Was the Jacket Loaning a Noodle Incident that took place between late October (when the timeskip began) and whenever the students went home in December???
Regalli
Sal did lend Joyce a jacket – I think the easiest tag to trawl for it was Carla’s, since it ended up being a Ruttech one I think? And so Carla naturally teleported into the scene at the sound of her own name.
Regalli
Ah, no, that was a different jacket incident. The one Joyce got was blue (fairly bright IIRC) and I think it was sometime shortly after Becky joined the cast but I can’t remember closely enough to check and don’t have the time/energy. But I do recall it happening – Joyce wanted to try out Being Cool.
I don’t have trouble with them. I just hate them.
And most shoes in general.
I’m with Sierra – free footed (ie, wearing sandals, the only shoes I like) for as long as humanly possible.
I hate sandals more than I hate closed shoes. >_> The problem is totally different (straps rubbing, rather than confined toes), but…yeah, having anything on my feet is bad.
I am one of them. I could never process how tying shoes worked as people would always do it too fast because they start to do it on autopilot.
I also don’t understand why shoelaces are so popular as a method for closing shoes. If you do it poorly, you now have a trip hazard attached to your shoe and you have to keep retying them. If you do it tight enough that doesn’t happen, undoing the knot takes 3000 years or it is a hassle getting your foot in/out.
Straps and zips are both easier to use and don’t become trip hazards so I do not understand why shoelaces are so popular/common that it is hard to find a good looking pair of shoes with straps/zips. Slip ons are okay too, but I really prefer still closing something.
Properly done, laces give better coverage over the foot. Straps come close. Zips are frankly easier to break than laces are, and much harder to replace.
Basically, the closer the fabric is to your actual foot, the harder it is for your foot to shift inside the shoe, and for most footwear applications, that’s important for the health of your foot in terms of muscles and tendons and bones. That’s why you occasionally see people yank at the laces to tighten up the shoe parts around their foot.
Personally, I use a double knot. I.e., knot it, and the knot the loops. It’s not fancy, and sometimes it’s tight enough to be frustrating to untie, but it’s usually fine and you can retie quickly if that’s a problem.
Speaking as a person who doesn’t like laces and has unwillingly gone back to using them.
Clif
A properly designed shoe doesn’t need laces, straps, zips, hooks, velcro or steel chances. A properly designed shoe slips onto your foot and stays there comfortably until you slip it off. Anything else us substandard.
This doesn’t apply. to women’s shoes as they are in it for the challenge. What else could explain high heels.
Clif
* steel chains
wwwhhattt
I don’t see how steel chains explain high heels, but I will take your word for it.
High heels were MANLY shoes to make men TALLER and also it helped them avoid getting shit (literal POOP) on their pant legs since people emptied their chamber pots out the window and into the street
Women appropriated heels, and men never looked back (except the FABULOUS ones)
Decidedly Orthogonal
And cowboys dealing with stirrups.
Jamie
Sure. If you’re getting shoes custom-tailored for your feet, then I agree.
The rest of little people have to make do with what we can buy at the store.
Spaghetti Thighs
This is why Laces + a side release (either buckles or zipper) is superior: superior contour, zero mental effort to take off. Plus zippers are just super satisfying
Kamino Neko
Laces untie themselves due to the vibrations of walking.
My preference is definitely slip-ons or straps – my tying skills are better now than they were as a kid, but I still struggle there and when I was wearing sneakers more often I’d replace the laces with no-tie options. (Since I need orthotics in my shoes anyway, I mostly wear specialty shoes that have those built in these days.)
Tbh i almost exclusively wear sneakers and aside from a new pair of high tops i haven’t actually undone any laces in years. Once you break them in you can usually just double knot the laces and slip em on and off
To be fair, I think most people are taught the wrong way (or left to learn the wrong way) to tie a “double knot” or a knot & bow. Typically people will favour tying a knot as either left-over-right or right-over-left. The problem is then if they tie the knot as one way, and then the bow using the same knot (same direction), they end up with a plain double-knot, which /is/ prone to untying itself (working loose). The proper way to tie shoes would be to left (or right) over first, then do the *opposite* for the bow. This results in tying a square or reef knot, which is dramatically less likely to come untied. (the bow itself is just a normal knot tied using loops of shoelace folded over itself, but notably as mentioned, with the knot in the other direction, or reversed overlap, then the bottom knot).
Now add to that, the Mathematically Efficient Shoe Tying and you end up with a fast, effective closure, which provides good coverage / support and it unties easily.
*(the bow itself is just a normal knot tied using loops of shoelace folded
over itself, but notably as mentioned, with the knot in the other direction,
or reversed overlap, than the bottom knot).
[1] Ugh if ever there was a time not to screw up then/than. Hopefully obviously, the bottom knot would be first, then the bow-knot, tied opposite than the bottom knot.
I don’t have trouble with them, but I do find it annoying having to retie my shoelaces whenever they come untied. I prefer it when I can tie them once and then just slip my shoes off and on without untying them. Unfortunately some shoelaces tend to come untied way too easily.
Seconded.
Motion for a vote carried. Ayes?
Aye! Aye,ye. AYE! aye. Aaayyyyye!
And nays? neigh
Uggh quit horsing around. The ayes have it. Motion passed.
You have the com(ic) Commander Willis. Make it so.
But Malaya never really came off to me as irresponsibly counter-authoritarian, just a contrarian bully.
Maybe “Jennifer” though?
Reltzik
Malaya’s both.
Jennifer/Billie… I think responds to authority based on the social standing of the authority, in her estimation. Nerds don’t get to order her around, but the coolest cheerleader on campus could, with a bit of the right tone, get Billie’s lips cemented to her ass 24/7.
(Not like that. Well, not necessarily like that.)
Maybe some anti-masker. Who on the cast would most likely be an anti-masker? … the top of my list would be Mary, Peter, and Buckets Of Blood Guy.
Wagstaff
Anti-masking isn’t even anti-authoritarian. It’s anti-science and it’s actually ableist — we need everyone to wear masks to ensure the safety of people who can’t vaccinate, like those doing chemotherapy, or those who have compromised immune systems!
Reltzik
Well it’s anti-all of those things, but the anti-maskers making near- (and actual-) death threats against, say, school board members because MAH LIBAHTEHS? They’re definitely anti-authoritarian.
thejeff
Sort of.
I think it’s more tribal than anti-authoritarian. They’re claiming “mah libahtehs”, but they’re happy to take even absurd orders from within their own group. They’re authoritarian followers who’ve been turned against the official authorities.
I mean. It’s an actual name. Popularized by a book. Which got turned into a movie. Which got turned into a song. All of which turned it into a word.
Kinda like how “sandwich” came from the Earl of Sandwich, or hamburgers came from Hamburg. Or how someone can be “shanghai’d”. English gangs its own gait.
Clif
Actually more than one book. An entire series consisting of 21 books, though only two were by the original author. Then came the play, five movies, the telenovela and the 1986 TV series.
No, I didn’t make it through all 21 books. I read 3 and never the original.
111 thoughts on “Shoelaces”
Ana Chronistic
“We can skip… TO class!”
…
Doctor_Who
Sal set Joyce on the Path of Rad Darkness with that jacket.
Regalli
She unknowingly set the natural order into chaos!
King Daniel
Sal loaning the leather jacket to Joyce created a nexus event.
Wagstaff
Hmmm… didn’t she lend that same jacket to Becky that one time?
Or was that a different jacket?
Wagstaff
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/painful-2/
King Daniel
Was it even a jacket?? https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/borrowed/
Was the Jacket Loaning a Noodle Incident that took place between late October (when the timeskip began) and whenever the students went home in December???
Regalli
Sal did lend Joyce a jacket – I think the easiest tag to trawl for it was Carla’s, since it ended up being a Ruttech one I think? And so Carla naturally teleported into the scene at the sound of her own name.
Regalli
Ah, no, that was a different jacket incident. The one Joyce got was blue (fairly bright IIRC) and I think it was sometime shortly after Becky joined the cast but I can’t remember closely enough to check and don’t have the time/energy. But I do recall it happening – Joyce wanted to try out Being Cool.
King Daniel
Ah, here we go: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/03-sometimes-the-sky-was-so-far-away/teal/
King Daniel
Joyce picked out the jacket for Sal to wear, not for herself, in the incident you’re probably referring to.
The mystery of the Loaned Jacket remains!
Spencer
Archive dive to the rescue
Sal lent Joyce a jacket
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/03-sometimes-the-sky-was-so-far-away/teal/
And here’s the jacket she’s wearing now, which she lent to Becky
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/hangover/
Steelbright
wow, seeing it in this light, the current arc is just noodles all the way down
Geneseepaws
Can I get a witness from you? I need you to raise you hands and say, “Ramen”
Can I get a Ramen?
It’s ramen all the way down!
Decidedly Orthogonal
pssshhhhh “WITNESS MEEE!”
RassilonTDavros
“How dare Joyce have some rich inner life that doesn’t have anythin’ to do with my stuff?”
..dude, you aren’t even dating (in this universe). c’mon man
Sporky
I’m pretty sure he’s not serious. Sometimes that Walky likes to do a joke, I’ve heard
DailyBrad
Yeah, he’s probably joking. I think a good portion of their “rivalry” is sarcasm from both of them.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Agreed, unike Sal/Malaya. Like I don’t think Joyce is fond of Walky, but I also don’t see any malice between them either.
Uly
Lots of people have trouble with shoelaces, Sal, stop being so mean.
Rose by Any Other Name
I don’t have trouble with them. I just hate them.
And most shoes in general.
I’m with Sierra – free footed (ie, wearing sandals, the only shoes I like) for as long as humanly possible.
Wagstaff
Honestly, Birkenstocks are basically the only shoes I can ever wear without feeling like my feet are gonna burst.
Kamino Neko
I hate sandals more than I hate closed shoes. >_> The problem is totally different (straps rubbing, rather than confined toes), but…yeah, having anything on my feet is bad.
Not a fan of slippers, either.
And don’t get me started on socks.
Sam
I am one of them. I could never process how tying shoes worked as people would always do it too fast because they start to do it on autopilot.
I also don’t understand why shoelaces are so popular as a method for closing shoes. If you do it poorly, you now have a trip hazard attached to your shoe and you have to keep retying them. If you do it tight enough that doesn’t happen, undoing the knot takes 3000 years or it is a hassle getting your foot in/out.
Straps and zips are both easier to use and don’t become trip hazards so I do not understand why shoelaces are so popular/common that it is hard to find a good looking pair of shoes with straps/zips. Slip ons are okay too, but I really prefer still closing something.
Jamie
Properly done, laces give better coverage over the foot. Straps come close. Zips are frankly easier to break than laces are, and much harder to replace.
Basically, the closer the fabric is to your actual foot, the harder it is for your foot to shift inside the shoe, and for most footwear applications, that’s important for the health of your foot in terms of muscles and tendons and bones. That’s why you occasionally see people yank at the laces to tighten up the shoe parts around their foot.
Personally, I use a double knot. I.e., knot it, and the knot the loops. It’s not fancy, and sometimes it’s tight enough to be frustrating to untie, but it’s usually fine and you can retie quickly if that’s a problem.
Speaking as a person who doesn’t like laces and has unwillingly gone back to using them.
Clif
A properly designed shoe doesn’t need laces, straps, zips, hooks, velcro or steel chances. A properly designed shoe slips onto your foot and stays there comfortably until you slip it off. Anything else us substandard.
This doesn’t apply. to women’s shoes as they are in it for the challenge. What else could explain high heels.
Clif
* steel chains
wwwhhattt
I don’t see how steel chains explain high heels, but I will take your word for it.
Ana Chronistic
High heels were MANLY shoes to make men TALLER and also it helped them avoid getting shit (literal POOP) on their pant legs since people emptied their chamber pots out the window and into the street
Women appropriated heels, and men never looked back (except the FABULOUS ones)
Decidedly Orthogonal
And cowboys dealing with stirrups.
Jamie
Sure. If you’re getting shoes custom-tailored for your feet, then I agree.
The rest of little people have to make do with what we can buy at the store.
Spaghetti Thighs
This is why Laces + a side release (either buckles or zipper) is superior: superior contour, zero mental effort to take off. Plus zippers are just super satisfying
Kamino Neko
Laces untie themselves due to the vibrations of walking.
No other closure does that.
Geneseepaws
But having to use a shoe hook just to get those tiny little buttons through those tiny little holes, my gosh! Shoe laces are the cat’s PJs.
Regalli
My preference is definitely slip-ons or straps – my tying skills are better now than they were as a kid, but I still struggle there and when I was wearing sneakers more often I’d replace the laces with no-tie options. (Since I need orthotics in my shoes anyway, I mostly wear specialty shoes that have those built in these days.)
zee
Tbh i almost exclusively wear sneakers and aside from a new pair of high tops i haven’t actually undone any laces in years. Once you break them in you can usually just double knot the laces and slip em on and off
Decidedly Orthogonal
To be fair, I think most people are taught the wrong way (or left to learn the wrong way) to tie a “double knot” or a knot & bow. Typically people will favour tying a knot as either left-over-right or right-over-left. The problem is then if they tie the knot as one way, and then the bow using the same knot (same direction), they end up with a plain double-knot, which /is/ prone to untying itself (working loose). The proper way to tie shoes would be to left (or right) over first, then do the *opposite* for the bow. This results in tying a square or reef knot, which is dramatically less likely to come untied. (the bow itself is just a normal knot tied using loops of shoelace folded over itself, but notably as mentioned, with the knot in the other direction, or reversed overlap, then the bottom knot).
Now add to that, the Mathematically Efficient Shoe Tying and you end up with a fast, effective closure, which provides good coverage / support and it unties easily.
For silly buggers here is a very in-depth analysis of various techniques for lacing shoes.
Decidedly Orthogonal
*(the bow itself is just a normal knot tied using loops of shoelace folded
over itself, but notably as mentioned, with the knot in the other direction,
or reversed overlap, than the bottom knot).
[1] Ugh if ever there was a time not to screw up then/than. Hopefully obviously, the bottom knot would be first, then the bow-knot, tied opposite than the bottom knot.
Keulen
I don’t have trouble with them, but I do find it annoying having to retie my shoelaces whenever they come untied. I prefer it when I can tie them once and then just slip my shoes off and on without untying them. Unfortunately some shoelaces tend to come untied way too easily.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Try a square- or reef-knot, instead of a plain double knot.
newlland(Henryvolt)
Sal is competing with Joyce all because she thought she was getting uppity with her new “Too cool for school” attitude.
Wagstaff
The true nature of that jacket requires further analysis.
Perhaps she could lend it to someone other than Joyce and see what happens.
Any suggestions for possible test subjects?
Kyrik Michalowski
Dorothy needs to be the next one, if it works then she’ll definitely be president one day.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Seconded.
Motion for a vote carried. Ayes?
Aye! Aye,ye. AYE! aye. Aaayyyyye!
And nays?
neigh
Uggh quit horsing around. The ayes have it. Motion passed.
You have the com(ic) Commander Willis. Make it so.
Reltzik
To be scientific, we’d also need to test its effects on someone who was already prone to irresponsibly counter-authoritarian behavior.
So, Malaya.
Wagstaff
Capital idea!
But Malaya never really came off to me as irresponsibly counter-authoritarian, just a contrarian bully.
Maybe “Jennifer” though?
Reltzik
Malaya’s both.
Jennifer/Billie… I think responds to authority based on the social standing of the authority, in her estimation. Nerds don’t get to order her around, but the coolest cheerleader on campus could, with a bit of the right tone, get Billie’s lips cemented to her ass 24/7.
(Not like that. Well, not necessarily like that.)
Maybe some anti-masker. Who on the cast would most likely be an anti-masker? … the top of my list would be Mary, Peter, and Buckets Of Blood Guy.
Wagstaff
Anti-masking isn’t even anti-authoritarian. It’s anti-science and it’s actually ableist — we need everyone to wear masks to ensure the safety of people who can’t vaccinate, like those doing chemotherapy, or those who have compromised immune systems!
Reltzik
Well it’s anti-all of those things, but the anti-maskers making near- (and actual-) death threats against, say, school board members because MAH LIBAHTEHS? They’re definitely anti-authoritarian.
thejeff
Sort of.
I think it’s more tribal than anti-authoritarian. They’re claiming “mah libahtehs”, but they’re happy to take even absurd orders from within their own group. They’re authoritarian followers who’ve been turned against the official authorities.
Beau Kirin Maysey
Amber: “nice earthbound reference”
Sal: “What?”
Amber: “What?”
Beau Kirin Maysey
Walky: “Shoelaces? Nice Tumblr reference”
Sal: “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT???”
Sporky
Oh God, why’d you have to remind me of that
Spencer
I know Pollyanna is a really good song but it is also an actual word!
Jamie
I mean. It’s an actual name. Popularized by a book. Which got turned into a movie. Which got turned into a song. All of which turned it into a word.
Kinda like how “sandwich” came from the Earl of Sandwich, or hamburgers came from Hamburg. Or how someone can be “shanghai’d”. English gangs its own gait.
Clif
Actually more than one book. An entire series consisting of 21 books, though only two were by the original author. Then came the play, five movies, the telenovela and the 1986 TV series.
No, I didn’t make it through all 21 books. I read 3 and never the original.
Spencer
Anyway I want to go to sleep but now I have to listen to the vocal tracks from Mother 1 so THANKS I GUESS
JepMZ
Toxic feminity
Decidedly Orthogonal
Can I unironically mansplain how to spell femininity without making a mistake?
Switchchris23
I hope we get to see Becky’s reaction to her best friend skipping class, it might spark a convo about her new changes, a much needed talk.
Wagstaff
This actually sounds like a very likely outcome.
Perhaps the title “Sister, Christian” has multiple meanings?
Spencer
Becky’s gonna be mad that Liz showed up for 20 minutes and got Joyce to rebel.
Cattleprod
Find someone else to take notes for you, and then share those with Joyce. Delegate.
Dave Van Domelen
Cut to Danny waiting for Sal after math class (well, in a few weeks realtime), which she forgot about because she skipped class. Heartbreaking.
powerpowerpow
Despite the makeover, Walky’s shoelaces are still untied? Totally called it.
Kyrik Michalowski
Actually if you look at the last panel you can see his tied shoes.
newlland(Henryvolt)
Actually they look tied in the last panel.
powerpowerpow
Wait shit nevermind, I misunderstood what they were saying dammit. At least Willis lampshades it.
DailyBrad
I believe the morning sun’s
Always gonna shine again
I believe a pot of gold
Waits at every rainbow’s end
powerpowerpow
I believe in roses kissed with dew,
Why shouldn’t I believe the same in you? ?
Joe Moose
And thus, Joyce is being a catalyst to chaos and mischief.
Kyrik Michalowski