Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 16, 2015

I predict that reactions to today’s strip will fall into 10 basic categories… or perhaps 11, if we allow for fence-sitters.

:) I see what you did there DV

Would they speak plain old ASCII, or Unicode? In the latter case, I sure hope for them it’s UTF-8… ;-)

(yes, I am in category 0)

Actually, the binary converts to:îElk

It takes 8 bits in most ASCII conversions to create one character. No worries about profanities there Jef. It would take a lot more ones and zeroes to tell a dirty limerick.

Maybe Coach “Hacker” could figure it out? ;)

Nabuquduriuzhur, there is no absolute window for learning a language, and I have never heard or read anyone saying that; but it is widely acknowledged (and has not at all been “debunked”) that children up to age nine or so have an innate ability to absorb a second language more or less the way they absorbed their first one (without the need for formal stud), and that this ability declines rapidly as they age.

(Make that “study,” not “stud.”) BTW, you can Google “language learning age” to find scores of studies and scholarly articles on the subject.

There’s also the possibility that Caulfield doesn’t understand them at all, and is just BSing.

The article Why Jordan Couldn’t Hit would seem relevant here. Our brains do change, physically, during adolescence, and we enter adulthood with more stability but also less ability to pick up totally new skills. While the article was about athletic skills, language-learning would seem likely to act similarly.

This looks like an “On the Fastrack” gag.

I actually SUSPECT that the intent Jef is trying for is as follows…. 1) Frazz and Miss Plainwell ARE NOT really speaking in binary. 2) Mrs. Olsen and Principal Spaetzel are commenting on how what they are saying makes no sense (even as translated by Caulfield). 3) The “joke” is that Mrs. Olsen and Principal Spaetzel CANNOT fathom running 22 miles (in whatever weather) and cannot fathom anyone NOT being hungry if they DID run 22 miles. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++That is how I interpret today’s comic. I am pretty sure I am right about what the intention is supposed to be. To me, the set up using binary is a bit of a stretch, and this is why a lot of folks did not “get” it initially. With most folks not getting it, I think the comic today was not overly successful. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I also predict when Bigpuma sees the comic today, he will be rather grumpy about it, as he will see it as Mrs. Olsen and Principal Spaetzel not being “capable” of understanding Miss Plainwell and Frazz. I personally do not seeit that way today… I see it more akin to Jef pointing out that dedicated runners OFTEN do things and think things that are not always that normal.

Nabuquduriuzhur: The clicks are phonemes, rarely, if ever, entire words.

And, Bigpuma…. I say with all sincerity, Principal Spaetzel is my personal, favorite character of this comic. To me, he is always the best character.

Forget about the secret ability to read binary, or even hyper-sensitive hearing. The truth is Caldwell operates a series of sophisticated spy-drones and has been observing Frazz and Plainwell for some time, hoping to get enough ‘dirt’ on them to trap them in his power. His hero is Wild Bill Donovan.

I’ll bet they can communicate in Esperanto and Klingon, too… What a pair of insufferable showoffs.

Two thoughts:

1. I suspect Jef was using zeros and ones in the same way Sparky used exclamation points for the indecipherable speech of the bird in Peanuts.

2. Bill Amend (“Foxtrot”) would have written the balloons in proper ASCII as an easter egg for the computer literate.

As I understand it, the language center of the brain finishes wiring up and becomes hard-wired around age 7 or so. Any later learning is achieved via normal memory which, due simply to the lack of specialization, doesn’t work as well.

So, yes, you can continue to learn languages (I’m 40 and learning Spanish) but, yes, it will be more difficult later in life.

In my opinion, the joke is simply as Mr. S says. Rather than have, for example, Spanish and making a wall of text with both translations, we use binary which is recognizable but which few artists would actually spell out (giving Jef an “out” on actually translating it).

As for “exotic language”, why would the two even recognize it? My wife and mother wouldn’t.

The setup does feel very forced, though…