2080: The Woman Who Speaks Only In MadLibs
| The Woman Who Speaks Only In MadLibs |
 Made by: Sloublues |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
ESP, or extrasensory perception, is often associated with psychic powers or seeing the future, as Jon claims to be able to do here. In the original strip, the woman's response was something Jon could not have predicted, but, unwilling to let his pickup line go to waste, he replies that he knew it was coming anyway.
In the edited strip, the woman responds in the form of a Mad Libs. A Mad Libs is a game in which one person prompts a second person for examples of parts of speech with which to complete a text that the second person has not read. The idea is that, when the blanks are all filled in, the first person will read the completed text aloud, with a random and funny result.
The edited strip may be interpreted in several ways. The reader may fill in the blanks as indicated, then read the strip, so that Jon claims that he knew whatever the result would be. This is basically Jim Davis's original intent, but emphasizes the absurdity of Jon's claim.
The reader may also, as the title suggests, take it that the woman is actually saying "(Verb)", (Pl. noun)", etc., and that Jon is claiming that he knew she would respond in that way.
The title is a play on a series of Monty Python skits that include, among others, a man who speaks entirely in anagrams and two men who say only the beginnings or endings of words.
The annotation suggests removing Jon from the original strip, in which case the strip would consist of a woman who sits quietly on a park bench before turning and angrily and elaborately threatening the empty space next to her.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
As a bonus, the original strip would make an excellent "Garfield Minus Arbuckle".
Orginal strip: 2006-04-15.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Jon: I have ESP.
Jon: I know exactly what you're going to say.
Woman: I'm going to (Verb) your (Pl. noun) over your head and (Verb) them into a (Noun). Then I'm going to (Verb) your (Body part) over your chin, and then I'm going to pull your (Article of clothing) off and (Verb) it up your (Adjective) (Noun).
Jon: I knew that.
Later references[edit | edit source]
No. 2508 does as the author's note suggests, even titling it as it says.
