Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 13, 2023

Not exactly the Sunday times crossword,

but I did notice a dozen wedged in there on the way to the punchline

A woman who said “I am Erica” liked this strip.

This is the globalism they’ve been warning us about.

Thank goodness there is no punchline in which all these country names well up in a giant tornado of a pun.

Oog.

I found all 20 countries, and here they are:

Georgia, Turkey, China, Togo, Hungary, Congo, Oman, Iran, Bahrain, Libya, Canada, Denmark, Benin, Panama, Jordan, Bahamas, Malta, Norway, Afghanistan, Singapore

Don’t care.

Karen?

Can we just admit a ton of effort goes into these

Pastis? What kind of name is that? Sounds made up. What’s Israel name?

Clever to insert country names in dialog.

When the heck did I sign up for geography class today?! Dan aka…grr

Pigs do not have pores.

Ken-ya tell we’re rushin to move to our next comic strip before they tie one over the louse Pastis.

Don’t let the Ecru Door hit you on the way out.

Germ. Many.

How boring does your life have to be to write this stuff?

Nice Guard Duck cameo.

BRING BACK THE CROCS.

It’s in the bag dad.

Guard Duck! Long time no see!

Name another country. I won’t rush ya. Don’t you crane yourself outta joint trying.

Yay for Guard Duck!

No. For example, the French and the Italians don’t write London as “London”, they use the names that they are happy with (Londres and Londra, of course).

Guard Duck is back. We haven’t seen him in a while

My friend Philip pines for love.

You bought a electric car? That makes me mad. A gas car is better.

too much work…

Some of these were tough!

Stephan, you’ve done it again. Thank you.

Thank god I’m a country boy!

except for norway benin togo and denmark, been to the rest.

I feel anger. Many a name, but one is missing. What a shame!

There should be another patron named Chad.

I knew that’s what he was doing after reading the first panel. In lieu of this, I made my own.

(Rat and Pig chat in a cafe)

Rat: How are you and Pigita doing?

Pig: Not well. I’m trying to dodge her.

Rat: Why?

Pig: Our relationship has gotten a little rocky. Lots of giant red flags.

Rat: Are you guys fixing it?

Pig: Yeah. She said she needs some space, so she’s in the City of Angels right now, but will visit Philly next.

Rat: Bummer, dude.

Pig: Yeah. Hey, have you met Rosita, the barista in this cafe?

Rat: No.

Pig: You’d like her. She watches Guardians of the Galaxy.

Rosita: Hola Pig, Rat.

Pig: Hi, Rosita. How is your dad, and the twins?

Rosita: The kids are like royalty to me. They are very hyper and athletic, and mi padre is doing great. He still works as a park ranger, and he sees lots of birds and other animals.

Pig: Like what?

Rosita: Cardinals, orioles, blue jays, even bear cubs, to name a few. But he’s planning on moving to Florida to catch some rays and fish for marlin. Oh yeah, I gotta do my laundry.

Pig: Don’t forget, separate your red sox from the white sox.

(Rat realizes something, and then appears on Stephan’s desk)

Rat: (exasperated) You’re hiding MLB teams…

Stephan: Find all 21!

Pig: How did you get national publication? (An arrow points, saying 22)

I was wondering where that was headed.

Stephan suffers from geographic tongue.

I figured I was waiting for a 20 word pun.

Thats wrong, it’s 21 because I just had a Czech.

Bravo! A geography lesson and a comic strip! Genius!

A little iffy on Panama, all the rest used all the letters in the word combo!

Pure genius! I hope you do a book signing tour soon!

A “malt?” ‘Had a genuine bonafide malt every day at the Malt-Shop during my ’50s high school days. ’Needed something to wash down mom’s peanut butter and honey sandwiches and Hostess Twinkies or cupcakes … then 6 jelly filled bismarks from the bakery (still warm), consumed on the two block walk back to school. Time for my Ozempic shot, unless the fatties bought it all again.

This is the first time I’ve read one of these and realized but the second panel that it was a hidden word comic…

I am please to report that I also found all but two of them on the first read through, and sad to report that it took me four tries to count correctly to find them all.

Well done, Stephan!!!

Soooo there are two Congo nations…

Per Wikipedia:

“Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the river:

Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, sometimes referred to as “Congo-Kinshasa”Republic of the Congo, the smaller country to the northwest, sometimes referred to as “Congo-Brazzaville””

So is it really 2 + 1 = 21?

Thanks for the “spoiler alert.”

Very well done BasilBruce and Stephan Pastis. I could only get 18, and even struggled with Canada!

I stopped during panel 2.

I just automatically put my thumb on the last panel now to not spoil the ending.

I think Pig makes better comics than Pastis… :)

Hola Stephan, I am so mad at you, Ese.

Panama took a bit of work.

I feel anger. Many a name, but one is missing. What a shame!

Very Clever ♥♥

Is Stan Bull*****ing us? (22)

But can Pastis sing every country name in under 2 minutes? https://youtu.be/V1508wboZXk

One time there were 21 countries altogether.

This is a stretch even for Pastis.

Wow – takes a real fan to stick with every panel of this one today!

Only Pastis could pull this off. Only Pastis….

a lot of work for very little funny

Why do you find this bar bad, Oswald? Is it the hue? Russ, I am trying to determine the shade by asking one pal. Is this paint beige or ecru, Wanda? (4 countries here)

Twenty lashes for Cartoon-Boy, one for each labored country-name! Get this sickness out of his system!

The only Saving Grace is the token appearance of Li’l Guard Duck, who is always welcome!

Not hidden, in plain sight.

I missed Togo

Does Cartoon Boy have any idea how these things weigh on one’s brain? Mine is mush right now.

This one gets an A+