Yeah, Mike Quigley is one of the most impressive current Representatives in regards to poking fun at power while making an amazingly solid point in the process.
Needfuldoer
Congressional Acrostic Champion 2017.
thejeff
Scores high on the Bad Acronym Naming And Nomenclature Assessment Scale (BANANAS).
butts
“naming and nomenclature”
Deanatay
Acronyms can totally be redundant acronyms.
das-g
“ACT BRA” ???
thejeff
BANANAS itself scores quite highly on the BANANAS scale.
It’s kind of self-referential.
Brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department.
“ruth” is an old word for mercy, which is where the word “ruthless” comes from. So “ruthful” or “ruthfull” = merciful, though it hasn’t been in regular usage for quite a while.
I admit Ana’s explanation is more interesting. 😀
More precisely, reuthe actually meant ‘pity or compassion for others’, thus someone who was ruthless lacked pity or compassion for others, while someone who was ruthful was filled with such sentiments.
Later utilizations of ruthful turned the term into something which evoked ruthe in others- that is, something which was ruthful was deserving of pity [I believe the compassion bit drops off here, so it’s a straightforwardly negative utilization].
Thus, the final definition of the word ended up being “the feeling, showing, or arousing of pity or sorrow”. Given the context of today’s comic, I’d assume it’s the derogatory usage which is intended, hence Ruth’s reaction in the last panel.
I honestly don’t understand how social media DOESN’T already fall under presidential record. I mean, the whole point of it is to record the president’s communications. Social media, by definition, is a communication channel.
I hope Ruth goes through the character development where she realizes that physical violence, brutal put downs, and outright killing her charges ala Amazi-Girl doesn’t mean she’s like Clint. No, it just means she enjoys hurting people and that is okay. She can be happy and non-depressed by crushing the souls of those under her as a proper RA.
Be like the Queen of Blades, Ruth. It is your destiny to command the Zerg through hate as well as love. 🙂
For the record, I liked it alright. Wasn’t particularly wowed, but there were some really good scenes, especially the climax. The supporting characters were much more tolerable than I expected, and whenever I thought to myself “Okay, they’ve done X, now here comes Y, initiating eye-roll,” they didn’t do it. Pretty solid, and I’d probably watch it a couple more times, or at least stick around if it’s on and I’m not already busy with something else. For those who care about such, I’d give it a 7.5/10.
No Name
Also for the record: If you want to like the movie, don’t read the book first (yes, there’s a book, a whole series in fact!). They stray very far from the plot. Very far indeed.
My brother mentioned that while we were watching it. I already dislike the dumb names everyone has, but they don’t say them too much in the movie. I don’t think I could tolerate them in written form.
I’m pretty sure even if I’d read the book first, I’d have preferred the movie. The book is…passable, and actually has one bit of semi-accurate ‘Viking’ culture that the movie didn’t (Hiccup’s ‘heroic hair’), but it’s really very…thin, and I don’t mean physically (though it is that, too).
Damn, I was about to make a comment about Spyro, but I’m pretty sure he’s asexual, at least in his classic version. Not so sure about the Elijah Wood version, though.
I thought of that as well, but in the theme park in Ripto’s Rage!, he can go through a Tunnel of Love ride with Elora, and he basically ignores her in favor of looking around. There’s also his comment in the third game, of “It’s a sad sight, Sparx. Another noble warrior falls victim to the plague of love. Just look away.”, as well as his complete disinterest when Elora’s pretty blatantly flirty with him.
It is incredibly fitting that the aro ace dragon is purple.
MatsuoTanuki
Is all of this speculation and meaning we are attaching to the character long after the fact, or was there a secret aro/ace agenda the programmers adhered to from the start?
It may simply be a product of the time, since there were a lot of Young Male Protagonistsâ„¢ with absolutely no interest in any sort of romance, around then. Some of the dialogue, particularly from Elora, makes it seem like they wrote the plot out in a standard way, with a romance between the protagonist and primary female support character, and then just sorta replaced his romantic lines with “Ew, no. Look, I’ve got things to do.”
Not that this is a bad thing. I actually really like the “Spyro is aro ace” interpretation, since that means there’s at least one prominent video game protagonist people of that variety can relate to.
The Aussie Bloke
Also, if memory serves (SPOILER ALERT) Spyro and Cinder become an item at the end of Dawn of the Dragon on the Wii. Think they’re both too young for sexual relations to come into it though. Depends on when dragons mature sexually in that mythos.
that’s ridiculous, why use your own femurs when you can get a couple of perfectly serviceable femurs from Ryan, the sun-bleached blood-drained corpse still lying on the steps outside
My headcanon is that literally never once before this did Ruth say “please” as an RA because it didn’t occur to her. Mostly because it makes the second panel even more endearingly pathetic.
Maybe it wasn’t necessary to have your spirit completely crushed to realize that you don’t have to threaten people to get what you want, but here we are.
I think you’re right. And I think part of the reason is saying please never worked with “sir” grampus, because “sir” grampus say that as simply the price of what he was owed. So for Ruth, saying please and appealing to basic humanity was a futile effort that triggered too much related to her abuse.
And quoting from the usage notes of the longer version:
It is unlikely that this 15-syllable contrivance is ever used purely for its meaning. The term sesquipedalophobia is recognized in formal writing, while the four-syllable phrase fear of long words is certainly worth considering.
I believe the full word is hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. You know, because your word just wasn’t long enough. That person really hated people that had a fear of long words, didn’t they?
I was actually already aware that the phobia of long words was itself a long word. Most phobia names are long to start with because phobia already has 6 letters and the shortest addition in front of it is four letters e.g. acrophobia (the irrational fear of heights) though.
There is also the question of whether someone can actually ever naturally develop a fear of long words in the first place. An array of fears can be caused by trauma/bad memories e.g. the fears of colours so it would be technically possible I guess but what weird circumstances would make you fear long words in GENERAL rather than just a specific one? Would you have to be in a room filled with long words on all the walls? These are the real questions.
274 thoughts on “Toothless”
Ana Chronistic
better than covfefe
(except this one, which is pretty awesome)
…I wonder if RUTHFULL means anything
like
Righteously
Unopposed
Tearing
Her
Femurs
Undergrads’
LandLady
butts
Wait that’s a real proposed act of Congress?! That’s amazing
vlademir1
Yeah, Mike Quigley is one of the most impressive current Representatives in regards to poking fun at power while making an amazingly solid point in the process.
Needfuldoer
Congressional Acrostic Champion 2017.
thejeff
Scores high on the Bad Acronym Naming And Nomenclature Assessment Scale (BANANAS).
butts
“naming and nomenclature”
Deanatay
Acronyms can totally be redundant acronyms.
das-g
“ACT BRA” ???
thejeff
BANANAS itself scores quite highly on the BANANAS scale.
It’s kind of self-referential.
Brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department.
zoelogical
Mojo Jojo approves of this message! That is to say, Mojo Jojo endorses it mightily!
jeffepp
beebo.org/smackerels/how-i-met-my-wife.html
Arian
“ruth” is an old word for mercy, which is where the word “ruthless” comes from. So “ruthful” or “ruthfull” = merciful, though it hasn’t been in regular usage for quite a while.
I admit Ana’s explanation is more interesting. 😀
HeySo
More precisely, reuthe actually meant ‘pity or compassion for others’, thus someone who was ruthless lacked pity or compassion for others, while someone who was ruthful was filled with such sentiments.
Later utilizations of ruthful turned the term into something which evoked ruthe in others- that is, something which was ruthful was deserving of pity [I believe the compassion bit drops off here, so it’s a straightforwardly negative utilization].
Thus, the final definition of the word ended up being “the feeling, showing, or arousing of pity or sorrow”. Given the context of today’s comic, I’d assume it’s the derogatory usage which is intended, hence Ruth’s reaction in the last panel.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/ruthful
Skorpeyon
I honestly don’t understand how social media DOESN’T already fall under presidential record. I mean, the whole point of it is to record the president’s communications. Social media, by definition, is a communication channel.
Ana Chronistic
because social media is new, and under NORMAL circumstances, legislation moves at glacial pace
Durandal_1707
http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2013/05/16
Andy
Ok but can we all sign a petition to call Ruth toothless because that’s adorable
The Aussie Bloke
Need to get her a HTTYD t-shirt first
Mandy
And do we start calling Billie Hiccup?
LeslieBean4Shizzle
… so you’re implying that Hiccup had sex with his dragon? I suppose that’s one way to train them.
Halpful
Rule 34. :p I’m not gonna go looking for it, but I’m sure it’s out there.
Mandy
I meant more that they’re partners, but I suppose that is an unfortunate inference too. XD
Eyebrow
Gilbert and Sullivan explored this one pretty thoroughly:
For your foes are fierce and ruthless, false, unmerciful, and truthless;
young and tender, old and toothless, all in vain their mercy crave!
C.T Phipps
I hope Ruth goes through the character development where she realizes that physical violence, brutal put downs, and outright killing her charges ala Amazi-Girl doesn’t mean she’s like Clint. No, it just means she enjoys hurting people and that is okay. She can be happy and non-depressed by crushing the souls of those under her as a proper RA.
Be like the Queen of Blades, Ruth. It is your destiny to command the Zerg through hate as well as love. 🙂
spriteless
I looked up the Queen of Blades and now I am all angsty.
smashman42
Now I wanna play through SC2 again to choose the options I didn’t last time.
Clif
Killing her charges, ala Amazigirl??? What? When did Amazigirl kill anyone?
Durandal_1707
About a week and a half ago, maybe.
svata
Femurs now canon
butts
femurs was always canon
butts
Chock full o’ Ruth
Architex
Ruth isn’t a dragon
Kernanator
But she’d love to turn into one.
JessWitt
Billie’s a Dragon, per her HS cheer outfit.
Delicious Taffy
Just saw How to Train Your Dragon for the first time, today. What a coincidence, considering.
Delicious Taffy
For the record, I liked it alright. Wasn’t particularly wowed, but there were some really good scenes, especially the climax. The supporting characters were much more tolerable than I expected, and whenever I thought to myself “Okay, they’ve done X, now here comes Y, initiating eye-roll,” they didn’t do it. Pretty solid, and I’d probably watch it a couple more times, or at least stick around if it’s on and I’m not already busy with something else. For those who care about such, I’d give it a 7.5/10.
No Name
Also for the record: If you want to like the movie, don’t read the book first (yes, there’s a book, a whole series in fact!). They stray very far from the plot. Very far indeed.
Delicious Taffy
My brother mentioned that while we were watching it. I already dislike the dumb names everyone has, but they don’t say them too much in the movie. I don’t think I could tolerate them in written form.
Kamino Neko
I’m pretty sure even if I’d read the book first, I’d have preferred the movie. The book is…passable, and actually has one bit of semi-accurate ‘Viking’ culture that the movie didn’t (Hiccup’s ‘heroic hair’), but it’s really very…thin, and I don’t mean physically (though it is that, too).
Cerberus
All bisexuals are dragons. It’s part of the cool powers you unlock when you figure out you’re bi.
JessWitt
My Chinese zodiac sign was right on the money then.
butts
CRAP AM I MISSING OUT well better go suck a dick, see what happens
(no one ever do or think this)
Clif
I am amused you felt it necessary to add the disclaimer.
Delicious Taffy
Damn, I was about to make a comment about Spyro, but I’m pretty sure he’s asexual, at least in his classic version. Not so sure about the Elijah Wood version, though.
KimboGPataki
Spyro could be asexual and bi-romantic.
Delicious Taffy
I thought of that as well, but in the theme park in Ripto’s Rage!, he can go through a Tunnel of Love ride with Elora, and he basically ignores her in favor of looking around. There’s also his comment in the third game, of “It’s a sad sight, Sparx. Another noble warrior falls victim to the plague of love. Just look away.”, as well as his complete disinterest when Elora’s pretty blatantly flirty with him.
Cerberus
It is incredibly fitting that the aro ace dragon is purple.
MatsuoTanuki
Is all of this speculation and meaning we are attaching to the character long after the fact, or was there a secret aro/ace agenda the programmers adhered to from the start?
*Twilight Zone theme*
Delicious Taffy
It may simply be a product of the time, since there were a lot of Young Male Protagonistsâ„¢ with absolutely no interest in any sort of romance, around then. Some of the dialogue, particularly from Elora, makes it seem like they wrote the plot out in a standard way, with a romance between the protagonist and primary female support character, and then just sorta replaced his romantic lines with “Ew, no. Look, I’ve got things to do.”
Not that this is a bad thing. I actually really like the “Spyro is aro ace” interpretation, since that means there’s at least one prominent video game protagonist people of that variety can relate to.
The Aussie Bloke
Also, if memory serves (SPOILER ALERT) Spyro and Cinder become an item at the end of Dawn of the Dragon on the Wii. Think they’re both too young for sexual relations to come into it though. Depends on when dragons mature sexually in that mythos.
Roborat
But she is partnered with one.
shadowcell
that’s ridiculous, why use your own femurs when you can get a couple of perfectly serviceable femurs from Ryan, the sun-bleached blood-drained corpse still lying on the steps outside
Emperor Norton II
Four reasons why:
1: It’s what Ruth is known for. When you have a famous signature move, don’t mix it up unless it actually turns more awesome.
2: Ripping out femurs is so much more satisfying when the victim is alive to “enjoy it”.
3: Victim unable to run away as you beat them.
4: There’s a reason Ryan’s corpse is still lying there: Nobody wants to touch that thing with a ten-foot pole. Not even the crows are eating on it.
Rukduk
Like I said a few strips before, not even the microbes are eating him, because they have standards despite being microbes.
No Name
It’s so repulsive, even the bugs and germs that normally cause decay won’t touch it. It still smells fresh as a daisy!
Emperor Norton II
If only gravity could become repulsed by him and refuse to push him down, so that he’d basically be flung into outer space…
….Though I guess outer space found out about gravity’s plan and told it “Hell no, ain’t nobody gonna put that shit in our space!”
Roborat
I love how this is escalating. What’s next, outer space trying to toss not-Ryan into black hole, but the event horizon avoids touching him?
Sporky
My headcanon is that literally never once before this did Ruth say “please” as an RA because it didn’t occur to her. Mostly because it makes the second panel even more endearingly pathetic.
Maybe it wasn’t necessary to have your spirit completely crushed to realize that you don’t have to threaten people to get what you want, but here we are.
zoelogical
man!!! those realizations when you get to the absolute end of yourself!! fun times!
Cerberus
I think you’re right. And I think part of the reason is saying please never worked with “sir” grampus, because “sir” grampus say that as simply the price of what he was owed. So for Ruth, saying please and appealing to basic humanity was a futile effort that triggered too much related to her abuse.
shammers
yeesh that last sentence punched me in the gut
Sam
Who the heck says ruthfull, execute these people making up stupid sounding words.*
*Do not actually execute them. You can still be very disappointed in them though.
Emperor Norton II
My wife has a certain way of looking disappointed at me (usually when I make a really bad pun) that makes me wish she’d just execute me instead.
TheAnonymousGuy
you want get mad at people coming up with words? then direct it at the person who came up with the word for people with a phobia of long words.
TRIGGER WARNING (No seriously)
The irrational fear of long words – hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
-coined by: I don’t know, couldn’t find a name
No Name
Actually, the word is hippopotomonstosequpidaliophobia. All phobias end with “phobia”.
And for the record, “sesquipidaliophobia” would have been good enough. Way to go psychiatrists!
TheAnonymousGuy
sorry I knew I couldn’t spell it so I looked it up on google and that’s what came up
butts
it is good enough
Kamino Neko
And quoting from the usage notes of the longer version:
Emperor Norton II
I believe the full word is hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. You know, because your word just wasn’t long enough. That person really hated people that had a fear of long words, didn’t they?
Sam
I was actually already aware that the phobia of long words was itself a long word. Most phobia names are long to start with because phobia already has 6 letters and the shortest addition in front of it is four letters e.g. acrophobia (the irrational fear of heights) though.
There is also the question of whether someone can actually ever naturally develop a fear of long words in the first place. An array of fears can be caused by trauma/bad memories e.g. the fears of colours so it would be technically possible I guess but what weird circumstances would make you fear long words in GENERAL rather than just a specific one? Would you have to be in a room filled with long words on all the walls? These are the real questions.
Kamino Neko
Learning disabilities making reading/writing those words difficult, and getting punished when you mess up, just off the top of my head.