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 (24) (Please sign in to comment)
rshive said, 4 months ago
Hard to tell the difference sometimes.
PapaBishop said, 4 months ago
Why doesn’t that teacher correct their English? It’s “may I.”
Notsoastute said, 4 months ago
@PapaBishop
Yes, you may. Wait, you already have.
Varnes said, 4 months ago
I think he made a rash judgement……
furrykef said, 4 months ago
“Can I” is perfectly fine English. The “rule” that you must use “may” instead of “can” is arbitrary and made up, having no basis in historical usage.
It may surprise you, but just because a teacher insists on something doesn’t mean it’s true.
T_Lexi said, 4 months ago
The difference between “Can I” and “May I” is in the implication. “Can” implies ability to do whatever; “May” implies asking permission to do whatever.
Child: Ma! Can I jump off the roof?
Mother: Well… You certainly can, but you should not, and you may not.
Strod said, 4 months ago
@T_Lexi
Not really. Just check your favorite dictionary. For example Merriam-Webster:
can: […] 2 : have permission to —used interchangeably with may you can go now if you like
Or dictionary.com:
can: […] 5 may; have permission to: Can I speak to you for a moment?
Or the New Oxford American Dictionary that comes with Mac OS X:
can: […] 2 be permitted to: you can use the phone if you want to | nobody could legally drink on the premises.
The latter does have a comment on usage (emphasis mine):
usage: Is there any difference between can and may when used to request or express permission, as in may I ask you a few questions? or can I ask you a few questions? Many people feel that can should be reserved for expressions denoting capability, as in can you swim?, rather than for those relating to permission. May is, generally speaking, a politer and more formal way of asking for something, and is the better choice in more formal contexts.*
sonorhC said, 4 months ago
It still leads to confusion sometimes. Like when a student asked me “Can you pass me that stapler on the table?”, and I answered “no”. I wasn’t being rude; the stapler was bolted down onto the table to discourage casual theft.
annieb1012 said, 4 months ago
@furrykef “just because a teacher insists on something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
No argument there, as teachers can/may have misconceptions, varying viewpoints, and so on. But you have illustrated one of my own pet peeves about conversational word usage, which is “just because doesn’t mean.” The phrase “just because” is not a noun or a noun phrase, and so cannot/should not be used as the subject of the verb phrase “doesn’t mean.” One might say instead, “The fact that a teacher insists on something doesn’t mean it’s true,” or “A teacher’s insistence on something doesn’t make it true,” or any of several other combinations. I don’t mean to jump on you personally, but just to vent about something I was taught many years ago is a mistake, and which is still a mistake no matter how common it is!
*
One of my daughter’s teachers was the first person I heard respond to a question like Caulfield’s by saying, “I don’t know, can you?”
Jerry Carlson said, 4 months ago
The substitute teacher told the kids that if they behaved themselves she’d give them a French lesson.
After a trouble-free hour a child asked, “Can we have our French lesson now?”
“Mais oui!” replied the teacher, enthusiasttically.
“Alright, MAY we have our French lesson now?”
annieb1012 said, 4 months ago
@Jerry Carlson Ha! Good one….
Night-Gaunt49 said, 4 months ago
The kid’s rash was probably on a part of the body not shown in school. So “no” was the proper answer.
comicsssfan said, 4 months ago
@furrykef
“It may surprise you, but just because a teacher insists on something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
It would surprise me if a public middle or high school teacher even said something that was true. They used to tell us there were a lot of factory jobs waiting for us. No need to get anxious over our studies, the way we should over sports. But factory work was already being outsourced. There were no factory jobs available, not that they would ever give a care.
bigpuma said, 4 months ago
If improper usage of a word or phrase becomes widespread enough, it will eventually be considered “accepted” usage. That fact can (may?) be hard for some to accept. I’ve learned that it does little good to squawk about it. You’ll be perceived as a peevish fuss-budget. And the only people who won’t see you in that way are other peevish fuss-budgets. (And yes, I know that I used the “indefinite you”.)
annieb1012 said, 4 months ago
@ Sharuniboy Not sure what incident you’re referring to in your post @ comicssfan, but my neighbor quit her elementary-school teaching job in Thornton, CO just a couple of years ago because she couldn’t stand the administrators’ and teachers’ attitudes toward the children. She wanted to bring writers and other professionals she knew to their Career Day, but these were nixed in favor of military recruiters. ONLY military recruiters. It was stated categorically that these low-income, mostly Hispanic kids would have no shot at any career other than the military, so why waste energy showing them anything else? At that very same time, the Denver School of Science and Technology, with its intense emphasis on college preparation, was graduating low-income Hispanic, black, and white kids (as well as better-off kids) and sending them off to four-year colleges. And they’re doing really well. The assumptions and attitudes of the adults in a school can have a lot to do with how kids shape their own lives.