A thought strikes me. Given oddities of wood elf anatomy (sucking water through their toes, bleeding sap, etc.) do they breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide?
To be more precise, plants do breath and use oxygen. Their metabolism to produce energy and complex molecules is the same as ours.
Only, thanks for photosynthesis, they don’t have to eat sugar to fuel their metabolism, they are producing it themselves with carbon dioxide, water and sun rays. And at day, they by-produce more oxygen than they need.
And the other hand, at night, plants have to use oxygen from the surrounding air. That’s one reason you shouldn’t fill your badly aerated bedchamber with big plants, as they are going to compete for your oxygen, or so I was told.
Jean-Luc has always been lumbered with an extraordinarily sensitive punny-bone. It’s an often under-appleciated branch of comedic linguistics, but around here yew just can’t escape pit.
wait… Is her name pronounced like syringe, then? I've been trying to figure that one out since Byron couldn't remember it and said he was pretty sure it rhymed with orange. Consequently, my inner narrator has been calling her Sornj. Never trust a berserker poet, apparently.
would that make her sister… Fringe? Which is bizarrely close to Frigg…
Ever since I saw Byron say it rhymes with orange, I’ve been pronouncing it like “syringe”, but maybe with a bit of a shortened vowel in the second syllable. I thought the pun was pretty obvious: she’s the one with the science and syringes, things she’s been noticably using since the earliest pages. I also find it quite hilarious that, through the whole Nj family, the authors are kind of mocking the old adage of “nothing rhymes with orange”.
IMO this is something that breaks down to the fact that English is in general just a horribly inexact means of communicating pronunciation. Most likely the English accents where I live approach “orange” differently than the one(s) where Moirla or Psychotic_Serpent lives. Or maybe it’s just that my idea of “rhyme” only requires the final syllable to sound similiar.
For his words in the second speech bubble in panel 2, and his shortly following… hypocrisy (of sorts). Syr and company try to get all teh pplz to look past their differences, to break down the barriers. Embrais’ is saying that he sees Gastonia as a wasteland, effectively, he looks down on these human lands, and their whole gardening project was an attempt to get the wood elves to feel united under (against) these harsh conditions. As he says it, Kur makes it clear that this is being recorded. Next thing he says that he wouldn’t imply humans are being bigoted towards the elves, but that’s exactly what the whole wasteland statement implies. Also, it most likely indicates that he himself is pretty prejudiced towards humans (likely for real reasons, but prejudiced nonetheless). It’s multi-sided irony all the way.
Wow, I didn’t get ANY of that on my read-through, but it sounds better than what I thought. I thought they were legitimately concerned and upset about the gardens being uprooted as a result of distrust and disregard. Your explanation fits way better with their reactions through the comic. Thanks.
You’re welcome :) Some days I just get what’s going on on a page. Other days I’m completely obtuse, and then it’s nice to turn to the comments for insight (well it’s nice even if only for the horrid puns). Anyway, I find that people are quick to jump on the ‘humans are bigoted, nuff said’ bandwagon and thereby disregard all the other subtleties, politics, legit concerns and bigotries occuring throughout. It’s part of what I really like of this comic’s writing: a multisidedness which gives all those nice moral grey areas (the facial expressions rendered often being what makes the writing shine through so well).
Some things I might have missed in my explanation: Syr is also pretty jaded when it comes to pretending to be nice. Heck she’s jaded all over, but in a way that makes her cut through the bullshit and get to the point. So Embrais’ heartfelt-looking-but-indirectly-kinda-pretentious statement in panel 3 carries with it additional lulz: Syr’Nj would anyway have laughed outright in the face of someone who claims that the humans are “totally not bigoted towards wood elves”, because a lot of them damn straight are, and claiming that none of them are is just batting about the bush. The whole thing is just that much more funny because the prejudice is really coming from both sides, though admittedly the humans seem to be the bigger bigots simply because they are the majority group / more empowered group in the current situation.
First Fair Exchange, now…THIS…
“Embrace Change.”
Nice.
Thank you for clearing this up. I don’t understand half of the Elf names.
I initially read it as “Embarassing”
I thought it was embarrased at first.
“Embrash…Embarshc…Embrashing…? Fuck it…”
“Embers singe”… well, I guess I was sort of kind of on to something there. Thanks for clearing it up.
That does make a bit more sense than what I was thinking: “Embryshe Chinge”… yeah…
I heard ’embracing.’
Enbareassing?
“I have self-respect as a wood elf! I’m no Uncle Taproot–what’s that? Coming, master!”
A thought strikes me. Given oddities of wood elf anatomy (sucking water through their toes, bleeding sap, etc.) do they breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide?
Or do they do it like plants do?
Pressed ‘post’ too soon.
Plants actually do breathe out carbon dioxide. They just convert carbon dioxide to oxygen with a different process when they’re in the sun.
Actually, plants use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into sugar. The oxygen is a waste product, and was/is toxic to certain lifeforms.
I love teasing Greenie-Weenies that we’re all breathing plant piss. It diminishes their righteousness somewhat.
To be more precise, plants do breath and use oxygen. Their metabolism to produce energy and complex molecules is the same as ours.
Only, thanks for photosynthesis, they don’t have to eat sugar to fuel their metabolism, they are producing it themselves with carbon dioxide, water and sun rays. And at day, they by-produce more oxygen than they need.
And the other hand, at night, plants have to use oxygen from the surrounding air. That’s one reason you shouldn’t fill your badly aerated bedchamber with big plants, as they are going to compete for your oxygen, or so I was told.
*inhales*
NEEEERRRRRDS.
To be precise, I’d use a micrometer screw guage.
My micrometer screw gauge has a better tolerance variation than yours.
He should make like a tree and leaf.
Yew think that will solve anything?
Human bigot jokes may become poplar as a result of this.
Certainly their movement will larch further forward.
The alt text is hilarious!
Yes, I was entertained.
No, the Ents do not justify the meme.
Heh. I see what you did there<acronym title="ent-ertained”>.
Dammit.
<abbr title="I suppose I can't put tags inside other tags?”>Test.
Yep. Okay, curiousity satisfied now. You may now carry on with what you were doing before I failed at HTML tags.
Panel 4 will eventually be the most coveted avatar of them all.
Why covet when this gravatar can be yours? Now only $9999.99!
Does that include shipping and handling?
Yes, and I accept all major credit cards and will even return them in 6-8 months when I’m through with them.
Coveting intently right now… but cursed with being too attached to my current stoopid gravatar :'(
Embrace Change is one of my company’s Core Values. *eyes suspiciously*
So … you’re a panhandler?
(I’m sure you’re not, but alas, the joke, she was there)
The logmatic of humor can split a wood-elf’s sides.
Does Embraisch follow the family trend with “Human Fever”?
Did he marry – [gasp] – a lumberjack?!
Lumberjane.
Sorry, Lumberjill.
I heard they drive a Lumberghini.
They’re a very lumberated people these days. That, or the humans are off catching Forest Fever.
They have to be careful not become clogs in the machine, even if they would provide excellent lumbar support.
Well, he is part of an unpoplar race.
Bough chik-a bough-wow.
Set your phasers to pun Captain.
Jean-Luc has always been lumbered with an extraordinarily sensitive punny-bone. It’s an often under-appleciated branch of comedic linguistics, but around here yew just can’t escape pit.
Hey, we don’t know who he likes to… um… something about a stamen….?
I thought I had a flower pun there. Anyway. We don’t know he isn’t into dudes.
If a wood elf falls in a forest, can you hear her laughing hysterically?
Is this the guy we saw performing during the theatre heist? The one who made all those jokes mocking wood elves?
Yep. (Not a spoiler… check the character tags.)
Gosh Cap’n you have a good memory.
The guy does mention doing comedy for a living.
Embraisch, not the Captain, though I wouldn’t be surprised.
That’s another one of those irregular verbs isn’t it?
I’m cautious
You’re bigoted
He/She pays a regular donation to the EDL.
Well that’s embarrass’ng
crap, kan’t spel: “embarrass’nj”
there
<— late to the party
wait… Is her name pronounced like syringe, then? I've been trying to figure that one out since Byron couldn't remember it and said he was pretty sure it rhymed with orange. Consequently, my inner narrator has been calling her Sornj. Never trust a berserker poet, apparently.
would that make her sister… Fringe? Which is bizarrely close to Frigg…
and what about Kur’ik? I can’t figure that one out except as an homage to one of the most steadfast and loyal squires a knight could hope for.
Got me, too. Went back and checked the archives. According to a commenter there: Google “Couric”
All I got was Katie Couric. Most inappropriate.
*facepalm* ambitious female journalist, gotcha.
The voices in my head tell me it is pronounced Seernj. But they could be wrong.
Ever since I saw Byron say it rhymes with orange, I’ve been pronouncing it like “syringe”, but maybe with a bit of a shortened vowel in the second syllable. I thought the pun was pretty obvious: she’s the one with the science and syringes, things she’s been noticably using since the earliest pages. I also find it quite hilarious that, through the whole Nj family, the authors are kind of mocking the old adage of “nothing rhymes with orange”.
IMO this is something that breaks down to the fact that English is in general just a horribly inexact means of communicating pronunciation. Most likely the English accents where I live approach “orange” differently than the one(s) where Moirla or Psychotic_Serpent lives. Or maybe it’s just that my idea of “rhyme” only requires the final syllable to sound similiar.
you have a point on the regional variance thing. Orange has only one syllable where I grew up, but I’ve certainly heard other people say it or-rinj.
Now I live somewhere where the locals call water “wooder,” and say ax instead of ask.
I’m still trying to figure out what Naror’Nj is supposed to be.
A dead elven racist. Or a short span. Whichever you need to prop up the short leg on a computer desk.
Unhappy secretary looks unhappy.
You know who ELSE are “a united people in the wasteland” ?
The Savasi.
Just something to think about.
It’s hardly a wasteland if you can grow shrubs where you want them.
Now, if he was speaking about emotional stability and basic reasoning skills, then Gastonia would be akin to an arid desert.
I can’t but help think that Kur’Ik is somehow angry at Embraisch’Nj. For what? Bad jokes? Good jokes with scathing insight? Not noticing her?
For his words in the second speech bubble in panel 2, and his shortly following… hypocrisy (of sorts). Syr and company try to get all teh pplz to look past their differences, to break down the barriers. Embrais’ is saying that he sees Gastonia as a wasteland, effectively, he looks down on these human lands, and their whole gardening project was an attempt to get the wood elves to feel united under (against) these harsh conditions. As he says it, Kur makes it clear that this is being recorded. Next thing he says that he wouldn’t imply humans are being bigoted towards the elves, but that’s exactly what the whole wasteland statement implies. Also, it most likely indicates that he himself is pretty prejudiced towards humans (likely for real reasons, but prejudiced nonetheless). It’s multi-sided irony all the way.
Wow, I didn’t get ANY of that on my read-through, but it sounds better than what I thought. I thought they were legitimately concerned and upset about the gardens being uprooted as a result of distrust and disregard. Your explanation fits way better with their reactions through the comic. Thanks.
You’re welcome :) Some days I just get what’s going on on a page. Other days I’m completely obtuse, and then it’s nice to turn to the comments for insight (well it’s nice even if only for the horrid puns). Anyway, I find that people are quick to jump on the ‘humans are bigoted, nuff said’ bandwagon and thereby disregard all the other subtleties, politics, legit concerns and bigotries occuring throughout. It’s part of what I really like of this comic’s writing: a multisidedness which gives all those nice moral grey areas (the facial expressions rendered often being what makes the writing shine through so well).
Some things I might have missed in my explanation: Syr is also pretty jaded when it comes to pretending to be nice. Heck she’s jaded all over, but in a way that makes her cut through the bullshit and get to the point. So Embrais’ heartfelt-looking-but-indirectly-kinda-pretentious statement in panel 3 carries with it additional lulz: Syr’Nj would anyway have laughed outright in the face of someone who claims that the humans are “totally not bigoted towards wood elves”, because a lot of them damn straight are, and claiming that none of them are is just batting about the bush. The whole thing is just that much more funny because the prejudice is really coming from both sides, though admittedly the humans seem to be the bigger bigots simply because they are the majority group / more empowered group in the current situation.
Hmm, actually Embraisch’Nj referenced something called the Time of Praise. I assume this is something annual then?
It’s part of the year-long celebration of “Keeping Up With the Jn’Zs”.