Frazz by Jef Mallett follows the adventures of an unexpected role model: an elementary-school janitor who's also a Renaissance man. While he's sweeping the hall, he's whistling Beethoven. Or Lyle Lovett. He paints the woodwork in the classrooms; he paints a Da Vinci on the cafeteria wall. He's a trusted authority figure who is every kid's buddy. He took the janitor's job while he was a struggling songwriter, and when he finally sold a hit song, he decided to stay on at school. Frazz appears in 200 newspapers worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune and Detroit News. "A few years back, I wrote and illustrated a children's book," says Mallett. "When I was traveling around reading it at school assemblies, I noticed that often, the most respected, best-liked grown-up in the building was the janitor. And I thought, 'Hmm, there's a comic strip in that.'" Often praised for its intelligent wit, gentle spirit and effortless diversity, Frazz won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council in 2003 and 2005 for excellence in communicating values and ethics.
© Jef Mallett - All Rights Reserved.
Frank & Ernest by Thaves
Fred Basset by Alex Graham
Comments (32) (Please sign in to comment)
The Old Wolf
said, 5 months ago
The expression is “cold enough to freeze the nuts off a brass bridge.”
Tacopielvr said, 5 months ago
Shouldnt it be “colder than a brass monkeys bottom”?
masterskrain said, 5 months ago
Here is an interesting bit about the more common expression about the “Balls” and “A Brass Monkey”…
It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a “monkey”, to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the “monkey” would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[
They give five main reasons:The OED does not record the term “monkey” or “brass monkey” being used in this way.The purported method of storage of cannonballs (“round shot”) is simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as possible.Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling around on deck and causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks—longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot were inserted for ready use by the gun crew.Shot was not left exposed to the elements where it could rust. Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true or jamming in the barrel and exploding the gun. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.The physics does not stand up to scrutiny. The contraction of both balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not be particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced under laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high precision for this purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have occurred in real life aboard a warship.Kinda neat, huh??However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be an urban legend. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy, etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
StoicLion said, 5 months ago
@The Old Wolf
I’ve never heard your expression but I have heard the nautical one that goes “…cold enough to freeze the nuts off a brass monkey”.
Notsoastute said, 5 months ago
I don’t like Brass Monkey…I got soooooo sick one time because of it.
The expression around here is: Colder than a witches tit in a brass bra. "
RussHeim said, 5 months ago
@Tacopielvr
Just shorten it to “monkey’s brass.”
Alexikakos said, 5 months ago
In his “Icerigger” trilogy,Alan Dean Foster named his fictional outpost on the planet Tran-Ky-Ky “Brass Monkey” after this expression.
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Other than a few “stand alone” books of his, “Quozl” comes to mind, I pretty much stopped reading him with this series.
Pacopuddy said, 5 months ago
@StoicLion
I know it as ‘freeze the balls off a brass monkey’, and understood, possibly wrongly, that it was a reference to the brass balls on a pawnbrokers sign.
no1scouse said, 5 months ago
@Pacopuddy
I heard it the same as you Pacopuddy, or was it “freeze the brass off a bald monkey”, Of course that was only said when ladies were present. Never heard of the pawnbrokers sign reference.
magicwalnut said, 5 months ago
@masterskrain
Who are you? Sheldon Cooper?
magicwalnut said, 5 months ago
What I want to know is how Mallet knew when he drew this that it would be down to about 14 degrees this morning in Michigan! What timing!
masterskrain said, 5 months ago
@magicwalnut
Gotta LOVE Wikipedia…LOL!
Ned Snipes said, 5 months ago
@masterskrain
Take a look at Stone Soup today, glad to see I’m not the only to think that wikipedia is not THAT reliable
littleannoyingdog said, 5 months ago
colder than a well diggers a$$
simpsonfan2 said, 5 months ago
My Grandfather lived in Michigan. One winter (1942-1943) it got cold enough for farts to freeze. A path ran along the back of his property, it was a shortcut between a few neighborhoods and the town’s only factory, which made those military rank insignias. (Captain’s bars, etc)
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The winter was so cold, people’s farts froze. And everybody started dumping them behind the shed on my Grandfather’s property.
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One day got warm, and the pile thawed, sending a noxious cloud over the main part of town.
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People figured it was Nazi’s, due to the chaos it would cause in the military if the factory was shut down. The FBI was called in, and eventually the truth was found out.
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To this day, people in the town still say “It’s cold enough to call the FBI.”