3909: Linguistics with Liz: Straightforward Garfield
| Linguistics with Liz: Straightforward Garfield |
 Made by: Redgreen |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
This strip, written by the same author as the original "Linguistics with Liz" strip, begins with the "Linguistics with Liz" setup; the title, however, may have someone wondering how someone would speak "straightforward Garfield". Liz's speech is surprisingly unchanged from the original Garfield strip, as is Jon's subsequent line; it's Garfield's line that's changed in this strip, with Garfield being straightforward in revealing that Liz's dialogue is, in fact, meaningless gibberish. This strip essentially deconstructs the original Garfield strip that the "Linguistics with Liz" running gag is based off of.
Plugging Liz's line into a search engine translator service set from auto-detect to English will simply return the same dialogue without any translation; on a run made in the process of writing this explanation, Bing translator claimed the gibberish to be Afrikaans, Google Translate claimed the gibberish to be Western Frisian, but neither actually translated anything. (Auto-detect language prediction results might change between runs.)
This strip's author claimed the "Linguistics with Liz" running gag to be semi-memetic at this point in Square Root of Minus Garfield history; the gag had, in fact, already made it past that point and, unbeknownst to much of the fanbase (presumably only the one in charge of the strip queue and possibly the author of the following day's strip knew it was coming), Jules was about to make his move...
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
Hi! Redgreen here! You may remember me as the creator of the semi-memetic "Linguistics with Liz" template. There has been a sizable influx of LwL variations and spinoffs* since my strip's inception and publication, and I think now is the perfect time for me to introduce this take on the source of my creation!
Given how nonsensical Liz's speech in the middle panel is, Garfield's sarcasm fits in well with his personality. But what if Garfield was more of a Captain Obvious?
*including those not listed
Original strip: 2017-11-17.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Liz {approaching Jon while Garfield, holding a mug of (presumably) coffee, watches}: Jon?
Jon: Yes?
Liz: Kerple nop sizz fwango mook gweeble adeewong
{Jon, perplexed, makes a slight aside glance. Garfield is still holding his coffee (or whatever), and his neutral expression has not changed}
{Exit Liz}
Jon: I will never understand women
Garfield: I think she just spouted gibberish
