve read them enough to know they wouldn’t be OK with whitewashing. I was giving the word a context *when it regard hairs* (so in a context that even differs from the use of community of bodybuilding) to make observe it’s related to rasta religion, and that designing then the white hair as natural (for her I get it’s implied) wouldn’t be in better taste, a statement I made it with introductory words expressing subjectivity AND a modal verb. I may not be a native speaker, but what the hell.
So now I’m mad, and I even had to calm down in order to justify myself of something I didn’t do so I’m even angrier. Good job internet. Good job english as a global language and domination tool. You’ve won: now I will only post in esperanto or baleybelen.
I don’t find it that surprising mean, she’s made more involved alterations to her body in the interest of achieving peak Herself.
Perfection is a process, not an end result.
Yeah, as I recall she doesn’t need glasses either. The glasses and red hair are to make her look more like Ultra Car.
Oh yeah! Thus why she clashed with Walky that one time…
And now I’m imagining a sitcom misunderstanding where someone thinks she’s trying to emulate Ruth, they’re already the two characters I’m most likely to confuse for each other.
I’m more concerned that she is “despectacled” – which I guess means her glasses are either for show (or more disturbingly) she has another pair of glasses which she has removed. Did she used to wear two pairs of glasses on top of each other? Does she have another secret pair of eyes? Is Carla an X-man (X-womans? Having female members of the x-men always confused me when it comes to grammar)?
Could also be that she needed glasses when she was older. I didn’t start needing glasses until 5th grade. Was very cranky about having to get them and my eyes have only slowly gotten worse.
it was evidently a typo
My logic is that “man” means actually “human”, “woman” means “female human” specifically, and male humans don’t need a specific word anymore.. But of course I am not a native speaker!
Before 1300 or so, male humans were called wer. Which is where werewolf got its were from.
With the words “Man, Woman, Human” having the unmodified version refer to only a single sex genuinely makes me angry. “Man” should obviously be unisex and there should be some other word to refer to male humans.
Yeah, she has blonde* hair as a child in one of the Patreon strips. Presumably she dyes it red to better resemble Ultra Car.
*it looks light blue because it’s a flashback, but the color character model clearly shows that it’s blonde.
Twitter is apparently broken again
Here’s a third-party front-end, for as long as it holds out.
Xtwitter.
xitter, pronounced “sh!tter”
oh yeah i forgot about that thanx
also on tumblr
That shade of red is, I imagine, fairly rare as a natural hair colour.
Significantly rarer than transgender individuals, in fact, IIRC.
Yeah it’s not common. Also if you have hair that’s naturally that colour you will get consistently complimented in public by people who love your hair no matter how badly you’re styling it
Went to Junior High School & High School with a young woman whose hair was just that color. She most definitely did not dye – sat behind her quite often in class (assigned seating – bleh) and her roots *never* changed.
That said, she *was* the only woman I’ve ever known with the shade that *didn’t* have some augmentation along the way. So yeah, very fair point from my experience.
She was a pretty good person too.
Yeah, although I don’t know if it’s been called out in the comic proper before
Carla successfully pulled what I did in college! I dyed my hair red from 9th grade till a few years after college (it’s teal now). Once I entered college, only one person there had seen me before I started dying it, everyone else assumed it was natural.
Willis has mentioned this isn’t her natural hair color but I thought that that meant darker.
You Want It Darker – IMO one of the timelessly great songs
yeah, but then she uses the resurrection tubes
–Dave, then has to go through this all OVER again
Heh
Heh heh heh HA HA HA
I have not laughed this hard in a while.
Cue “Naked Gun Facepalm” scene…
Lock the door, to keep the cliffhanger going on.
Alt… But Carla has glasses? Is this just one of her “rules don’t apply to me” things?
n.b. at the time of comment, it says:
“carla attends the tall, despectacled blonde-who-dyes convention”
I think its just the inverse of her comment in panel 2.
She probably doesn’t know. Why would she?
She doesn’t seem like the “read news magazines” type to me.
you don’t have to read them
when you’re in them
myanmar shave
–Dave, no, not ‘malaya’
So Carla being Carla and having a one track mind, how do you think she’s going to use half a stick of butter to win over Charlie?
shes’ gonna butter her up 8D;
*rimshot*
Bake brownies!
Carla no.
I don’t know what I’m saying Carla no to, but definitely Carla no oh dammit she’s making a pie isn’t she.
you don’t have to actually say it
you could just make a sign to hold up
–Dave, cue the Hallelujah Chorus monks
Cannibutter.
*plays “Psychedelic” by Bensound on hacked muzak*
The pies gotta come from somewhere
So carla was original blond ?
It also says DEspectacled, so I’ve no idea what’s going on there.
Contact lenses? Lasix? Prk?
Typo.
Though whether it was me or the alt text, I’ll never tell.
Carla doesn’t know about the secret trans person. She only knows about the incredibly out trans person.
see also Becky and closeted lesbians.
also Carla, do I want to know why you need butter to bring away from the floor’s only kitchen/official eating area ?
Microwaved popcorn?
…To grease the wheels of her roller skates, OF COURSE!
*axles
At the U-Wisconsin branch where I used to work, most students had a microwave in their rooms, and crockpots and the occasional hotplate could also be found. I’m just wondering how students keep their foodstuffs separate and secure if that refrigerator in the rear is the only thing they have to keep cold things (like butter) cold.
Okay, but penultimate panel Carla reacts exactly how I and most of my trans friends would react to that statement, lol
Wait, Carla’s blonde?
Secretly blond. So don’t tell anyone.
Not a secret trans person, Joyce. Like… you can google this. It was big news.
“who is a secret trans” probably going to return a transvestigation instructible.
Or the beginning of an Internet rabbit hole full of scum and villainy.
A virtual Mos Eisley?
But only by googling everyone she knows. From what Dorothy said, it’s not even clear the secret trans person is on their floor. Could be someone she knows from a class or something.
“Robin DeSanto secret trans” is probably going to return some pages. you know, Robin is probably the best person Joyce could ask too personal questions to.
I doubt carla knows much
I have to think, ultimately she’s going to say something along the lines of “what do you mean you didn’t know?!”
Carla looks amazing today.
Yeah, she is always cute, but this another really good look for her.
As in, rockin’ a rockin’ bod! Out, loud, and proud.
Oops, sorry! Wrong avvy for that comment!
(Joyce knows what I’m talking about.)
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/bigger-2/
Add an unbuttoned plaid button-down and she’d be unstoppable.
Anyone else alarmed by what Carla could possibly need butter for?
Alarmed, no. Anticipatorily curious, yes.
A Pie.
Grilled cheese, maybe? Though her taking it with her out of this area is a bit odder. Uhh, maybe she already has food in her room and just wants to put butter on it?
Perhaps popcorn.
perhaps to get supplies
She’s getting ready to perform oral sex, but she’s not very familiar with the process.
When it comes to oral sex using butter, I too am unfamiliar with the process.
It sounds complex. Yotomoe would probably have to illustrate the process before I could comprehend it.
Space cookies. Do americans call them space cookies? Or is that one of those fake loanwords
This American has never heard of space cookies. Space ham, yes. Space cookies, no.
pot cookies? It’s been a long time since I hung out with stoners, but when I did most baked goods with pot in them were “pot …”
except pie.
right pot cookies. so it is some weird fake french anglicism meant to sound ???cool?????
Dutch, too.
how gauche.
Or as we say in france: c’est cringe
In the US we sometimes call cannabis candies space gummies LOL
But according to bonus strips, Carla ain’t gonna share weed with anyone on account of how expensive it is.
We just have to wait and see if that includes Charlie I guess hehehe.
(but even if it is pot cookies she probably wouldn’t be baking it in the dorm on account of the smell, unless of course she just infusing a microdoses via cannabis butter into a simple glaze or something…)
If she was baking anything she’d be staying in the kitchen, not collecting butter and then leaving.
Her single room has it’s own kitchenette, no?
In the US, I’ve only heard Space to mean a pot baked good that had like shroom’ icing or some shroom component to it. And that’s only because I watched a thing on Amsterdam, so idek if they’d actually be called that here lol.
I think I’m going to go with Occam on this one and say “bread.”
An excuse to enter the kitchen after overhearing Dorothy and Joyce.
Mac ‘n cheese?
She’s going on a quest for Booster to Baba Yaga’s hut, and needs the butter to grease the gate.
Intrigued more than alarmed, but yes.
Initially, I just assumed it was for a weird gadget and/or prank, but @HueSatLught’s comment has reminded me that Carla’s arc in this storyline is all about her totally-not-a-courtship of Charlie, Booster’s sister. So now I’m guessing pie. …Which she’s somehow not making in the kitchen? Hm. Definitely has to be SOMETHING Charlie-related, though.
i am alarmed at the number of commenters who are NOT immediately saying “oh, if it’s Carla, it’s gotta be a pie”
–Dave, i mean, we haven’t even GOTTEN to the creampies part of the conversation, and there’s only so much time, people
Carla got what she wanted, and also learned that she was the topic of discussion unprompted, and so also got what she wanted.
Today has been a good day for Carla.
*flippant* Jocelyn? Her saga was on national news?
Would both conventions even have a sizeable following?
As long as Carla is center of everyone’s attention Carla is happy.
Carla’s pretty hot.
RIGHT?
RIGHT!
Your statement is axiomatic, of course!
Though also, I did kinda notice she’s in a more revealing outfit here than usual. Guns out, cleavage showing, the works. Which obviously helps make the punchline here that much funnier!
I was gonna make the joke “Carla isn’t trans, she’s transformer!”, hyperlink-referencing her being Ultra Car in Shortpacked!, but to my shock, when looking up Ultra Car on the Shortpacked! website there weren’t even any one-offs of Ultra Car as a transformer to be found. If I’m wrong and it was just my laziness that made me fail the Investigation check, I welcome being proven incorrect.
oh NOW you’ve invoked Rule 34
–Dave, and we’re on the internet so it goes meta immediately
Huh.
This really should trigger my “ugh, fuck off” senses, but this one comes off more as “this is my bit”. Maybe I’m growing. Maybe Carla is.
Also the second to last panel is very cute.
Oh Dorothy, your restraint is to be envied.
Carla, your everything is to be envied, as it should be.
Not bad, but not Sal.
Not Sal.
Not Sal, but Sal inspired.
No.
No, but better than Asher.
Last try tonight.
It ends as it began.
What are the odds?
~19.4% after 6 rolls.
I have perpetrated further fansmut: behold! (Nsfw~)
(previous episode, i guess)
That was not meant to go here. Hey Kyrik
Hello, and I’m happy it did. I was about to close my browser, but now I didn’t miss it.
I approve of all of this.
They just keep coming…
*plays “Awaken (Pillar Men Theme) EPIC Version” by Samuel Kim on hacked muzak*
Wait, Carla is trans?! But isn’t she rich? I’m pretty sure it’s been established that she was rich, and as we all know, a character can’t be more than one thing.
So Mary can’t be both a bongo and a conga? We have to pick one or the other?
I wonder if you said bongo and conga or bongo and congo.
^ well you know which order I made them
Her hair’s down. She wears it both up and down, but she was wearing it up talking to Booster. Is she going to use actual butter for hair butter? That can be the only logical conclusion.
hrm hrm take two.
…behold! nsfw!
At this rate you will certainly cause people here to fail No Nut November, that’s for sure! XD
Legal disclaimer: the author will not be held responsible for any nutting being performed by, with, upon or around the viewer.
ugh i bungled the link this time?!
anyway i’m reuploading it all in one post so here it is and this is 100% definitely probably my last comment tonight ugh blegh
behold, or whatever
Haha that’s how Malaya would say it.
ALSO NICE. Dig the sunglasses haha
Hehe. Thank you sensei
great profanity, I loved it
thanks! um, profanity? where
(did i do a profanity without realizing, entirely possible)
I think as in a synonym for obscenity which itself can be used to mean pornography
I wonder if it has started to cross Dorothy’s mind… “Should I continue to respect Carla’s privacy or should I let Joyce know so she doesn’t accidentally say something offensive” (Not that Joyce would do so out of malice, but its a new experience for her to deal with.)
I think she is more concerned that joyce would say something well-meaning but offensive if she DID know it was Carla.
If Dorothy tells her, she’ll be the one who enabled whatever happens next. That’s probably a bigger concern than privacy at this point. “It was national news” but “I’m not gonna tell you if you act this weird.”
I heard there was a secret trans
That david made and it pleased the crowd
But joyce can’t really read the comments can she
Rock on!
“And even though it posted wrong,
You’ll stand right there, Prez, with heart in song,
and nothing on, because that’s how Joyce drew ya…”
I hate you both now.
(not really)
Haha <3
*pleased the fans
–Dave, I hate my-self fo-or lo-ving this
Who was the future-seeing person who anticipated Carla coming in for some instant ramen? You should win something.
I want to make a comment about there being no spooooky transgenders around, what with this being November now, but that makes no sense in comic time, and I have no idea what day it is on campus either.
Carla is an inspiration
They win one (1) basking in Carla’s presence!
Goddammit website/phone/brain
Ok back to sleep with me
I wonder if Joyce came to her for help figuring out who the secret transgender is would Carla play along for amusement or just instantly tell Joyce it’s her
Given it was a huge news story is probably doesn’t even occur to Carla someone might not know she’s trans
Assuming Carla did not instinctively reveal it was her before recognizing the opportunity for hijinks she’d probably do some sort of bit, although overt transphobia does seem to be something that does knock Carla off her game a bit
Carla would probably sit down with Joyce and a list to ‘help’ her work out who it is.
Shortpacked, Book 17: Your Short Bespectacled Blonde Convention About Whatever
Yeah, I think Carla might have a hunch or two who it is.
Uh uh. Not doing that.
Carla dyes her hair?
^ he said, suddenly acquiring a Carla profile pic lol
I was under the impression that Carla’s trans status was an open secret: Not everyone knows, but she won’t bother to hide it, if one inquires directly. Am I incorrect in this?
that is literally the joke in this subplot, yes.
I’d say that’s a good reading on it, yeah. But Joyce doesn’t know and Dorothy thinks she would be weird about it, so she doesn’t want to say anything.
It’s not even an open secret because it’s not a secret.
I get the impression that Dorothy is solely holding back the information because she (somewhat justifiably) feels like it would be gauche to tell someone who doesn’t already know about Carla’s queer status. And this is absolutely going to end up biting her in the ass at some point.
Dorothy handling Carla walking in exceptionally smooth.
Oh Joyce sweety honey no…
She absolutely knows, Joyce.
Damnit I hate accidentally flagging ppl.
Update please.
Now I have swollen joints and guilt.
Maybe everyone can FLAG my comment to get seen. I deserve it
I flagged you, hope this helps <3
(Ps take it easy flagging doesn't really do anything lol)
Thanks. I probably feel guilty for procrastinating important stuff, deadlines so I have to accept trivial punishment where I find it
It takes something like five separate devices flagging a post to have any effect.
Then all that happens is the post gets bumped into a moderation queue, and if it’s benign Willis will approve it. Then it reappears exactly where it was, but the Flag link will be un-clickable text that says “Moderated” so the post can’t get flagged again.
I guess I need 3 more
I accidentally flag people all the time, fat thumbs and all. It’s never taken a comment down, dw
“secret”
my concern for joyce grows by the day
Dotty’s urge to dope slap Joyce as her Straight Man. rises XD
It is multiversally impossible for me to love today’s strip more.
Yep, saw this one coming a mile away. Mebbe two. Through the snow. Uphill both ways. yada yada… oh wait, that’s sex, never mind, these aren’t the droids you seek.
Well, that went about 3000% better than it had any right to.
Carla looks great!
I agree! I think she looks especially great in panel 4!
Dorothy: “Is there a melon baller in one of the kitchen drawers?”
Joyce: “Here, I found one. What do you need it for?”
Dorothy: “To scoop my eyeballs back in.” (see the fifth frame)
That’s nearly a triangle grin on Carla.
No, Carla only knows about the non-secret trans person. The one who knows about the secret trans person is Jocelyn. And Ethan, he knows too.
Waitaminnit.
Carla’s a BLONDE???
Honest non-committal answer:
Carla barely pays attention to anyone beyond herself.
i keep forgetting carla’s blonde
same here heh
More to the point: do you think if i asked her Carla would not pounce on the prime trolling possibilities this would afford her
::laugh track plays, followed by clapping and the dumbing of age theme song as the credits roll::
Carla lookin’ good lately, I wonder if this is related to that “does Carla look bigger to you?” comment Joyce had earlier. If she’s so oblivious she sees Carla developing in her too-late second puberty and goes “huh, that’s weird” and never thinks about it.
When did Carla transition? Do we know she had a “first” puberty? What’s the good of being a billionaire if you can’t access puberty blockers?
I love it when this happens to me personally. I’m more shocked that Carla is BLONDE WTF
If nothing else, at least we got another few panels with Carla.
She really needs her own spin-off strip or something.
Idk if the world could handle that. Too beautiful.
Joyce is adorable.
Also I really wish I could see her sister taking a more central role in the comic… but that would be a different comic. (Which I would also read for over a decade.)
Is this the friendliest Carla’s ever been? Is Carla being legitimately half-charming here?
She’s frequently friendly, behind a layer of being obnoxious. For example, she loaned Sarah the use of a car to take her sister back to Muncie, “as a prank”. Her obnoxiousness has been emphasized since the timeskip, possibly for narrative purposes.
This may be the most sincere Carla’s ever been in the comic. Even more than when she hit Mary with a pie.
heheheh… Carla, do a victory lap.
I fell in love with a wonderful, beautiful transgender lady. And I was too damn stupid to work out my feelings for her before she moved away. I can’t just go after her, much as my heart wants. It’s painful, and it sucks royally. But there it is. Don’t ever let the one you love get away from you, okay?
Why can’t you go after her? Unless you never got her name or number, I suppose….
Dammit, Mia. Go after her! Figure out the details later.
Truer words were never spoken.
Alright, at least this one made me laugh.
hijinks ensue
man y’know joyce was totally staring at carla’s boobs in that one strip talking about her getting “bigger” so maybe she has been corrupted
I showed this trip to my kid, and he did a perfect “Obi-wan Kenobi” and said; “Of course I know her… she’s me!”
If you transition early enough the only way they know is if you tell them.
I just noticed how much mac and cheese Joyce has left and I am insulted. I’m stealing the bowl and eating the rest myself, cooties be damned. (And gravitar roulette cause I’m not fond of mafia boy)
Carla needs to leave her hair down more. Normally I’m all for ponytails, but this look really works for her.
Never thought Captain Obvious would be so needed.
In Australia, butter comes in 250 gram blocks. I have heard the expression “stick of butter” before, but this is the first time I’ve seen one.
Carla’s growing on me. She must be in a good mood.
Is Joyce considered “blonde”? Her hair is the colour of a glass of chocolate milk.
TIL that Carla isn’t a natural redhead
Joyce, STOP.
There is literally no need for you to know who’s trans and who isn’t. Until you are at the point where knowing does not make you treat them differently, you don’t really need to know. Just treat everyone as people and don’t assume things like their gender about them.