Saturday, February 4, 2017

Mary Worth 2511

How odd. Testing the waters of love by testing your love's familiarity with the German language. When he fails the test, withhold your expression of love and come up with a less-than-superficial false meaning. Iris, you're weird.

21 comments:

fauxprof said...

Suddenly this is a Bette Davis movie from the late 1930's. It has that doomed love affair feel, but without the talent. Of course, the German is a bizarre touch. Think Zak might have gotten "Te amo"?

Downpuppy said...

While nothing about today's strip belongs to the way the story is going, "We've got tonight" belongs on the jukebox

Ian Cameron, PhD said...

They should get matching tattoos of Ich Liebe Dich (and some Goethe quotes) where their noses used to be.

tkraft said...

I say, "Ich verstehe nicht" to today's strip. Gesundtheit.

meg said...

GET A ZIMMER!

KitKat said...

German, hmm? Maybe Karen Moy has been watching "The Man in the High Castle." Nope - the Hallmark Channel is more her speed.

@fauxprof at 7:42AM, Latin would be lost on Zak. He can barely navigate English.

So, are they off to Zak's dorm, or Iris's apartment, where Tommy's reading the Bible and watching "Duck Dynasty"?

doug said...

Ich luge?

Dawn Weston's Evil Twin said...

Oh, Karen Moy, ich liebe dich!!! And fauxprof, I was thinking about Bette Davis here, too! "Don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." (Now, Voyager, 1942). Sigh!

Mr. Stickler said...

The German today inspired me to do some sleuthing (well, just a quick Internet search, so findings are only preliminary ...). Mary quotes Goethe saying "Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless." This is really a quotation from Thomas Carlyle's translation of Goethe's poem "Symbolus" from 1843. These particular lines are not well translated. The original lines in Goethe's poem actually translate as "Do not neglect to practice the powers of good!" Carlyle's advice applies to these wishy-washy comic-strip characters, but Goethe's only apply to Mary, who has kind of given up on her real calling ... MEDDLING!

Sandi Ego said...

You lost me at ich.

fauxprof said...

@DWET, yes, "Now Voyager" is exactly the vibe I was getting, but couldn't quite place! Zak, BTW, is no Paul Henreid. (He would have understood the German.)

Nance said...

Iris: (apropos of nothing) Ich liebe dich.
Zach: (happily) Wiener schnitzel! I love word association games. My turn now.

splitend said...

Ah yes, German, the international language of love. Iris, hurry up and get canoodling with your boy toy before Wilbur comes home and wears you down until you take him back.

Moss_Moses said...

This odd relationship that Iris is in will resolve itself when Mary's Ask Wendy reader decides which job to take. Starting a new relationship is a lot like starting a new job. You have to weight the pros and cons. Why Iris pines for the bald, pudgy and droll Wilbur Weston is not clear, when she now has a young stud who worships the ground she walks on. Wilbur is in Antarctica? That makes no sense since it has been dark each time he is shown there, but it is Summer in Antarctica which means midnight sun. I suppose that is not as bad as the time when clouds were blocked out by the sun, if other readers can remember that.

fauxprof said...

SUNDAY

Quoting Goethe again. Iris is unaccountably speaking German. Has KM taking a class, or something? Trying to replicate Iris' non-traditional student experience?

meg said...

Or, as Wilbur would say, Ich bin ein Berliner. (I am a jelly doughnut)

Anonymous said...

OK -- cutting the writer some slack, here's how I possibly read the strip from 2/4

Iris: “Ich liebe dich”.

ZAK: (Well, I know what that means in German ....but...) What does that MEAN?



Iris: (It means I LOVE YOU in German .... but what it really means is...) “Who cares about tomorrow, when we have today!”

Seals.

Anonymous said...

Seals = Selah.

Thank you, Siri.

DWET said...

Uh-oh! Today's plentiful dialogue says it all ... we're looking at a very lopsided relationship:
Zak: Oh, Iris.
Iris: Oh, Zak!
Guess which one of them loves the other one more?
Also, Mary's words of "wisdom" suggest some weighty consequences from Iris's and Zak's little love affair ... I wager that Iris is going to get pregnant! (Or would that be too dramatic for this strip?)
Dawn's discovery of Iris's new boyfriend was disappointing. I'm still holding out hope that Tommy will freak out when he finds out, but maybe not ...

Regina the NY Diva said...

Zak:"Oh Iris"
Iris:"Oh Zak"
Us: "Oh Brother."

Yahoonski said...

Goethe's become her go-to guy.