Tom the Dancing Bug: Super-Fun-Pak Comix. "The Jew Who Saved Christmas" and more

• [Anonymous]

  I said that,”that ‘that’ that that man wrote should have been underlined.”

• [cycle23]

  That jew that done gone done saved that there christmas time.

  Also, no reference to “This is a wonderful life?”

• [Ted8305]

  Which state is the town of Whoopee in? I’m guessing WH stands for Wisc Honsin.

• [jaybee]

  What fun!

  The title’s grammatically or stylistically correct (“who”), the body’s incorrect (“that”) and who care’s, because your all two busy bashing at you’re keyboards too notice…..

  Hook, line and sinker….

  • [boduelmike]

    Two out of three greengrocer’s can’t be wrong…

• [Unmutual]

  West Hurrrginia.

• [Phikus]

  I LOVE VARIOUS ORGANISMS MAN! There. I’ve said it. I want a poster of those two panels on my wall.

• [benher]

  Oh how many beads I would trade to Native Americans to see a Percival Dunwoody / Mackies mashup! Does someone have Tony Millionaire’s mail address in the future?

• [Donald Petersen]

  I gotta say, that Whoopee Can sounds deucedly intriguing! I’d gamble a fin-and-change if only I could find the ZIP code.

• [jaybee]

  “The Jew that (sic) saved Christmas”?

  Check out the rules for “who”, “that” and “which”. Useful stuff….

  • [Anonymous]

    Phonological studies have shown that humans in general try to avoid using two homonyms in a row (e.g. “…that that…”), so it’s not that much of a stretch to see how this might apply to such a strong rhyme as “jew who”. I’m with A.B.Itch, phonology trumps grammar.

    • [spejic]

      What? I love doing that! In fact, I sometimes reorganize sentences so that that “that that” combination might be included.

      • [Anonymous]

        That “that that” that you used there, may I use that? (just to avoid confusion, I’m refering to the entire phrase “reorganize sentences so that that ‘that that’ combination” as that “that that” that you used. Glad that’s cleared up)

  • [pato pal ur]

    It was acceptable for Mark Twain, in “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg,” so that’s good enough for me.

  • [A. B. Itch]

    “That” sounds funnier that “who”. Sometimes grammar has to suffer for comedy.

    • [saru]

      I hate to join a dog pile, but I had to break in. Almost universally style guides demand that parenthetical asides be denoted with parentheses in ones own writing, but when interjected into a quotation be within square brackets.

      To be clear, your quote should have read:
      “‘The Jew that [sic] saved Christmas’?”

      Note that this rule actually definitively increases the clarity of ones writing, by marking out whether an aside is the original author’s or the one quoting.

    • [Wordguy]

      But never vice versa!

  • [MrMastadon]

    I’m finding way too much irony in jaybee being a Grammer Nazi about this post…

  • [mmarlett]

    He was probably trying to avoid confusion with all the Whos in Whoville. Don’t want to mix in too many Christmas stories.

• [Unmutual]

  Percival Dunwoody is a favorite.

  My day always grinds to a complete halt whenever I see there’s a new SFPC!

• [Anonymous]

  All these posts about grammar, and no one notes the sly use of the left hand by HCM!

• [Anonymous]

  Now, how long until we get a superhero whose origins include being bitten by the Radioactive Ghost of James Caan?

  • [allium]

    We’ll have to lure him to a nuclear reactor. Possibly with bacon.

• [ncm]

  Anyway there is no such rule in English grammar. It’s found only in nasty “correct your soon-to-be-former friends” manuals and in newspaper style guides. If your employer’s style guide has such a rule, lucky you. To confuse stylistic choices with grammar is an embarrassment.

  • [Anonymous]

    Prescriptivists are the funny little gnomes that make linguistics worthwhile.