Geek pride!

[autographedcat]

A few days ago, the syndicated comic strip Candorville ran this strip:



The strip prompted the following discussion on rec.arts.comics.strips:

aemeijers <aemeij...@att.net> wrote:
>
> "Antonio E. Gonzalez" <antegm...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:00p1v2l4gsofm0stovvats4abbliehk6qb@4ax.com...
>> So . . .the goatee and eyepatch make that "Evil Lemont"?:
>
>
> The Goatee is from a ST TOS episode, but I don't remember an eyepatch being
> involved.

I replied, almost jokingly:

Possibly the eyepatch is a reference to the 1970 Dr. Who episode "Inferno"?
Or am I overthinking this?

This morning, the artist who writes and draws Candorville, Darrin Bell, replied:

You're definitely not overthinking this. I'm amazed that anyone caught that.

I have no words for how chuffed I feel right now. :) *does a geeky little dance*

Comments

Whoah

[robin-anadrith.livejournal.com]

I bow before thy superior geekiness, O Chuffed One.

[billroper]

Although the point of the strip is, well, a bit weak. As someone who's constantly referenced by his last name, because my first name is common, I'd believe that the reason that "Hillary Clinton" is commonly shortened to just "Hillary" is to avoid confusion with her husband, "Clinton", who has the advantage of being the former POTUS. "Hillary" is unique in a word, while "Clinton" is not.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

You got in four minutes ahead of me with the same point. But I had more data. So nyeah. :)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

You appear to have missed the point of the strip, Bill. Let me explain:

It has a DOCTOR WHO reference!! :)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Also, I've seen/heard mainstream media refer to Hilary by last name only. It was somewhat confusing, because Bill was famous first.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I'm sure gender has a lot to do with the journalistic tendency to call Ms. Clinton by her first name, but I think the fact that they have to find some way to distinguish which Clinton they're talking about also has a lot to do with it. I've certainly heard the former governor of Florida called "Jeb" in the newspapers for similar reasons. When there was a female candidate for vice president who *didn't* share her last name with anyone else frequently in the political news, the papers called her Ferraro. And I recall two consecutive governors of Texas about whom there were presidential speculations... the one who did not need her name to be clearly separated from anyone else's was written about as Richards, whereas the one who did was called Dubya.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I go further. "Hilary" invested a lot of effort in name branding -- especially in the 2000 Senate race when she was working hard to establish an independent identity from her then-POTUS husband. I respect if she wants to change brands now -- either because she believes reference to her last name adds gravitas or because she wants to invoke her husband's political legacy -- but it is hardly an act of sexism to refer to her as "Hilary" after she spent so much time previously branding under the name.

I get far more irritated when I see significant policy fights or political jockeying for position referred to as "cat fights" because the participants are women -- e.g., the Pelosi/Harmon fight. No one refers to Pelosi's fights with Dingell as "cat fights".

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I did my level best to ignore anything to do with her when her husband was president, which may explain why I wasn't aware she'd made a deliberate effort to get her first name into wide circulation. I knew it *was* in circulation, that it was what the newspapers customarily called her, but they called the wives of the previous presidents Barbara and Nancy just as often. I don't think I knew she'd encouraged it.

[eloren.livejournal.com]

Ever so cool, Whovians are everywhere! I need a good Tardis icon.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I *love* shit like that. :-)

[vila-resthal.livejournal.com]

So the alternate Lemont is actually "Evil Brigade Leader Lemont"? Well spotted, my friend. It would have taken me days to make that connection - and I just watched that Who episode three weeks ago, too.

Dan

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

score!

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone whose job involves having to come with short ways to name people, what billroper and nrivkis said. (An additional bit of fun we have in Waco is that the local congressman is named Edwards. This makes writing headlines about the Edwards on the other end of the building who's running for president... interesting.)

Odd thought: So does the male mirror-Hillary have a spouse, male or female, who used to be president?

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

You are, indeed, a geek among geeks.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

I too join the chorus of geeks who salute a true master!

[batyatoon]

Your Geek Fu is the superior form. *bows*

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't that be "I bow to your superior geekdom. I hate you."

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

Which I am watching right now! :-)