Always bugs me that people mis-use that.
The exception to the rule proves that there is a rule that is not being accounted for.
Or.
The exception proves the rule.
“Proves” use here is in the old sense of “tests”. The exception tests the rule. This sense of prove is where the term “proving ground” comes from.
someone
For whatever the worth, this expression exists also in other languages but quite often you’ll find the verb used only does not have this meaning of testing. Just of validating that a rule exists; otherwise what is the exception excepting from?
Lysbeth
Yup. In French, “prouve” doesn’t have the meaning of “putting to the test” – it’s just that if you find out why the case is an exception, you’ve just zeroed in on the rule.
clif
If it doesn’t have an exception, can you really call it a rule?
Adept
Tests or proofs. Proves is a corruption.
Lysbeth
Every word in human language is a corruption. Except in conlangs I guess, but they don’t count.
– instead of deep-frying chicken pieces, I often find myself baking or air-frying them to save oil
– I almost never use as much salt as a chicken recipe calls for, for this one I use 1/4 tsp salt or even just omit it
– if I don’t have MSG on hand, I just use dashi flakes, substitute 1/4 tsp of the white pepper with Chinese 5-spice, or even just omit it
– For the orange sauce, I sometimes substitute the rice wine vinegar with another 1/4 cup orange juice when I don’t want too much acid, additionally I don’t even use Oleo Saccharum most of the time, usually just 1/2 cup sugar altogether.
One of my favorite comfort foods, can last me all week if I want it too, sometimes I use the leftover sauce on hotdogs LOL :9
Laura
Ooh, yummers!
Mr D phone posting
I…
I think having Dashi Flakes at hand is less likely than having MSG at hand
Makkabee
I love orange chicken, so thanks for the link to a recipe.
Chinese buffets sometimes have regular-ass fried chicken, too, probably for the dipshits as Walky puts it, and just since, if you already have the equipment to fry food as it is, adding different kinds of fried foods doesn’t take a lot of investment of time or effort.
So many of the staple dishes at chinese places are really excellent chicken options that I genuinely can’t imagine taking the chicken strips if given the choice.
cbwroses
I go to Chinese buffets for the variety and the portions, and that includes the regular non Chinese chicken strips alongside my general tso’s, my pepper chicken, my orange chicken, etc.
I sometimes even get a slice of pizza and fries.
I guess I too am a dipshit.
DailyBrad
If I am at any kind of a buffet and fried chicken is there, I will put some on the plate. It’s hard to miss with it.
Though, the big “not chinese food” thing I used to get at a buffet was crab legs. It was kind of shocking that they had them, given it wasn’t a terribly expensive buffet.
tbf a lot of ‘foreign/ethnic’ places tends to have something basic + fries on their ‘kids menu’ and stuff (tho i’m sure chicken strips wit hasian flavors would be nice) , i’ve had wings bc it was a cheap appetizer price but that is more of a bonus and would normally get fried rice or lo mein
Yeah, I live in Chinatown and it’s actually a fucking fantastic place to get chicken wings. Also, Korean fried chicken is a legitimate entire genre of food, and karaage is a genuine treat.
To be fair “authentic” Chinese food in the West is almost all Chinese-American cuisine. There might be a handful of dishes that may be the same as in China, but mostly its stuff that was invented over here with what was on hand to appeal more to the tastes of the country they were in.
Yee, according to chef Ming Sai from Simply Ming, Americanized Chinese food tends to be “thicker, blander, and sweeter” than the original Chinese cousine on which they were based.
When I was a kid, I got the spiciest thing on the menu when the rest of the family was ordering bland sugary Americanized crap.
Oh. Wait. I still do that. And lots of Chinese places have a ‘secret’ menu, translate apps unlock it for you. My favorite Chinese food is spicy braised pork intestine.
Ed Rhodes
My wife would probably be asking you where you got that! I saw her send Setchuwan (sp) back once because it wasn’t spicy enough!
I’ve never seen or even heard of chicken strips at a chinese restaurant, but i suspect this is some kind of midwestern bullshit that’s more common in Indiana
Chinese buffet restaurants in the US generally have “safe” familiar western options for children, fussy eaters, and the obstinate. That’s not just Americanized “Chinese food”, they’ll have cheese pizza, chicken tenders, and fries.
Anything to cater to that one family member who refuses to eat out anywhere other than Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, or Ruby Tuesday.
Sometimes you go to a restaurant because the other people in the group wanted to go there, and those same people then hassling you because you didn’t order the specialty at the restaurant that you didn’t want in the first place is really annoying.
(Also, chicken strips are great-tasting food.)
There was a time, as a young child, when my parent would take me to a steakhouse and I’d order chicken, and they’d mock me for it. There was a time, as a slightly older child, when I would order a steak as expected of me.
As a teenager, I decided that I would be an adult even if my parents couldn’t and order whatever I wanted.
Eh, chicken strips tend to be bland, dry, overcooked white meat with flavorless breading. Not my thing.
The trick at steakhouses when you don’t like steak is ordering the seafood. They’re usually pretty good at that, they’re typically pretty bad at chicken. And I’m not really that much of a fan of steak. I can do prime rib or fillet occasionally (like every few years or so) but if I’m gonna do beef at all I’d rather have tongue or liver.
Needfuldoer
Chicken is easy to dry out if you cook it like a beef steak. The secret is to brine the chicken first, then cook it relatively slow on indirect heat. Restaurants don’t want to do either of those things because they take too long or require guessing how much they need too far ahead.
Thank you! Came here looking for this.
I’m a strange mix of very broad palate and intense highly specific aversions that are nearly impossible to sum up in a way that other people can just know about me even if they want to accomodate.
Loved all the spicy food as a kid but the sight of mayo made me dry heave.
People tend to eat in groups, and autistic people exist, people with digestive troubles if varying kinds exist, people who have comfort foods and are having a rough time exist, people who just happen to be craving chicken fingers exist.
Basically, if it’s not hurting anybody else, it’s none of your business what makes someone else happy. Good motto for all things in life.
Yeah, like, I’m a picky eater, I am open to trying things when they are available to me, but I hate wasting food so if I’m spending money to have a meal cooked specifically for me, I’m not ordering anything I don’t already know that I like. So if my friends or family decide to go to a restaurant that specializes in cuisine I either already know I dislike or have no idea if I’d like it, I scour the menu for anything I know for a fact that I’ll enjoy. Sometimes people will rag on me for not being adventurous or trying new things but I’m like “look, if you want me to try whatever it is that you are ordering, assuming it’s not something I already know I don’t like, I’ll happily try a bite of it, and if I like it, then the next time we’re here I might order it, but I’m not wasting money on food I don’t know that I’ll eat, and I’m not wasting food by ordering something that might not get eaten.”
It’s weird how many people will shame you for not trying things when it’s your money to waste, but then are put off by the idea of you taking a bite off their plate just so you can try something, like make up your mind, do you want me to try new things or not?
Gahean Wilson had a recurring strip called “Nuts,” about the trials of a kid in a 50’s household. One strip had his parents take him to a restaurant. He wants ice cream for dessert, the parents (off screen voices) go on about how this place is known for their blueberry pie, and he can get ice cream anywhere! He insists, and is eating his ice cream while the parents gush on how great the pie is! (Kid’s thought; “I wish they’d just shut up and let me enjoy my ice cream.”) The last panel has the Kid, lying in bed, listening to his parents puke their guts up because the pie was spoiled!
I don’t think I’d be too hard on Walky for this take, until relatively recently Joe would have been proud to be described that way. I doubt Walky knows that that’s a vulnerable point for him now. (Does he even know about Joe’s ongoing attempt to reform?)
I do feel like Joe needs to just come out and say “hey sorry about that, I’m working on it”. He’s in this weird endless limbo of making sad faces when people treat him the way he’s always wanted to be treated until now.
It’s that constant DoA special of “this problem would be gone if people just communicated”, but it’s not about a hot girl, so I don’t buy in as much.
Everyone here is really trying to change, this might be Dorothy’s chance to not be so harsh on Joe.
Throwatron
i actually would have completely missed that, thanks
Wereg
Joe making the sad face but not saying anything is a very real response though. He likely feels like he deserves that reaction and does not have a right to say anything in his own defence.
Folks feeling penitent, deserved or not, react like this all the time.
Jon
I really hated what felt like a “Joyce you suck now, apologize to everyone for everything” conga line during her period/birth control/autism “pre-diagnosis” sequence. It felt like Joyce was catching so much meanness from everyone in the cast.
I don’t have a point I’m making. I still feel like that section went too hard. But I do think I liked where it ended up. Webcomics are weirder than most media for that — if you’re not enjoying an arc, it can seem to wallow in that arc FOREVER. But it’s usually not as annoying in hindsight, given proper pacing once it’s all published.
I don’t know, but I think this all started when her recent atheism was discovered, there she was behaving in a very unpleasant way, then came the diagnosis and everything else and that’s where Joyce felt that everyone was against her (of course, the way they acted was not correct, but Joyce’s reaction was also debatable, in fact, she was even a bit of a jerk towards Dorothy)
David DeLaney
it’s about a hot _guy_ so I’d buy that for a dollah
M!a
Mike would have for a nickel.
Devin
Hmmmm, is this bidding for an auction or a contract? Which way are we going here?
Hrodvitnir
Yes! The in-universe time that’s passed since Joe started his mostly-private improvements is super short, so no one is realistically going to know anything has changed unless he says something – they’ll just be vaguely bemused by his relationship with Joyce and keep saying things that hurt him.
pope suburban
Yeah I get the impression that Walky does not mean this in a negative way, rather he is saying that Joe is known for being sex-positive. Like Roz, who is known for such in part because of a video she made with Joe. Walky and Joe aren’t super close, so I think Walky is trying to needle Joyce, as he always does, by pointing out that she’s repressed and also dating a guy who’s got no sexual shame/stigma. It’s wholly about getting to Joyce and I think he’d feel bad if he knew he was hitting a sensitive spot with Joe.
HueSatLight
Walky’s slut shaming Joe. I don’t think Walky has felt bad about insulting a guy ever before.
Li
…that’s not what this is, though. Slut-shaming Joe would necessarily have to involve some implication that Joe banging a lot of people is somehow bad, and that’s not what’s going on here at all. It’s not bad that the Chinese food restaurant serves things other than chicken strips.
HueSatLight
respectfully, no. It is what he’s doing. He’s reducing Joe to worthless except for banging.
Li
Okay, let’s say that’s what Walky is doing for the sake of argument (I don’t agree). It’s still not what slut-shaming means.
“Your only value is your sexual prowess” is still a crappy thing to say to someone, but it’s not slut-shaming. It’s… kind of the opposite of slut-shaming.
258 thoughts on “Odd ones”
Ana Chronistic
THE EXCEPTION THAT PROVES THE RULE
Ana Chronistic
DoA Book 14: That’s You Associating All Touch With Sexuality
Aura
Oooh I love this game! DoA Book 14: We Didn’t Feel Each Other Up
Ellegos
DoA Book 14: It’s Cuz You Wanna Get Banged
staszu13
DofA Book 14: But We’re Dipshits.
This is fun!
TheCozburger
DoA Book 14: That’s literally why he exists on this Earth.
…no, wait, shit, that’s too vague…
Xaeon
DoA Book 14: You Two Left to Go Feel Each Other Up or Whatever, an’ That Left Us the Odd Ones Out.
It wouldn’t even be the longest title.
Osopescado
DoA book 14: yeah, I guess we did.
Mr. Random
Always bugs me that people mis-use that.
The exception to the rule proves that there is a rule that is not being accounted for.
Or.
The exception proves the rule.
Mild Lee Interested
“Proves” use here is in the old sense of “tests”. The exception tests the rule. This sense of prove is where the term “proving ground” comes from.
someone
For whatever the worth, this expression exists also in other languages but quite often you’ll find the verb used only does not have this meaning of testing. Just of validating that a rule exists; otherwise what is the exception excepting from?
Lysbeth
Yup. In French, “prouve” doesn’t have the meaning of “putting to the test” – it’s just that if you find out why the case is an exception, you’ve just zeroed in on the rule.
clif
If it doesn’t have an exception, can you really call it a rule?
Adept
Tests or proofs. Proves is a corruption.
Lysbeth
Every word in human language is a corruption. Except in conlangs I guess, but they don’t count.
Amelie Wikström
I like to imagine this entire cavalcade of zingers taking place while Joe’s broken soul still glitters in his eyes.
Rose by Any Other Name
Walky has never spoken a truer statement.
anon
lol doesn’t stop him from potentially getting slapped (not that i condone violence but i’m sure ppl have gotten hit for less)
shrub
I’d be OK with it
Nothri
About Joe being all about sex, or that Walky is a dipshit?
Animedingo
yes
NGPZ
Chicken strips? What like Sesame Chicken?
Why else are you at a Chinese place besides great-tasting food? 😮
HueSatLight
high volume merely good tasting food.
NGPZ
Heh. I’ve actually learned how to cook Sesame Chicken myself from scratch because I can’t afford to eat out all the time.
Laura
Dish delish! :-9
Gotta recipe to share?
????
NGPZ
I use the “Improved Orange Chicken Recipe” from Binging with Babbish with some alterations I use:
– instead of deep-frying chicken pieces, I often find myself baking or air-frying them to save oil
– I almost never use as much salt as a chicken recipe calls for, for this one I use 1/4 tsp salt or even just omit it
– if I don’t have MSG on hand, I just use dashi flakes, substitute 1/4 tsp of the white pepper with Chinese 5-spice, or even just omit it
– For the orange sauce, I sometimes substitute the rice wine vinegar with another 1/4 cup orange juice when I don’t want too much acid, additionally I don’t even use Oleo Saccharum most of the time, usually just 1/2 cup sugar altogether.
One of my favorite comfort foods, can last me all week if I want it too, sometimes I use the leftover sauce on hotdogs LOL :9
Laura
Ooh, yummers!
Mr D phone posting
I…
I think having Dashi Flakes at hand is less likely than having MSG at hand
Makkabee
I love orange chicken, so thanks for the link to a recipe.
DailyBrad
Chinese buffets sometimes have regular-ass fried chicken, too, probably for the dipshits as Walky puts it, and just since, if you already have the equipment to fry food as it is, adding different kinds of fried foods doesn’t take a lot of investment of time or effort.
Thag Simmons
So many of the staple dishes at chinese places are really excellent chicken options that I genuinely can’t imagine taking the chicken strips if given the choice.
cbwroses
I go to Chinese buffets for the variety and the portions, and that includes the regular non Chinese chicken strips alongside my general tso’s, my pepper chicken, my orange chicken, etc.
I sometimes even get a slice of pizza and fries.
I guess I too am a dipshit.
DailyBrad
If I am at any kind of a buffet and fried chicken is there, I will put some on the plate. It’s hard to miss with it.
Though, the big “not chinese food” thing I used to get at a buffet was crab legs. It was kind of shocking that they had them, given it wasn’t a terribly expensive buffet.
Mark
I think they have chicken strips because of all the kids who won’t eat anything else.
I have many memories of choosing a particular restaurant because you can’t get a cheeseburger there….
RassilonTDavros
I mean, sometimes I’ll try a chicken nugget or two at a Chinese buffet if they have them. Just to sate my curiosity.
anon
tbf a lot of ‘foreign/ethnic’ places tends to have something basic + fries on their ‘kids menu’ and stuff (tho i’m sure chicken strips wit hasian flavors would be nice) , i’ve had wings bc it was a cheap appetizer price but that is more of a bonus and would normally get fried rice or lo mein
Jamie
Yeah, I live in Chinatown and it’s actually a fucking fantastic place to get chicken wings. Also, Korean fried chicken is a legitimate entire genre of food, and karaage is a genuine treat.
But hey. Y’all can be “authentic” or whatever.
Aura
Oh myyy god karaage *hearteyes*
CrazyJ
To be fair “authentic” Chinese food in the West is almost all Chinese-American cuisine. There might be a handful of dishes that may be the same as in China, but mostly its stuff that was invented over here with what was on hand to appeal more to the tastes of the country they were in.
NGPZ
Yee, according to chef Ming Sai from Simply Ming, Americanized Chinese food tends to be “thicker, blander, and sweeter” than the original Chinese cousine on which they were based.
David DeLaney
but Joyce eating chicken with sesame coating TOUCHING it??
Needfuldoer
Coating and sauces are fine, but she’ll pick off the sesame seeds.
Ed Rhodes
When I was a kid. I got chicken sandwiches while the rest of the family was ordering Chinese food.
VicMortimer
When I was a kid, I got the spiciest thing on the menu when the rest of the family was ordering bland sugary Americanized crap.
Oh. Wait. I still do that. And lots of Chinese places have a ‘secret’ menu, translate apps unlock it for you. My favorite Chinese food is spicy braised pork intestine.
Ed Rhodes
My wife would probably be asking you where you got that! I saw her send Setchuwan (sp) back once because it wasn’t spicy enough!
Tofusmith
I’ve never seen or even heard of chicken strips at a chinese restaurant, but i suspect this is some kind of midwestern bullshit that’s more common in Indiana
Needfuldoer
Chinese buffet restaurants in the US generally have “safe” familiar western options for children, fussy eaters, and the obstinate. That’s not just Americanized “Chinese food”, they’ll have cheese pizza, chicken tenders, and fries.
Anything to cater to that one family member who refuses to eat out anywhere other than Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, or Ruby Tuesday.
Zero
Sometimes you go to a restaurant because the other people in the group wanted to go there, and those same people then hassling you because you didn’t order the specialty at the restaurant that you didn’t want in the first place is really annoying.
(Also, chicken strips are great-tasting food.)
There was a time, as a young child, when my parent would take me to a steakhouse and I’d order chicken, and they’d mock me for it. There was a time, as a slightly older child, when I would order a steak as expected of me.
As a teenager, I decided that I would be an adult even if my parents couldn’t and order whatever I wanted.
VicMortimer
Eh, chicken strips tend to be bland, dry, overcooked white meat with flavorless breading. Not my thing.
The trick at steakhouses when you don’t like steak is ordering the seafood. They’re usually pretty good at that, they’re typically pretty bad at chicken. And I’m not really that much of a fan of steak. I can do prime rib or fillet occasionally (like every few years or so) but if I’m gonna do beef at all I’d rather have tongue or liver.
Needfuldoer
Chicken is easy to dry out if you cook it like a beef steak. The secret is to brine the chicken first, then cook it relatively slow on indirect heat. Restaurants don’t want to do either of those things because they take too long or require guessing how much they need too far ahead.
Try cooking skirt steak directly on hot chunk charcoal sometime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5y2voEWJ6U
Tatterhood
Thank you! Came here looking for this.
I’m a strange mix of very broad palate and intense highly specific aversions that are nearly impossible to sum up in a way that other people can just know about me even if they want to accomodate.
Loved all the spicy food as a kid but the sight of mayo made me dry heave.
People tend to eat in groups, and autistic people exist, people with digestive troubles if varying kinds exist, people who have comfort foods and are having a rough time exist, people who just happen to be craving chicken fingers exist.
Basically, if it’s not hurting anybody else, it’s none of your business what makes someone else happy. Good motto for all things in life.
Psychie
Yeah, like, I’m a picky eater, I am open to trying things when they are available to me, but I hate wasting food so if I’m spending money to have a meal cooked specifically for me, I’m not ordering anything I don’t already know that I like. So if my friends or family decide to go to a restaurant that specializes in cuisine I either already know I dislike or have no idea if I’d like it, I scour the menu for anything I know for a fact that I’ll enjoy. Sometimes people will rag on me for not being adventurous or trying new things but I’m like “look, if you want me to try whatever it is that you are ordering, assuming it’s not something I already know I don’t like, I’ll happily try a bite of it, and if I like it, then the next time we’re here I might order it, but I’m not wasting money on food I don’t know that I’ll eat, and I’m not wasting food by ordering something that might not get eaten.”
It’s weird how many people will shame you for not trying things when it’s your money to waste, but then are put off by the idea of you taking a bite off their plate just so you can try something, like make up your mind, do you want me to try new things or not?
Ed Rhodes
Gahean Wilson had a recurring strip called “Nuts,” about the trials of a kid in a 50’s household. One strip had his parents take him to a restaurant. He wants ice cream for dessert, the parents (off screen voices) go on about how this place is known for their blueberry pie, and he can get ice cream anywhere! He insists, and is eating his ice cream while the parents gush on how great the pie is! (Kid’s thought; “I wish they’d just shut up and let me enjoy my ice cream.”) The last panel has the Kid, lying in bed, listening to his parents puke their guts up because the pie was spoiled!
Li
No, like plain breaded chicken strips. The kind you usually get at, like, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or any diner.
Sirksome
I guess Joe deserves this but I also don’t like Walky for it. Like he’s the one dude I expect better from. When did he get toxic?
Aura
I don’t think I’d be too hard on Walky for this take, until relatively recently Joe would have been proud to be described that way. I doubt Walky knows that that’s a vulnerable point for him now. (Does he even know about Joe’s ongoing attempt to reform?)
Imogen
I do feel like Joe needs to just come out and say “hey sorry about that, I’m working on it”. He’s in this weird endless limbo of making sad faces when people treat him the way he’s always wanted to be treated until now.
It’s that constant DoA special of “this problem would be gone if people just communicated”, but it’s not about a hot girl, so I don’t buy in as much.
Vanessa
I think Dorothy may be seeing that face!
Coatl
Everyone here is really trying to change, this might be Dorothy’s chance to not be so harsh on Joe.
Throwatron
i actually would have completely missed that, thanks
Wereg
Joe making the sad face but not saying anything is a very real response though. He likely feels like he deserves that reaction and does not have a right to say anything in his own defence.
Folks feeling penitent, deserved or not, react like this all the time.
Jon
I really hated what felt like a “Joyce you suck now, apologize to everyone for everything” conga line during her period/birth control/autism “pre-diagnosis” sequence. It felt like Joyce was catching so much meanness from everyone in the cast.
I don’t have a point I’m making. I still feel like that section went too hard. But I do think I liked where it ended up. Webcomics are weirder than most media for that — if you’re not enjoying an arc, it can seem to wallow in that arc FOREVER. But it’s usually not as annoying in hindsight, given proper pacing once it’s all published.
Coatl
I don’t know, but I think this all started when her recent atheism was discovered, there she was behaving in a very unpleasant way, then came the diagnosis and everything else and that’s where Joyce felt that everyone was against her (of course, the way they acted was not correct, but Joyce’s reaction was also debatable, in fact, she was even a bit of a jerk towards Dorothy)
David DeLaney
it’s about a hot _guy_ so I’d buy that for a dollah
M!a
Mike would have for a nickel.
Devin
Hmmmm, is this bidding for an auction or a contract? Which way are we going here?
Hrodvitnir
Yes! The in-universe time that’s passed since Joe started his mostly-private improvements is super short, so no one is realistically going to know anything has changed unless he says something – they’ll just be vaguely bemused by his relationship with Joyce and keep saying things that hurt him.
pope suburban
Yeah I get the impression that Walky does not mean this in a negative way, rather he is saying that Joe is known for being sex-positive. Like Roz, who is known for such in part because of a video she made with Joe. Walky and Joe aren’t super close, so I think Walky is trying to needle Joyce, as he always does, by pointing out that she’s repressed and also dating a guy who’s got no sexual shame/stigma. It’s wholly about getting to Joyce and I think he’d feel bad if he knew he was hitting a sensitive spot with Joe.
HueSatLight
Walky’s slut shaming Joe. I don’t think Walky has felt bad about insulting a guy ever before.
Li
…that’s not what this is, though. Slut-shaming Joe would necessarily have to involve some implication that Joe banging a lot of people is somehow bad, and that’s not what’s going on here at all. It’s not bad that the Chinese food restaurant serves things other than chicken strips.
HueSatLight
respectfully, no. It is what he’s doing. He’s reducing Joe to worthless except for banging.
Li
Okay, let’s say that’s what Walky is doing for the sake of argument (I don’t agree). It’s still not what slut-shaming means.
“Your only value is your sexual prowess” is still a crappy thing to say to someone, but it’s not slut-shaming. It’s… kind of the opposite of slut-shaming.