July 29th – Family Circus: Breakfast & Lousy

Hi everyone!

Today’s comic is Family Circus.

Comic Breakdown

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” – Mother to her children

“So lunch is gonna be lousy?” – Billy’s response

The Importance of Breakfast

Many people consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day.  A good breakfast is healthy and should give you the energy and nutrition to help you have a good day.

What is going on?

Billy has taken the message, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” too literally.  He thinks that lunch will be bad because breakfast is considered more important. 

The interesting thing is that many people skip breakfast or they eat a bad breakfast that provides little energy or nutrition.

Lousy

The word “lousy” is a synonym for many words related to bad and terrible.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, and here.

July 22nd – Family Circus: Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

Hi everyone!

Today’s comic is Family Circus.

Comic Breakdown

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.” – Grandma telling her grandchildren PJ and Dolly

“How many does it take?” – Dolly asking her Grandmother

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

Grandma is teaching her grandchildren an important lesson.  She is teaching them that when someone does something bad or wrong, doing something bad or wrong back to them does not make things better or right.

The idea for this expression comes from math.  In math, two negatives equal a positive.  However, two wrongs do not make a right when it comes to right and wrong.

What is going on?

Dolly has taken the phrase, “Two wrongs do not make a right,” literally.  She wants to know how many wrongs it would take to make something right.  This means she wants to know how many times someone needs to have something bad or wrong done to them in return to repay what they did.

The phrase, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” is often taught to children.  When someone does something that hurts someone, the one that is hurt often believes that the way to make things right is to do the same in return.  That almost never solves the problem.  Instead, the two wrongs will not make either side happy.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, and here.

July 13th – Dilbert: Exactly What We Need

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Dilbert.

Comic Breakdown

“Alice, I want you to interview a job candidate.  Let me know what you think.” – Pointy Haired Boss to his employee Alice

The job interview.

“Why did you leave your last job?” – Alice asks the job applicant an important question

“I punched my boss.” – Applicant’s honest answer

Alice telling her boss how the meeting went.

“He’s exactly what we need.” – Alice to Pointy Haired Boss

What is going on?

Punching (hitting) your boss or anyone is a bad thing to do.  Pointy Haired Boss is mean and incompetent.  However, this comic is funny because it shows that everyone hates Pointy Haired Boss a lot but they do not want to do anything about it themselves. 

Instead, when given the chance, they would rather hire someone that will punch their boss for them.

Today’s images are from here and here.

July 4th – Family Circus: Flag & Logo

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

July 4^th is Independence Day in the United States.  This day celebrates American independence and its adoption of the Declaration of Independence, on July 4^th 1776, when the American colonies declared themselves independent from Great Britain.

Today’s comic is Family Circus.

Comic Breakdown

“This is my favorite shirt ’cause it has our country’s logo on it.” – Billy

Logo

A logo is a symbol or image that is used by groups, companies, organizations, or individuals and even ideas that is used to promote the thing that it represents.  Logos are mostly used for marketing.

What is going on?

Billy thinks that the American flag is a logo.  He is not wrong, but most people do not consider a flag to be a logo.  Flags are a symbol, probably the most official symbol, for the country or group that they represent so they can be considered logos.  When people see a flag, like a logo, they will automatically know who or what it represents just based on the image that they see. However, most people would not call a flag a logo even if it is one.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, and here.

June 26th – Family Circus: School’s Out!

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Family Circus.

Comic Breakdown

The teacher is happy that the school year is finished. 

“School’s out!” – Billy

“Home till September!” – Dolly

Mom feels stressed with having all her children at home all day every day for two months.

What is going on?

The school year is finished.  Every child loves summer because they get two months off from school. 

Teachers love summer because they get a break from work and time to prepare for the next school year. 

Parents get stressed about the summer holiday.  If both parents work, they are stressed about the cost of child care and summer activities. 

If they stay at home, they are stressed about having their children at home all day because it becomes harder for them to get their work done.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, here, and here. 

June 21st – Family Circus: Father’s Day

Hi everyone,

Today is Father’s Day!

Comic Breakdown

“We voted and on Father’s Day, Daddy gets to play with us ALL DAY!” – Billy and his younger siblings to their Mother

What is going on?

It is Father’s Day.  This is an annual holiday in North America to honour fathers.  This event always takes place on the third Sunday of every June. 

Many children struggle to find a good gift for their father for Father’s Day.  The first official Father’s Day celebrations took place on the third Sunday of June in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, USA.  The holiday was started by Sonora Smart Dodd with the support of local church leaders.  She started the holiday to honour her father, William Jackson Smart, a widower who raised six children on his own.  Dodd and others were inspired in by Mother’s Day to create a day for fathers.

What is the meaning of this comic?

When asked, most fathers say that the best present that they can get on Father’s Day is time with their family and children.

Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and PJ have planned the perfect gift for their father. 

They will spend the day together playing and doing lots of fun things together like colouring.  They left their Father’s Day card black and white so that their daddy could colour it with them.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, here, and here.

June 10th – Mimi & Eunice: Speechless

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Mimi & Eunice.

 Comic Breakdown

“I’m speechless.  I don’t know what to say.  There are no words…” – Mimi to Eunice

“Shut up!” – Eunice to Mimi

Speechless

When someone says that they are speechless, it means they cannot talk. 

People say they are speechless because they are in shock.  

It can be a happy shock.

  

Or a surprised shock.

Or a confused shock.

Or an angry shock.

What is going on?

This comic is funny because it shows how the expression “speechless” gets used too much. 

Many people say they are “speechless” when they are upset or surprised by something.  However, they are not truly speechless because they keep on talking and talking. 

This Mimi and Eunice comic is the perfect example of someone who talks non-stop despite claiming they are speechless. 

Eunice is so annoyed that she tells Mimi to, “shut up!” which is a rude way of telling Mimi to stop talking.   It means that Eunice has heard enough and understands that Mimi is shocked about something.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

June 4th – Mimi & Eunice: Black & White Thinking

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Mimi & Eunice.

Comic Breakdown

“I’ve given up my black and white thinking.  The shades between black and white aren’t gray.  They’re the full color spectrum!” – Mimi to Eunice

What is going on?

Mimi is saying that she does not see the world as black and white. 

Black & White

The term “black and white” is a figurative expression to mean “right or wrong” or “yes or no” or “good or evil”.  There is no other choice.  People with this view are considered either very simple or harsh in thinking.

Gray

Another way of thinking is “gray”.  This means that things are not so clear.  Many things in life are not simply right or wrong or bad or good.  Gray thinkers are not as extreme in their views and opinions.  Right and wrong or good and bad depends on every single situation. 

The Full Colour Spectrum

This means that one sees the world with an open mind.    People with an open mind are very positive and non-judgemental.  They are open to all possibilities. 

What Does Mimi See?

Mimi sees the full color spectrum which means she believes in a world of opportunities before her.  The full color spectrum means that anything is possible. 

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, and here.

May 27th – Family Circus: Penny For Your Thoughts

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Family Circus.

Comic Breakdown

“A penny for your thoughts Billy.” – Grandma to her grandson Billy

“Sorry, Grandma.  In this ‘conomy the price for that has gone up.” – Billy to his Grandma

Note: conomy = economy

What’s going on?

The expression, “A penny for your thoughts” means someone would like to know what you are thinking about.  They do not actually give you money (a penny is equal to one cent) for your thoughts.

Why is this funny?

Many children take this expression literally and believe that someone is offering them money for their thoughts. 

In this case, because of inflation (the value of things go up), Billy believes that his thoughts are worth more than just one cent.

To read about another comic that features the expression, “A penny for your thoughts?” click here.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, and here.

May 20th – Family Circus: God & Colour

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Family Circus.

Comic Breakdown

“Is God white, black, brown, yellow, or red? – Dolly asking her mom

“Yes.” – Mom’s response

What is going on?

God is portrayed differently in different religions and cultures.  Dolly wants to know God’s race(ethnicity) .

Is God Caucasian (white)?  Is God African (black)?  Is God East Asian (yellow)?  Is God Aboriginal (red)?

The Answer

The Bible says that God made man (humans) in his image.  This means that God is not one race; God is all of them. 

In conclusion, our ethnicity does not matter.  We are all one race, the human race. 

                             

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, and here.