My Kung Fu Is Strong 2013-12-03

[Dave]

They don't get LOCUSTS in Minneapolis, do they?

I think Paul may have decided against including such, in the Wapsiverse canon, out of fairness to the other paranormals.

Wouldn't be cricket, you see.

The Pun Jar would like to speak with you about your account....

(Deposits a tasty treat into the Pun Jar. Lemon grass and galingale and lime leaf.... yummy!)

[zachariah]

She called Monica Kotehok... has anyone ever figured out if there is a cultural or language reference there?

The lettering in her speech was accented in a way which makes me believe it's Cyrillic text, used in Russian and Ukrainian and related languages... in which case the pronunciation would probably be "kotenok", meaning "kitten" (I think it's a diminuative e.g. "little kitten" or "dear kitten" but my high school study of Russian was over 40 years ago).

So, Lydia may well be of Russian extraction.

It's probably not all that likely that she's actually Baba Yaga but she might possibly be from the same clan? (shrug)

1. She is not Baba Yaga. Baba means grandmother and she is nowhere that old. Also where is her hut with the bird legs. lol.
2. It is not written in Cyrillic. To write this in Cyrillic requires different letters then are used. Even writing it in english needs to use other characters, such as 4 or 6 to represent sounds that do not match the english alphabet. So it is spoke, and written in English.
3. Cyrillic began in the Bulgarian empire and was adopted by the Russians and others including Greece.

[Dave]

1. She is not Baba Yaga. Baba means grandmother and she is nowhere that old. Also where is her hut with the bird legs. lol.

How are you so sure what her age is? I can't recall it ever being mentioned in the strip, one way or the other.

A lot of the paranormals in Wapsi Square are women who don't "look their age".

Mind you, I don't think she is Baba Yaga... but I don't see how you can be so absolutely dad-gum all-fired certain that she is not.

2. It is not written in Cyrillic. To write this in Cyrillic requires different letters then are used. Even writing it in english needs to use other characters, such as 4 or 6 to represent sounds that do not match the english alphabet. So it is spoke, and written in English.

I respectfully disagree.

When I ask Google for "kitten in Russian", the Google Translate response is:

котенок
kotenok
"kitten" in Russian

(that's using their UTF-8).

What Lydia said was:

KOTEHOK.gif (2.95 KiB) Viewed 7813 times

which matches the Google Translate text quite nicely (with the addition of the accent on the "e" character). This is a good fit for Cyrillic (and Russian, modulo the accented "e"), and a poor fit for English (which doesn't depict the accented "e"). And, if it's spoken English, it's effectively meaningless... it would be pronounced "kotehok" and there's no such word in the English language as far as I've ever heard.

3. Cyrillic began in the Bulgarian empire and was adopted by the Russians and others including Greece.

Correct about Bulgaria and Russia. Incorrect (backwards) about Greece. The Cyrillic alphabet was based on an older Greek alphabet (and several Slavonic scripts), not the other way around.

[PermanentStudent]

Something tells me that Atsali will have something waiting for her at Lydia's...

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/the-donut-test/

[Hansontoons]

Something tells me that Atsali will have something waiting for her at Lydia's...

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/the-donut-test/

Covered with sugar-coated birdseed sprinkles!

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist!

Baba Yaga, hut... now where's that old Emerson, Lake, and Palmer album...

[scantrontb]

The lettering in her speech was accented in a way which makes me believe it's Cyrillic text, used in Russian and Ukrainian and related languages... in which case the pronunciation would probably be "kotenok", meaning "kitten" (I think it's a diminuative e.g. "little kitten" or "dear kitten" but my high school study of Russian was over 40 years ago).

So, Lydia may well be of Russian extraction.

It's probably not all that likely that she's actually Baba Yaga but she might possibly be from the same clan? (shrug)

1. She is not Baba Yaga. Baba means grandmother and she is nowhere that old. Also where is her hut with the bird legs. lol.
2. It is not written in Cyrillic. To write this in Cyrillic requires different letters then are used. Even writing it in english needs to use other characters, such as 4 or 6 to represent sounds that do not match the english alphabet. So it is spoke, and written in English.
3. Cyrillic began in the Bulgarian empire and was adopted by the Russians and others including Greece.

as well as the fact, that in the comments surrounding the comic's posting date, i am pretty sure that Paul flat out said she was Russian, AND, i know for certain that he said the font used in the comic was his style for her accent... and if i remember correctly, he also said that she was NOT a paranormal... though that memory could be false... it HAS been a while...

[Fairportfan]

3. Cyrillic began in the Bulgarian empire and was adopted by the Russians and others including Greece.

Uh, no?

Cyrillic was created by Saint Cyril and Saint His-Brother-Whose-Name-I-Can't-Recall-Offhand* (or their disciples), working from Greek.

Cyrillic is derived from the Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and consonants from the older Glagolitic alphabet and Old Church Slavonic for sounds not found in Greek. It is named in honor of the two Byzantine Greek brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Glagolitic alphabet earlier on. Modern scholars believe that Cyrillic was developed and formalized by early disciples of Cyril and Methodius.

It was developed to allow Christian texts to be written in Slavonic, which up until that time had no real alphabet of its own.

=========

* Methodius

[Fairportfan]

1. She is not Baba Yaga. Baba means grandmother and she is nowhere that old. Also where is her hut with the bird legs. lol.

How are you so sure what her age is? I can't recall it ever being mentioned in the strip, one way or the other.

A lot of the paranormals in Wapsi Square are women who don't "look their age".

Mind you, I don't think she is Baba Yaga... but I don't see how you can be so absolutely dad-gum all-fired certain that she is not.

In the "Mercy Thompson" books, Baba Yaga turns up once and she's carrying a cute little young girl/woman glamour, as i recall.

[Fairportfan]

I still wonder where Lydia's tattoos are.

[Hansontoons]

I still wonder where Lydia's tattoos are.

Well, I've heard when her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world!

[Yamara]

Clearly, Mark N's Kung Fu is strong!

(hey, I couldn't pass up that opportunity... it was standing there on the street, begging!)

HeHe, I used the Wapsi chronology. It is not always up to date but it can help sometimes.

It's Atsali's vaunted smarts that's holding up a lot of updates. Has she corrected for there being no Year Zero or not?

Because if she is accurate, we are SEEING THE FUTURE.

[Fairportfan]

I still wonder where Lydia's tattoos are.

Well, I've heard when her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world!

But what about Andy Jackson?

=================

I knew a woman who owned a comic shop in Huntsville. It was named "Tattooed Lady".

A bunch of younger types wondered where her tattoos were, since they certainly didn't show.

A friend and i guessed, before we met her, that her name was Lydia.

The younger guys wondered how we knew.

[Hansontoons]

I still wonder where Lydia's tattoos are.

Well, I've heard when her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world!

But what about Andy Jackson?

=================

I knew a woman who owned a comic shop in Huntsville. It was named "Tattooed Lady".

A bunch of younger types wondered where her tattoos were, since they certainly didn't show.

A friend and i guessed, before we met her, that her name was Lydia.

The younger guys wondered how we knew.

Obviously they were not fans of the Marx Bros.! Good ol' Groucho.

[Jabberwonky]

Hey, I love me some Muppets, but there's only one man to sing this song...

[kingklash]

I still wonder where Lydia's tattoos are.

Well, I've heard when her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world!

Only if you stand up and tell her where.

[Julie]

<wet_blanket>
Even so, it's worth mentioning that women (and sirens) the world over have done just fine without brassieres for millennia. They're not a health item, they're a fashion item - like corsets, bustiers, and so on. Breasts form, fill, and settle on the ribcage with maturity, and the desire to hang 'em high is cultural. I hope part of Monica's guidance includes helping Atsali accept her new form and become independent, rather than becoming dependent on artifice to meet some social fashion.
</wet_blanket>

On the one hand, yes. The "need" for bras is cultural, and you can be healthy without one.

On the other hand, with jugs that size, assistance in distributing the weight load across the shoulders is kind of necessary. Mine aren't as big as M's (or Atsali's I'd wager), but I can say that as a FF (who used to be a GG) I feel uncomfortable without my over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder. It's not just a matter of how I look or what people will think when they see me either. It's the skin-on-skin sensation of hanging breasts (which my husband nicknamed my space-heaters...so imagine how warm that could get)...for someone who is so warm that skin-on-skin is avoided at the cost of rarely ever wearing skirts or dresses, that's an important factor, though admittedly one that may not apply to all chesty women. However, there's also the fact that my posture is harder to maintain without a bra, which results in a sore back (and my mother would also say that poor posture can lead to developing a hunched back...which may or may not be a legitimate health concern). Granted, posture can be maintained without the assistance of a foundation garment, but it's a whole heckuva lot easier to sit up straight when the large masses on your front side aren't pulling you down.

[Mark N]

<wet_blanket>
Even so, it's worth mentioning that women (and sirens) the world over have done just fine without brassieres for millennia. They're not a health item, they're a fashion item - like corsets, bustiers, and so on. Breasts form, fill, and settle on the ribcage with maturity, and the desire to hang 'em high is cultural. I hope part of Monica's guidance includes helping Atsali accept her new form and become independent, rather than becoming dependent on artifice to meet some social fashion.
</wet_blanket>

On the one hand, yes. The "need" for bras is cultural, and you can be healthy without one.

On the other hand, with jugs that size, assistance in distributing the weight load across the shoulders is kind of necessary. Mine aren't as big as M's (or Atsali's I'd wager), but I can say that as a FF (who used to be a GG) I feel uncomfortable without my over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder. It's not just a matter of how I look or what people will think when they see me either. It's the skin-on-skin sensation of hanging breasts (which my husband nicknamed my space-heaters...so imagine how warm that could get)...for someone who is so warm that skin-on-skin is avoided at the cost of rarely ever wearing skirts or dresses, that's an important factor, though admittedly one that may not apply to all chesty women. However, there's also the fact that my posture is harder to maintain without a bra, which results in a sore back (and my mother would also say that poor posture can lead to developing a hunched back...which may or may not be a legitimate health concern). Granted, posture can be maintained without the assistance of a foundation garment, but it's a whole heckuva lot easier to sit up straight when the large masses on your front side aren't pulling you down.

Not to mention that the larger the breasts the more gravity will pull them down in time without help.

[Fairportfan]

<wet_blanket>
Even so, it's worth mentioning that women (and sirens) the world over have done just fine without brassieres for millennia. They're not a health item, they're a fashion item - like corsets, bustiers, and so on. Breasts form, fill, and settle on the ribcage with maturity, and the desire to hang 'em high is cultural. I hope part of Monica's guidance includes helping Atsali accept her new form and become independent, rather than becoming dependent on artifice to meet some social fashion.
</wet_blanket>

On the one hand, yes. The "need" for bras is cultural, and you can be healthy without one.

On the other hand, with jugs that size, assistance in distributing the weight load across the shoulders is kind of necessary. Mine aren't as big as M's (or Atsali's I'd wager), but I can say that as a FF (who used to be a GG) I feel uncomfortable without my over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder. It's not just a matter of how I look or what people will think when they see me either. It's the skin-on-skin sensation of hanging breasts (which my husband nicknamed my space-heaters...so imagine how warm that could get)...for someone who is so warm that skin-on-skin is avoided at the cost of rarely ever wearing skirts or dresses, that's an important factor, though admittedly one that may not apply to all chesty women. However, there's also the fact that my posture is harder to maintain without a bra, which results in a sore back (and my mother would also say that poor posture can lead to developing a hunched back...which may or may not be a legitimate health concern). Granted, posture can be maintained without the assistance of a foundation garment, but it's a whole heckuva lot easier to sit up straight when the large masses on your front side aren't pulling you down.

Not to mention that the larger the breasts the more gravity will pull them down in time without help.

Until, eventually, you can tuck them into your waistband and do away with the bra.

[Julie]

Not to mention that the larger the breasts the more gravity will pull them down in time without help.

Until, eventually, you can tuck them into your waistband and do away with the bra.

Ewwie!