Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for April 07, 2013

There’s a REASON they know what you’re up to. They’ve done it themselves!

Hey where are the characters from the other comic strips for the book club?

What you call something doesn’t necessarily reflect what you’re really doing…

Apparently the book club they started in 2002 didn’t last.

Pity.

I am guessing there are three possible punchlines to this strip:•1: Val goes to the mall with some friends and discovers Holly with a boy.•2: Holly told her mom that she was going to the mall with “a bunch” of friends, and her mom finds out that the “bunch” of friends is only one, and a male one at that.•3: Val is indulging in the first three panels, and she catches Holly indulging in the last?

None of these seem that funny to me. What am I missing?

All I can see from the comments is that the commenters lack empathy with our principal characters. A Sunday strip is just a gentle reminder of the general tone of a strip. It has no need to continue a story thread or be hilarious.

Is that Andy?!

Well, it may not need to continue a thread or be hilarious, but it should still have a point. BTW, how do the comments translate into “a lack of empathy”?

Okay, so this strip wasn’t meant to be funny. Fine.

But I still fail to see the point. Would you care to enlighten me?

You are all missing the point! It’s a case of “do what I say, not what I do!”

It took me a moment too until I saw the !!! and ?! and realized that “Happy Hour” wasn’t just as “Out for Coffee” wasn’t just coffee and “Book Club” doesn’t represent the activity any more than “Bunch of Friends” does.

Mom says she’s going “Out for coffee,” but she’s really eating cake.

Mom says it’s a book club, but they just eat, drink, and talk (not about books).

Mom goes to “happy hour,” but it’s really a time for cheap drinks and gossip.

Those things are all seen as normal and okay. But when the daughter’s “going to the mall with a bunch of friends” turns out to be “finding a private place with one boy,” suddenly it’s important to be doing what you said you would. Misnaming is okay for the adult, not the kid.

it’s that Mom says one thing to daughters, but does another. . . .then catches daughter doing the same thing. “Going out for coffee” is code for “I’m going to have dessert without you” for example. Which is ok for mom, but not ok for daughter. . .

Not to mention that “Happy Hour” appears to be anything but.

CarolinaGirls is the only one who got it… what you call something isn’t what it really is. duh! and it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. it’s amusing!!!

Well almost!

As opposed to yesterday’s strip (and the corresponding previous few days’ strips), this one is NOT brilliant!

Val is doing what she said she’d be doing. She went out for coffee, went to book club , or going to Happy Hour with friends. Val caught Holly in a lie, since she isn’t with the group of girlfriends, like SHE said she was going to be. Instead she was going to meet a boy! That must be why her cheeks are all red. She’s been busted!

Mom may be eating cake at the coffee shop, but she does also have a cup there. At my book discussion, we only drink soda, talk about the book for a little while, but the rest is just talking about whatever comes up! I don’t really do happy hour. Alcoholic beverages are too expensive. I’d rather buy yarn.

I think the point is that she knows Holly is lying because she does it herself.

And in the “happy hour” frame nobody seems happy.

And I’m with both of YOU! I don’t ‘get it’ either!

Oh I see. Happy hour isn’t really happy. Ok, it’s not about Mom and Holly, it’s about activities not being what we call them. Well, if it has to be explained it still isn’t all that funny. Oh well, even the best cartoonist has an off day.

My daughter understands that and she’s 18. Going out for coffee means getting a beverage (non-alcoholic and can be comprised of any variety of beverages) and something to eat. I know a couple of people in book clubs and depending on the people involved it can be anything from sitting around with tea and cookies to wine and cheese. Sometimes they have a free wheeling night where individuals may or may not talk about the book. Happy hour, even the guys know, is not that. It’s the time for cheap drinks and complaining. What makes it happy are the drinks. My daughter does know that going to the mall with friends means at least 2 people in addition to her. She will tell me if she is going with a friend and I do question her as to who she’s meeting.

Wow talk about over analyzing!!!!

the moral of the strip is, you dont actually do what you say you are gona do.

1) out for coffee but shes having dessert/treats2) book club but they are drinking and gossiping3) happy hour but everyones’ complaining4) going to the mall with a bunch of friends but shes out on a date.