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A little Christmas

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Ono

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I did a comic…before I was posting them through the fancy comic posting plug in for WordPress, and it was called Unlikely Bedfellows.  This is Ono, from Unlikely Bedfellows.  If she’s good, she’ll get another chapter.

When will Levi Levi return?

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He’s thinking about it right now…

Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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ClementSkittsays005“The swell was flash, so I could not draw his fogle.”

Let’s dissect:

Swell: gentleman (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Flash: Knowing. Understanding another’s meaning.   (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Draw his fogle: pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief.  (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

In other words: the gentleman knew exactly what I was doing so I could not sneak the silk handkerchief from his pocket.

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010c“I set about kittle pitchering any tom long with a circumbendibus chestnut as soon as I see ’em.”

Let’s dissect:

KITTLE PITCHERING. A jocular method of hobbling or bothering a troublesome teller of long stories: this is done by contradicting some very immaterial circumstance at the beginning of the narration, the objections to which being settled, others are immediately started to some new particular of like consequence; thus impeding, or rather not suffering him to enter into, the main story. Kittle pitchering is often practised in confederacy, one relieving the other, by which the design is rendered less obvious.  (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

TOM LONG. A tiresome story teller. It is coming by Tom Long, the carrier; said of any thing that has been long expected. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Circumbendibus – round about; a story with no end to it (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Chestnut – an old story; an often repeated yarn.  The average chestnut of the ‘dago’ fruit stand has claims to respect on account of its age, but is not desirable as an article of diet, and ancient stories are equally tiresome (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

So, to sum up:  “I start immediately and humorously undermining the stories of any tiresome story teller with a round about, often repeated yarn.”

 

in our living room

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Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010aSeeing it was mizzling, the lallycooler inkslinger decided to stay in and have resurrection pie for his nooning.

Let’s dissect:

Mizzling – drizzling rain (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Lallycooler – one who is pre-eminently successful in his line (daisy, dandy, darling, lullu) (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Inkslinger – a writer or editor (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Resurrection pie – a pie made of scraps or leavings (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Nooning – an interval for rest and refreshment at midday, as in the harvest field (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

So, in other words:  Since it was lightly raining, the preeminent writer decided to stay in and have remixed left-overs for his afternoon refreshment.

A love song

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If you are a connoisseur of the LeEMS Bean RSS feed, then you already know that Kayt Ahnberg and myself have penned a song with the full intention of playing and recording it ourselves.  In the mean time the Buffalo Chucks sing it you in an eight page color comic on the Drawing Board!

Posting Fridays.

 

Annie

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Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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“He’s real blowed-in-the-glass, you’d never smoke he’d go caterwauling and end up in monkey and parrot time.”

Let’s dissect:

Blowed-in-the-glass:  a genuine, trustworthy individual (Wikipedia: Hobo Expressions used through 1940s)

Monkey and parrot time: a lady left her favorite bird in company with a monkey and during her absence the two animals had a fight.  When she returned the monkey was wiping his scratched face and the almost featherless parrot called out, ‘we’ve been having a hell of a  time.’  a general row or free fight is a ‘monkey and parrot time.’ (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

CATERWAULING: Going out in the night in search of  intrigues, like a cat in the gutters. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

TO SMOKE: To observe, to suspect. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

To sum up “He’s real blowed-in-the-glass, you’d never smoke he’d go caterwauling and end up in monkey and parrot time” means “he’s a really genuine and trustworthy, you’d never suspect that he’d go out on the town all night and get into to fights.”

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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“I wanted to have a butcher’s so I took a Dublin packet and slapdash, a bracket-faced seven sided animal gave me a dub o’ th’ hick.”

Let’s dissect:

butchers:  Cockney slang meaning look.  Cockney slang, or rhyming slang, was most prevalent in the East End of London.  It consists of replacing a word with the beginning portion of a rhyming phrase.  For example:  substituting ‘look’ with ‘butcher’s hook’ but dropping the ‘hook.’  It may have risen to wide use as a way to keep outsiders from a close community (Wikipedia).

Dublin packet:  turn a corner; to ‘take the dublin packet” viz run around the corner – probably a pun on doubling a corner (A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words by John Camden Hotten)

Slapdash:  Immediately, instantly, suddenly. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Bracket-faced:  Ugly, hard-featured (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Seven sided animal:  you know this one 😉

dub o’th’hick:  A lick on the head (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

So, to sum up “I wanted to have a butcher’s so I took a Dublin packet and slapdash, a bracket-faced seven sided animal gave me a dub o’ th’ hick”  means “I wanted to take a look so I turned a corner and suddenly an ugly one eyed man gave me a lick on the head.”

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010 Introducing Clement Skitt’s word of the day.  You may recognize Clement from Levi Levi and the Time Machine.  He and his sister have since peeped into many different times and Clement has developed a healthy fascination with outdated slang.  Today’s slang:

SEVEN-SIDED ANIMAL: a one-eyed man or woman, described as such because each  has a right side and a left side, a fore side and a back side, an outside, an inside, and a blind side.

Random character coloring

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Olivia and Mr Imp

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Every now and again a normal human being, like yourself, can end up with a frighteningly abnormal problem.  If you are lucky, you might get hooked up with the name or pointed in the direction of someone who can help you.  Sometimes the person who can help will be Olivia.

Olivia doesn’t want to help you.  She doesn’t have a soft heart or work in a service industry, so you better make it worth her while to even lift a finger.  Alternately, you could prove that your problem is more interesting than her day job, or, more accurately, night job.  You may have to pay her; she’s not always clear on that.

Olivia carries a curse and a thirst for revenge.  She also possesses the unique ability to move through worlds otherwise hidden to most people, which may or may not be due to a contract with Mr. Imp.

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Mr. Imp is alarming in the way that a large, still, spider across the room is alarming.  It’s difficult to put a finger on what exactly is so unsettling about him, and, though he is terribly polite, most people avoid him.  This makes it extremely hard to learn anything about him.

drawing characters

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I’m starting to get reacquainted with some characters.  While considering the finished chapters I already have I went back through Unlikely Bedfellows.  It has not suffered from being drawn a couple years ago (not like the very beginning of Levi Levi which I find very clunky and awkward looking).  But, the pic on the left isn’t the final incarnation of Will and Jack from UB.

Aaaand…color makes me happier with this sketch of Crisco.

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