126

Silently
Posted on March 3, 2022 by David M Willis

126 thoughts on “Silently”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    I can’t do that

    Silently?

    I drop my phone every five seconds (and heck if I’m toting around a personal laptop for exactly that reason)

    1. ThunderNight

      gotta put a silencer on
      i.e. a pillow

      1. Deathjavu

        The question is, is the silencer applied to the back of the head, or to the front with a sustained grip and pressure?

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          yes

    2. Gigafreak

      Maybe Amber isn’t hearing a No because Ethan’s trying to express the No… silently.

  2. Reed

    shhh Amber! he’s wordle-ing, don’t make him lose his focus!

    1. Dean

      The word he’s looking for is BLAME.

      1. Needfuldoer

        His go-to starter word has been MOURN.

        1. Nova

          If he uses POUTY he can hit the ‘y’ as well!

        2. Julez

          Ok I know y’all were joking but uhhh… today’s wordle.

        3. Needfuldoer

          Pure coincidence! I wrote that comment hours before playing today’s puzzle!

        4. Icarus

          A spoiler is only a spoiler once you know it’s a spoiler.

        5. Needfuldoer

          Thank you.

        6. thejeff

          Kind of.
          I read that, got reminded of wordle and thought “Mourn is a good starter word”.

          So I got spoiled even though I didn’t know.

        7. Needfuldoer

          I didn’t even know!

          I’m just disappointed I wasted my unintentional clairvoyance on Wordle, instead of the Powerball.

        8. Sunny

          Funny you should say that, because I just came here from the NYTimes website after playing today’s wordle. And now guess what the word of the day is.

        9. Needfuldoer

          Purely coincidental, I assure you! (And I didn’t want to point it out after playing today’s puzzle…)

        10. Ana Chronistic

          You know, if someone spoils, especially accidentally, the best thing is not to point it out

    2. Robbie

      I’ve tried octordle 3 days in a row and I still haven’t won, but wordle delights me. I also play Lordle (Lord of the rings wordle)

      1. Andy

        Needle is the only other version I occasionally play. Making a proper equation with 8 characters, including all signs, kinda makes it easier.

        1. Tan

          I have tried Quordle, Worldle, Crosswordle, Mathler, and Nerdle. The only one I have continued with is original Wordle.

        2. dej

          all i do is wordle and poeltl (NBA player wordle)

        3. Ana Chronistic

          How about Numberle, Jordle, or Squirdle?
          [Jordle is the Neopets fan site one]

        4. Ana Chronistic

          I forgot Lewdle but prob bc I tried it once and couldn’t get it bc “skeet”?

        5. Tan

          Numberle appears to be roughly the same thing as Nerdle. As for the other two, I know absolutely nothing of NeoPets, and I probably couldn’t name more than a dozen pokemon past the original 151 without cheating, so I don’t think either is for me.

        6. Ana Chronistic

          There’s also a fan Wordle archive so you can play past Wordless, plus it has a 6-letter free play variant (randomised each time) https://metzger.media/games/wordle-archive/

        7. Ana Chronistic

          Wordless

          YOU WERE DOING SO WELL, PHONE

        8. Tan

          I should perhaps clarify that i am not looking for another Wordle-alike, and I did not try any of the above-named out of a desire to fill a lacking. I am happy with once-a-day Wordle. In the case of all of the above, one of the persons I regularly share my Wordle results with on a discord noted their results on something, and so I gave it a shot in the spirit of sociality, promptly decided it did not spark joy, posted my results for that one day anyway, and never looked back.

          Similarly, I’ve tried “free-play” Wordle-clones, and they don’t do for me what the one-a-day does as a shared experience me and my friends can giggle and kvetch about.

          There was precisely one not-Wordle experience that I enjoyed, which is ultimately a non-repeatable event. When one of my friends wound up still on the old Wordle site while the rest of us had been moved on to the NYT version, they wound up unknowingly spoiled. So as a make-up Wordle for that day, I offered to let them guess a word I had used as one of my guesses of that particular day, and we manually went back and forth, them guessing words and me returning colored square emojis. They got it in 3.

      2. PirateTawnee

        I play Wordle, WorLdle and Wordle2 (6 letter words) daily, and Quordle and Octordle when I get the urge, but I don’t find those ones as fun.

        Lordle sounds great, definitely gonna try that a few times.

        1. Daibhid C

          I’ve played Quordle a few times, and completed it twice. Not even gonna attempt Octordle.

          I tried Doctor Whordle a few times, but got frustrated because I kept trying words like ADRIC and SKARO, only to be told the answer was, like, SHARD, because the Shard appears in “The Bells of St John”. I suspect the only way to play it is to not think in terms of words I associate with Doctor Who and just treat it like normal Wordle, in which case, what’s the point?

      3. Miri

        There is an OCTORDLE?! I only knew about Wordle, Needle and Quordle…

        1. Miri

          Daily Octordle #38
          ?9️⃣
          8️⃣?
          ?7️⃣
          6️⃣4️⃣
          octordle.com
          ⬜⬜??⬜ ⬜??⬜?
          ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜??⬜⬜ ??⬜⬜⬜
          ??⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
          ?⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
          ?⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?????
          ?⬜?⬜? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ???⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

          ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜?? ?⬜⬜⬜?
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜?⬜? ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ??⬜⬜⬜
          ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ????? ???⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

          ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜??? ⬜??⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜?⬜? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
          ?⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ?⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜??⬜ ?????
          ⬜???? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ⬜??⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

          ⬜⬜??⬜ ⬜⬜???
          ⬜⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ⬜??⬜⬜ ?????
          ?⬜??? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
          ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

          Given at one point I was trying to work out how I had words with no vowels or “y”s in them because I need to scroll on my phone a lot on this, I’m pretty pleased with that ? Also far less helpful keyboard colour coding…

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Seven hells, what is that??

        3. Rose by Any Other Name

          My thoughts exactly.

        4. Keulen

          Something lots of people are obsessed with recently. I don’t see the appeal.

        5. The Wellerman

          Me neither ?

        6. StClair

          I keep thinking of TNG “The Game”. The VR headsets with the discs and funnels…

        7. Delicious Taffy

          Yeah, obsessed to the point that I can’t go to any of my usual websites without seeing an illegible mass of colored squares. Can’t wait for two months from now, when the fad dies down and people move into the next indecipherable thing I won’t understand.

        8. Ana Chronistic

          One of my biggest self-owns was trying to mention Squirdle in my local PoGo Discord (“Anyone play Wordle? How about Squirdle?!”) and they took that as cute to post Wordle there ?

        9. ValdVin

          After Wordle and Quordle I’ll have to try Octordle.

        10. ValdVin

          Okay, this is neat. Current results are not indicative of future performance, but I managed:

          4️⃣5️⃣
          9️⃣?
          7️⃣?
          8️⃣?
          ⬜??⬜? ⬜?⬜??
          ??⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜?⬜
          ⬜???? ⬜?⬜?⬜
          ????? ??⬜?⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

          ?⬜?⬜? ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ?⬜⬜?⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜?? ⬜⬜?⬜?
          ⬜⬜⬜?? ⬜⬜?⬜?
          ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜??⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ????? ??⬜⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜??⬜
          ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜??⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
          ?⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ????? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜??
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

          ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜?
          ⬜?⬜⬜? ⬜?⬜?⬜
          ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬜???⬜
          ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬜???⬜
          ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜?⬜
          ⬜?⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜?? ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
          ????? ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜??⬜⬜
          ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

          I wonder how much the groups of words are selected for Quordle or Octordle to give players a chance of success.

        11. Rose Red

          Someone made a 16-version and called it sedecordle (at sedecordle.com).

        12. Ana Chronistic

          I just tried that, and it’s too unnavigable to play ?

      4. Ana Chronistic

        I just tried it and barely won, but my starter is STARE and I’m also huge into word puzzles and know the basic Codebreaker strategy

        1. ValdVin

          My basic codebreaker strategy starts with capturing an Enigma machine from a U-boat. What’s yours?

        2. Casi

          Mine is building a quantum computer to break through the encryption

        3. ValdVin

          My wife was never so interested in mechanical computer crypography as when Bumbleshoot Cabbagepatch played Alan Turing in that neat movie.

        4. Casi

          Bandersnatch Cummerbund did a good job, but i have issues with that movie that are too numerous to list here.

        5. ValdVin

          Oh, it was certainly Hollywoodized history. I have put the Turing biography on my (very long) books list, though.

          If you’ve read it, I’d value your input as to how accurate it is.

    3. C.T. Phipps

      Ethan has begun online classes for martial arts and has Carla making him gadgets.

      The mafia killed his one true love and Ethan will get REVENGE.

      AS NIGHT GUY.

      1. Casi

        but he can’t be Night Guy! Unless the original Night Guy is actually Night Goy

  3. Sirksome

    I feel like Ambs is exploiting a loophole here with the chatting. Good for her. Although technically the sound of typing is not silent either.

  4. The Wellerman

    ? Imma walking on SUNSHINE!!!

  5. Stephen Bierce

    Whisper on a scream
    Doesn’t change a thing
    Doesn’t bring you ba~a~ack…

  6. Thag Simmons

    Well this probably can’t go worse than the last time these two spoke

    1. Thag Simmons

      probably

    2. Reltzik

      NO DON’T SAY THAT YOU JINXED IT!

    3. Clif

      Bets?

      I mean, I’m not expecting it. But can’t? [insert poorly muted laughter]

    4. Keulen

      If they don’t speak it might not go too badly, hopefully.

  7. jeffepp

    Woob woob woob woob…

  8. Schpoonman

    Billy West is a gift. I think that there’s no shortage of excellent classic actors with iconic voices who can do well as voice actors (Jeremy Irons as Scar may be my go-to example), but choosing famous actors for the clout instead of their skill in the medium (the dub of Ponyo, also by Disney, comes to mind) is a problem that may never go away.

    1. Wack'd

      Billy West is absolutely a gift but I’m never not gonna feel weird about a goy voicing a literal grotesque Jewish stereotype

      Granted David X Cohen likes it, so, like, I guess it’s fine, I dunno

      1. DailyBrad

        I mean, I definitely get it. It’s a bit weird, to say the least.

  9. BBCC

    Well, it’s better than nothing.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      The part of Amber will now be played by Keiji Inafune.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        Inafune didn’t say that, someone who was running the livestream said it, and Inafune was blamed for someone else saying that.

  10. Derek

    I rather hope Ethan turns a cold shoulder to all of Amber’s friendly overtures because man I’m still angry that her whole “my need to be horny takes priority over caring about my friends” wasn’t a shtick but very much real on her end.

    1. Bryy

      I’m really, really hoping this strip is not an indicator that her cry session wasn’t instantly discarded.

    2. C.T. Phipps

      Ethan becoming a vigilante and learning from Amazi-Girl is the only way this can go.

      Socially acceptable violence is the only solution for grief.

  11. Grimey

    Some friendships don’t have to fade, they simply change shape.

    Silently.

  12. Katerly

    Yessssss Amber! Reach out to him! He clearly is not handling things well and that should be addressed but honestly having someone just sit with him and ‘internet silently’ is such a big thing. It’s all probably gonna go to hell soon cause David likes to do such things but for right now I’m glad they’re together and Amber is respecting his wishes.

    1. Segnosaur

      You are of course assuming Amber will attempt to treat Ethan as a friend. However, given her recent interactions with Danny, there is a good chance that she will try to push Ethan towards some sort of sexual thing (which will probably cause more problems).

      1. Clif

        If she doesn’t get Danny and Ethan together, how else will she inadvertently hurt Sal?

        1. Needfuldoer

          [Dr. Evil finger quotes] “Inadvertently”

          If she hurts Sal again, it will be because she thought of her as a villain character again instead of as another person. I’d hope she’s past that by now…

        2. C.T. Phipps

          Listen, villains never reform.

          Sal will inevitably end up like Harley Quinn or the Riddler going straight, knocked back to her evil-evil ways.

          That’s just how real life works.

        3. JBento

          “Harley Quinn” and “straight” don’t belong in the same book, let alone the same sentence.

        4. Spencer

          Harley’s basically just an outright hero nowadays. I doubt it’ll ever change either since “Chaotic Good comedic anti-hero/recovering victim of domestic abuse” has been a massively more popular status quo for her than her original shtick as the Joker’s moll.

          Detective Riddler should come back.

        5. Lan

          Idk how to tell you this but DoA isn’t real life

        6. Needfuldoer

          No, but lately Real Life has been updating more consistently than it has in years, and Mae should be commended for that.

      2. Nono

        That was before her cathartic cry over Mike, so maaaybe this will be different?

  13. Bagge

    Friends!

  14. DailyBrad

    If he’s going to be all goth now, I hope he’s more Robert Smith than Morissey. We don’t even need one Morissey, let alone two.

  15. anonymsly

    This is a good beginning from Amber, how is she going to blow it straight to hell from here?

  16. Jonah Sanville

    alt text: and that’s why maggie’s the best

    1. True Survivor

      Who is Maggie?

      1. Jonah Sanville

        willis’s wife!! ((read the alt text))

      2. The Wellerman

        Only the marvelously magnificent consort of Emperor Willis, of course!

        1. Reaver

          I don’t think it’s SUPER nice to refer to the man’s wife as a consort personally tbh.

        2. Clif

          You don’t consort with your wife?

          Theoretically speaking, if you don’t have one.

        3. The Wellerman

          I’m sorry earthling. Is there another nuance to the term “consort” of which I am not aware?

        4. The Wellerman

          Seriously imma clueless someone fill me in here! ?

        5. Dang Fool

          Wife of a reigning monarch

      3. Clif

        Chase and Zachary’s mother.

        Keep up.

        1. Jonah Sanville

          also a good answer

        2. Clif

          Would have been funnier if not ninja’d.

  17. Jonah Sanville

    i hope maybe amber finally letting mike go will help her mend her friendship with ethan

    1. True Survivor

      Me, too. Also, I know its mean but I hope Mike is really dead and not just in witness protection waiting to come back and re-open old wounds, basking in the torrent of reawakened trauma.

      1. Jonah Sanville

        why/how would he be in witness protection?? i think hes really gone 🙁

        1. Clif

          Mike is a force of nature and will never truly be gone. The Mikeness is forever there, with your mother.

          For a nickel.

        2. True Survivor

          I think he is dead too, but the reason he might have been in witness protection is that he obviously knew that Amber’s father was laundering money for the mob and even after O’Malley’s death that could have been used as an inroads into investigating the criminal organization. As O’Malley knew that Mike knew, the mob might have also, and gone after him if the investigation lead to evidence in trial. As we never saw Mike’s body I thought it might have been possible (if a cheap literary device) for the government to have used his injuries as an cover-up to move him into witness protection and exploit his knowledge of the mob.

      2. Zuzi

        Weird how that actually might be a possibility given the involvement of the mafia in that whole situation. Like I still think he’s dead as the injuries he sustained were pretty severe (and enough to get him into a coma). But like Clif said below, there is definitely a chance that he’s just chilling with all our collective moms
        for a nickle

        1. Throwatron

          If it weren’t from the fact that I’m nearly sure Booster is substantially taller than Mike, I still would not entirely write off that this was just the most convenient excuse for them to perform a rapid-fire gender transition without anybody knowing.

      3. Spencer

        I am fairly certain Mike is dead considering we’ve got three characters dealing with grieving over him.

        Mike’s worth more dead than alive, and I’ll stand by that.

  18. motorfirebox

    Well, I guess we know who the REAL comedian is in the Willis household.

    1. The Wellerman

      I’m just so fucking HAPPY she loves Futurama!!! ??

  19. Kaz

    @ the alt text, same.

  20. Dr. T

    Maggie sounds like a keeper.

  21. Needfuldoer

    Hey I think the bookmark strip is coming up!

    1. The Wellerman

      SAUCE?

      1. Needfuldoer

        My copy of Book 11 came with a bookmark with a comic featuring Ethan and Amber in a cafeteria booth just like this. (The other side has another strip that already ran, but I don’t remember exactly which one. That side’s turned against the fridge because I like this one better.)

        I’m not spoiling the punchline or posting it until it runs on the main site though, that wouldn’t be cool.

        1. Needfuldoer

          *Book 10

          Me no county good

        2. Needfuldoer

          For the record (now that I’m home and I can check), the strip on the other side of the bookmark is the “Get up, Joyce! Kill! Eat!” bonus strip that inspired your game.

  22. Darkoneko

    do ping notification count ?

  23. foducool

    reminds me of the “give clay” country balls comic ^^

  24. TheFlamingonator

    Alt text: damn i wish I had a wife who would repeat things in a Dr Zoidberg voice for me

  25. C.T. Phipps

    The thing is that I fully believe this is where we reveal that Ethan has become a vigilante as well and is the much-much more intimidating as well as successful Night Guy.

    Not just because he looks like Pattinson Batman.

  26. Tsalmoth

    Dammit, Maggie! Now I can’t unhear it.

  27. Inbar Fink

    Awwwwww.

    I hope Amber doesn’t screw it up.

  28. Rabisch

    Nice to see that Amber wants to be friend again.

  29. Spencer

    The last time these two talked Ethan, very correctly, stated that Amber only really talks to him in a crisis, and I’m considering that he might be getting sick of being her emotional support friend. I think they both dearly love each other, but that’s gotta be painful to realize that your closest friendship is one you’ve come to think of as conditional.

    I wonder if she’s here to say she’s come to terms with Mike’s death, which, “hey, Ethan, I’m okay with Mike being dead now!” might not be what he needs to hear, let alone from Amber.

  30. Keulen

    Silently interneting with people sounds nice. Though I’m sure even that can be made super awkward really fast.

  31. nicoleandmaggie

    We’ve moved onto a new storyline and I *still* have Sin No More stuck in my head. But the version from Guys and Dolls since thankfully I don’t know the version Becky listened to.

  32. cbwroses

    Without checking to see if anyone already made this joke:
    “You still have Amberrr. You ALL still have Amber!”

  33. Icalasari

    Don’t make this creepy now, Amber

  34. Opus the Poet

    I have an app that lets me text from my computer keyboard through my phone as long as the two are in bluetooth range of each other. It drastically reduces the number of typos that get through my texts and also means I don’t have to carry both of them around the house, as my laptop is connected to the phone from anywhere in the house. I can definitely see Amber using something like this. (Maybe even programming her own)

  35. Kitsune

    Been a while since we’ve seen Emothan

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