Wapsi Square Forum

meisdadoo wrote:I would think that a spider would be quite used to that sort of reaction...probably just glad no one has tried to smoosh her yet...

I'm wondering how Digit will act around other spiders. Spiders don't always exactly get along in friendly manner. Will she be able to communicate with them?

Catawampus wrote:

meisdadoo wrote:I would think that a spider would be quite used to that sort of reaction...probably just glad no one has tried to smoosh her yet...

I'm wondering how Digit will act around other spiders. Spiders don't always exactly get along in friendly manner. Will she be able to communicate with them?

Spiders are happy little cannibals.

Okay, this is bugging me. Digit is now Monica's ward. They share living quarters. Why is she still calling Monica "Ms. Villarreal"?

For one thing, that is waaaay too stiff and formal, especially now that we live in 21st Century America. It made sense in Cricket's case, since Monica was going for a distinct sense of hierarchy, but Digit has been living with Monica and Dietzel so long, she should be considered family.

For another thing, "Ms. Villarreal" is a fricking mouthful, and I don't care if you pronounce it the Spanish way or the Americanized way.

Thor wrote:For another thing, "Ms. Villarreal" is a fricking mouthful, and I don't care if you pronounce it the Spanish way or the Americanized way.

. I'll say she's a mouthful... and then some... oh, her NAME?... my bad...

Thor wrote: For one thing, that is waaaay too stiff and formal, especially now that we live in 21st Century America. It made sense in Cricket's case, since Monica was going for a distinct sense of hierarchy, but Digit has been living with Monica and Dietzel so long, she should be considered family.

I don't think it's a question of whether Monica considers Digit to be family or not. Monica isn't the one whose speech habits you're taking about, and her feelings aren't in control of Digit's words.

It's a matter of how Digit feels about Monica (and about her own situation in Monica's household).

Remember, from Digit's point of view, it's been only a few days since Monica was (to her) a powerful alien giant who could squash her like a bug... quite literally. Up until just now, she's had previously zero experience in dealing with (para)humans as anything even close to beginning to think about someday growing up to dream of being equals.

Digit must be feeling that she's in an incredibly vulnerable situation... she was quite literally frightened to tears. Monica is her primary shield against a new, big, and very scary world.

Can you really blame her for sticking to a verbal style of respect and formality? It's going to take her a while to learn to trust, to learn the scope and limits of her relationship with M, and let her guard down.

Sgt. Howard wrote:I'll say she's a mouthful... and then some... oh, her NAME?... my bad...

Bad Sarge. No soup for you!

Dave wrote:

Thor wrote: For one thing, that is waaaay too stiff and formal, especially now that we live in 21st Century America. It made sense in Cricket's case, since Monica was going for a distinct sense of hierarchy, but Digit has been living with Monica and Dietzel so long, she should be considered family.

I don't think it's a question of whether Monica considers Digit to be family or not. Monica isn't the one whose speech habits you're taking about, and her feelings aren't in control of Digit's words.

It's a matter of how Digit feels about Monica (and about her own situation in Monica's household).

Remember, from Digit's point of view, it's been only a few days since Monica was (to her) a powerful alien giant who could squash her like a bug... quite literally. Up until just now, she's had previously zero experience in dealing with (para)humans as anything even close to beginning to think about someday growing up to dream of being equals.

Digit must be feeling that she's in an incredibly vulnerable situation... she was quite literally frightened to tears. Monica is her primary shield against a new, big, and very scary world.

Can you really blame her for sticking to a verbal style of respect and formality? It's going to take her a while to learn to trust, to learn the scope and limits of her relationship with M, and let her guard down.

Well, if Monica is going to refer to herself as Digit's new mother, like she just did in 4/11's strip, then this hyper-formality is going to vault from possibly rational caution to outright farce.

Wolf-who-watches wrote:good manners keep people from wanting to bite one.

Two-legs are very rude.

Two notes that.


We (She and I) have had that discussion several times, and on several levels . . . Wolves are very polite so they don't have to fight.

By lupine standards, even questions are rude and an assertion of dominance.

One can get away with asserting dominance if the other party recognizes one as dominant . . . if not, it's kitty-bar-the-door!

--FreeFlier

Dave wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:I'll say she's a mouthful... and then some... oh, her NAME?... my bad...

Bad Sarge. No soup for you!

Thinking he dont care a bit about the soup

Dave wrote: I wonder if Monica has learned to apply her Jaguar Girl rejuvenation powers to home repair and remodeling? Just set the whole building on fire, burn it to the ground, and it rebuilds itself better-than-before.

That's her Phoenix powers. Which somehow stem from the other-planar knife blade in her head.

Jaguar Girl is mostly good at demolishing stuff.

Sgt. Howard wrote:Spiders are happy little cannibals.

Though the level of happiness depends greatly upon where in the whole cannibalism equation the particular spider happens to be at a particular moment.

There are communal spiders, however.

Thor wrote:Okay, this is bugging me.

Let Digit know, she'd love to take care of your bugs!

Thor wrote:Digit is now Monica's ward. They share living quarters. Why is she still calling Monica "Ms. Villarreal"?

For one thing, that is waaaay too stiff and formal, especially now that we live in 21st Century America. It made sense in Cricket's case, since Monica was going for a distinct sense of hierarchy, but Digit has been living with Monica and Dietzel so long, she should be considered family.

Do we know how such things work in spider society or spider psychology, though? And remember that Mr. Meadows was still "Mr. Meadows", in spite of the kids having lived with him for many years. Perhaps formality tends to be more common in mixed paranormal social situations; when individuals have the power to reflexively flatten buildings or the instincts to eat each other, some added buffering level of manners may be important.

Thor wrote:For another thing, "Ms. Villarreal" is a fricking mouthful, and I don't care if you pronounce it the Spanish way or the Americanized way.

I've wondered if Monica pronounces is it the Castilian way, the Catalan way, or some weird Minnesotaian way.

Thor wrote:Well, if Monica is going to refer to herself as Digit's new mother, like she just did in 4/11's strip, then this hyper-formality is going to vault from possibly rational caution to outright farce.

I've known plenty of families where the kids addressed the parents as "sir" and "ma'am", husbands were "Mister _____", and wives were "Missus _____". Besides, it's Monica who is referring to herself as the mother, and who is being informal.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

Dave wrote:I wonder if Monica has learned to apply her Jaguar Girl rejuvenation powers to home repair and remodeling? Just set the whole building on fire, burn it to the ground, and it rebuilds itself better-than-before.

That's her Phoenix powers. Which somehow stem from the other-planar knife blade in her head.

The logical solution, therefore, is to get Shelly to stab the house with various knives until she finds one that grants the house the desired powers.

oldmanmickey wrote:

Dave wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:I'll say she's a mouthful... and then some... oh, her NAME?... my bad...

Bad Sarge. No soup for you!

Thinking he dont care a bit about the soup

YOU GOT THAT SQUARE!!!

Catawampus wrote:I've known plenty of families where the kids addressed the parents as "sir" and "ma'am", husbands were "Mister _____", and wives were "Missus _____".

Yup. Even just here in the U. S. of A., and even considering just that subset of residents whose ancestors have been here for a century or more, there's a lot of variation. It's not all "left- and right-coast delightful informality" as commonly portrayed on television. There are still many who adhere more to what might traditionally be called "proper behavior" (probably correlates fairly well with membership in more conservative religious denominations). We really aren't all one uniform culture.

Granted, Monica is at the more-informal, less-stuffy end of the spectrum. I suspect that Digit will probably loosen up and become less formal, once she's more comfortable with her new situation and has interacted enough with Monica.

The logical solution, therefore, is to get Shelly to stab the house with various knives until she finds one that grants the house the desired powers.

Great idea! If she uses a really big magic knife, she might be able to give the house not only self-repair powers, but also self-remodeling. Monica could get a whole new state-of-the-art kitchen out of it. Sword-and-saucery at its best.

Somebody wrote:Spiders are happy little cannibals.

I'm going to refer to anything with cannibalistic tendencies as a happy little cannibal, especially when doing so would be in bad taste. (I didn't intend to make that pun, but it's the only phrase I can think of at the moment.)

Instead of saying "there's a horde of zombies coming down the street," I will instead say "there's a parade of happy little cannibals out there!"

Edit: Wait... Something about that quote doesn't look right... Ah, screw it!

Alkarii wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:Spiders are happy little cannibals.

I'm going to refer to anything with cannibalistic tendencies as a happy little cannibal, especially when doing so would be in bad taste. (I didn't intend to make that pun, but it's the only phrase I can think of at the moment.)

Instead of saying "there's a horde of zombies coming down the street," I will instead say "there's a parade of happy little cannibals out there!"

And if young Digit is fine with being a cannibal, then she could really drive people crazy like no-one else. She might not even be able to help herself. Though Bud might have some helpful input in that case.

Maybe she'll like music by Fine Young Cannibals?

(Pun jar be damned, they had some good music! Well, okay, I only heard one of their songs, but it was pretty good!)

Alkarii wrote:Maybe she'll like music by Fine Young Cannibals?

(Pun jar be damned, they had some good music! Well, okay, I only heard one of their songs, but it was pretty good!)

Somebody will have to pay a young-cannibals fine.