Grrl Power #322 – Accent grave mistake
Come on Sydney, you skate on one kinda racist thing, and your next sentence is “Since you’re not white…” She sort of has a point though. In my experience, white people’s name generally don’t mean anything. My name is David, and if you look up David on baby naming sites, they’ll tell you David means king or beloved, but it doesn’t really. There was just a David of note who happened to be a king. No one speaking English stands on the bow of a ship and yells “I’m the David of the world!” In Japanese, Hana means flower. It’s also a common girls name, that or Hanako, which means Flower Child. Aki means Autumn. It’s also a woman’s name, as is Akiko. (Autumn Child) “Ko” means child if you weren’t picking up on that. Akira is a boy’s name that also means “A seminal work that anyone into anime should see if for no other reason as to round out their literacy of the genre. Also it has an amazing soundtrack, and a space scene that has no sound at all cause it’s space and that’s awesome.”
That’s not to say there aren’t any white people with names that actually mean something, (Summer, May, June, Sky(e), etc) but generally they just mean that their parents like that name. Maybe other cultures are the same way, but I get the impression that outside of white American culture, names tend to have a bit more meaning, unless of course your is also that of a famous person from a religious text or literature. That may just be my own Amero-centric perspective. It’s certainly Sydney’s anyway.
Edit: I meant to add this along with the post but I forgot. I gave Xochitl a side cut on a whim because I’ve recently decided it’s basically my favorite hairstyle on a gal. I tend to go for that Suicide Girl look anyway for some reason. It was only after I drew her that it occurred to me that it makes her look a bit Mohican (or at least the Hollywood representation thereof) so at the last minute I decided to add the mini comic to address it. Really, the flexible Uniform Dress Code going on around Arc-SWAT pretty much deserves it’s own full page, so I may yet do that, but in the meantime I didn’t want people to think Xochitl’s appearance was based on my idea of what Aztecs are supposed to look like.
If you’re not familiar with the Boston area accent, Xochitl sounds a lot like Nancy from 30 Rock.
I’m a fan of 4th wall humor, as long as it’s not abused. I think the last time Sydney did it was way back on page 54, so I’m comfortable I’m not overdoing it. I recently started watching Magnum P.I. on Netflix (along with this rewatch podcast) Every episode someone mugs to the camera. Then again, Abed from Community is basically 4th wall incarnate, and I dig that show, so I guess I’m down as long as it’s handled with care.
Today’s page again colored by Keith.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Looks like Bishie Boy may turn out to be our token ‘hard to get along with guy’.
Jiggles is also showing a lot of patience for the introductions.
I find that I want to nickname Xochitl “Xo Nuff” or “The Big Xo”…
Sydney’s Aside Glance to the audience is in panel four, but it’s kind of hard to see; the character’s eyes are a little strange in some panels on this page.
Guessing that Xochitl’s codename is Vine, and she can make plants spring up out of organic matter she touches (meaning that her clothes are either inorganic or ammo).
(meaning that her clothes are either inorganic or ammo)
If that’s the case, I can’t wait to see her after a long, protracted battle has exhausted her “ammo.”
Sho Nuff? Was just listening to a few tracks from “The Last Dragon” (was reminded of it because of a comment in the latest “Sister Claire” MiMo page)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnsg0jDbHk4
Meh, xi’s just xo xo.
In Russian it’s basically the same, except it’s not normal to just make random nouns into names. It’s just not a thing. There are a couple of names that were nouns (Vera/Veronica = Faith, Lubov = Love, Nadezhda = Hope) but mostly it’s just very much Not A Thing, and English names that actually mean stuff just sound weird. Even the names that are not borrowed from Greek, Latin, Hebrew or something, are usually composite words that don’t mean anything in casual language. Like Vladislav – “vlad”/”vlast”/”power” + “slav”/”slava”/”fame”.
That in English you can just go and name a kid after, like… a month??? a tree??? a geographical feature??? literally any word you like??? sounds rly weird over here
(this makes translating Pratchett extremely difficult btw bc the names that sound normal in English start sounding like they are from a book for very little kids in Russian… often it’s just straight up better to just transliterate the name and leave it as a bilingual bonus)
In Russian it’s basically the same, except it’s not normal to just make random nouns into names.”
At least one example of that was in the first Highlander movie; the Kurgan (the big villain of the movie) is the literal reference to a “grave mound.”
Well, he’s named for the “Kurgan people,” which sounds like an ethnicity to Westerners who don’t know better. But I guess it is a bit like having a pre-Columbian North American called the “Mound.”
this makes translating Pratchett extremely difficult btw bc the names that sound normal in English start sounding like they are from a book for very little kids in Russian…
Pratchett’s character names are supposed to sound funny, even to native English speakers. Why else have names like “Detritus” or “Dibbler” or even “Smite the nonbelievers with pamphlets”? Surely Carrot is called “Морковь”?
What I would find difficult is translating the puns.
I suspect that most languages have that problem.
I’m an Anglo-Australian (Aussie of British ancestry), and my wife is Mandarin Chinese. I can think of several times that she has tried to tell me Chinese jokes that (in Mandarin) are obviously hilarious, yet in English make absoluitely no sense.
Or, maybe, as an aussie, you have no sense of humour :P
But I do have a sense of humour. My mother had me tested.
My grandfather had a certificate to prove that he was not insane. Really.
“That really is not standard practice. And, honestly, we have discharged you, that is proof enough that you are mentally fit.”
“I don’t care, if somebody doubts my sanity, I want something other than just my word to back me up!”
And… he had a point, if you think about it.
Definitely a point, I agree.
BTW, note that I was paraphrasing this –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYAJunzk-i8
Do not hate me. I am imagining Xochitl with a female version of Gilbert Godfried’s voice right now.
great – now I can’t NOT hear that
If it’s a similar effect as having a song stuck in your head, you might try https://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=96689
ahh but your name does mean beloved( אהוב) . now i`m sure the syntax of hebrew is different than what we know. remember most names nowadays are variations of words that were being used back in the days. when i say back in the days, i mean hundreds of years ago when the languages they spoke back then had nothing to do with what we use right now.
sure the syntax was somewhat the same the the words took on a different turn, sentences sounded wierd( by today`s standard) . a little like saying ”thou” instead of ”you”.(i know its shakepearian dialect but its just an example)
my name , Benoit, is a variation of the word benedict which litterally means ”blessing” ( or ”blessed by god”).
also hundreds if years ago. people were named by what they were doing as a trade/job/profession or just something that makes them easily recognizable. Grant is actually Grand but the language its taken from doesn’t have ”d” phonetics so they changed it slightly. levesque is L`eveque ( bishop) Gardner is Gardener and so on.
i guess all i wanted to say is that, in every language, name DO mean something. its just that most occidental people kinda forgot about it
well thou is still used as is thee and thy
as a Yorkshire man I’m proud of my dialect
Aye indeed ye should, lad. (Or lassie, as the case might be.)
A nice dialect it is too. Of course we are all <a href="proud of our roots“>proud of our roots.
My accent is closer to the presenters, mind, but I am at my happiest when surrounded by the Cornish accent.
That’s fascinating. If you didn’t tell me where those folks were from, I’d think they were from somewhere in the USA or Canada.
Heh, probably because there are a lot of Cornish in certain parts there. Likewise Australia. I have relatives in Canada myself.
Cornwall has historically, and to the present day, been an economically neglected part of the United Kingdom. Poverty being a driving reason why they had a reputation for smuggling, ship wrecking and piracy. I am descended from one of the latter. Fortunately one who had a letter of marque, from the crown, making it all legal.
Another alternative was to emigrate. Which a large proportion of Cornish have done. We simply cannot afford to live there.
In the present day the monthly cost of living, in Cornwall, is twenty times the average salary of those who live there. The worst such disparity in the United Kingdom. Mostly driven by large numbers of people in London, and the South East, owning second homes in Cornwall. Which pushes the cost of owning or renting anything well above what the Cornish themselves can afford.
Which makes us Cornish a stroppy lot. Perfectly willing to take up arms and march on London, if pushed too hard. That link being to the unofficial national anthem of Cornwall.
Darn it. I figured the specific number would be out of date, so edited it to being “well above”, just because looking up financial statistics and getting the correct phraseology for the metric is boring, compared to the actual interest value it would return. But somehow the edit got rolled back.
Ho hum. Well it is a silly unaffordable disparity, whatever the present day figure is.
Yorp, you from the real world? (I’m a Fowey-boy, myself! although living in Vienna now, but hey)
Hey there too :) Much of the family hails from around the Newquay area, and a few still do. Albeit that most have dispersed further afield.
And case in point, to my posts above!
Nice part of the world, you have chosen. I loved everything I saw in Austria, both times I have been there.
Yeah, I read those comments and grimaced at the memories. Definitely contributed to driving me out, and limiting me to midwinter visits. I’m proud that both my siblings managed to stay even if I couldn’t, though.
Austria’s great, and mountains are wonderful. But I cannot express how much I miss the sea.
Well, that’s my work day given over to homesickness…
:-(
its just that most occidental people kinda forgot about it
No, just the English speaking ones. My Spanish & French speaking friends know the origins & meanings of their names, as long as they aren’t overly Biblical. Benoit is a perfectly acceptable French name, just as Fred (Peace) is a perfectly good Germanic name or Geir (spear) is Nordic. etc.
A typical Biblical example which has been lost to time & translations is: Jacques = Juan = Johann = John = Yahya (all with variants), the name of a couple of guys in the New Testament, it reputedly means “God’s grace”.
“No, just the English speaking ones.”
Not my experience.
Today we can easily found the meaning of a name, but a couple generations back that was not the case.
Letting aside names that are actual words of their language, people I asked usually didn’t know what the names mean at the time they give it to their babies. They chose them because other persons had it, because they liked the sound, or whatever.
That is obvious in the widespread misuse of some names. A well know example is Spanish girls called “Andrea” which originally means “Male”.
Reminds me of all those Irish girls named “Colleen”, which is Irish for “girl”.
“i guess all i wanted to say is that, in every language, name DO mean something. its just that most occidental people kinda forgot about it”
I concur, but I also think that it’s people in general.
“Before we shake hands I should warn yah that, if I do, yah will become preghnant. But donht worrah you will give birth in nhine dahys, so can ghet right back to trahnin!”
That would indeed provide drama. And comedy.
I was considering that, but then I feel that she’d probably be less likely to go around barehanded. Like Kiff, you know?
I could also see ‘fear’ from touch, or it’s possible she’s a shapeshifter.
BB King. the B.B. actually stood for ‘baby boy’ (supposedly)
b.b.king was his stage name. his real name was Riley B. King.
and the BB was short for “Blues Boy”
+1 for the Magnum Rewatch podcast. You have good taste!
I’d like to compliment Keith. The hair tints on Sydney (from her orbs) seem new to me and are a nice subtle touch, changing as the orbs rotate and viewer perspective changes. My apologies if I missed this in previous comics.
Not new, have been around for a long time
As Guesticus says, open the comic at any page and you will see those effects. But that I do love those kind of touches, and it is nice that they are being kept up.
It probably stands out on this page, in particular, because the shadows are more intense than normal.
Almost like there is a change in ambiance. A foreshadowing, one might say. As if, in contrast, something colourful is about to happen…
I can’t take credit for the hair tints from the orbs. Dave adds those in after I’m done, along with the orbs themselves, so that’s all him.
“I don’t understand what’s happening right now.”
To be fair to Halo, that was my reaction too when I lived in Boston and heard Boston people talk for the first time.
My second reaction was that everyone sounded like Cliff Claven from Cheers.
My third reaction was anger that I couldn’t find a decent pizzeria. I got spoiled living in Brooklyn, NY.
One kid moved to my town in 6th or 7th grade who had a marvelous Texan drawl and baritone voice. It sounded so weird to all of us (who mostly spoke generic American, though my speech therapy classes left me sounding slightly British) and we probably teased him mercilessly about it, though mostly I recall being fascinated. These days he’s an honest-to-goodness country singer, and I’ve had to assure some people that his voice isn’t an act.
Mine was the “drivers.”
Silly non-Bostonian. You don’t DRIVE in Boston. There’s too many cars for that.:)
Next you’ll be saying you should be able to drive in Manhattan. :)
Ooh! New idea!
Her codename is “Variant” and she gets the powers of any girl she touches! Which means that when she touches Sydney, maybe nothing will happen…
Wrong. She’ll get the ability to withstand punishing amounts of Capsaicin and swear inventively and at length to the shock and horror of those around her.
Also, maybe some ADHD, and an oddly ironic inability to expect ninjas when she knows she’s supposed to ALWAYS EXPECT NINJAS.
Actually maybe it is not just limited to gender? The previous comic page could have been Ren listing some of the incidental ‘powers’ that Xochitl picked up, when demonstrating her power on him. In addition to gaining his heightened reflexes and perception.
So her first name means “flower” and her last name means ““flower precious feather” or a goddess who is pretty much in charge not just anything vaguely to do with fertility (reinforced by word of god) but most crafts/tasks done by females in that society.
So her name has flower twice and Dave emphasized the fertility aspect.
Her codename starts with V which now most likely looks like it will be “Verdant” (the rainbow was a cultural pride wild goose chase that totally took me in. Well done comic creator. Well done.) So Flower Flower Fertility-Goddess Verdant(green with growing plants Synonyms: green, grown, leafy, luxuriant, overgrown, lush)
Current State of Observer’s Guess:
Codename = Verdant
Powers = Ability to create/enhance plant growth possibly animate it a little. Possibly produce plant spore, pollens, “scents” like her double namesake flowers etc… for long range chemical effects. (flowers usually use these to attract particular species of insects for aid in reproduction so if she can’t use these to change insect behavior then she may use them to…. aid in reproduction… I think you get where I’m going here. ) In some ways resembling a “Good” (hopefully) Poison Ivy.
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That panel four shot of Sydney is creepy lookin’
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“White people’s” names have meanings though they don’t always know them anymore. Some of them knew them in the past and now with the tons of baby naming sites and books a decent chunk of parents now consider the name’s meaning when naming the child so even if the kid doesn’t know: Mama knows. (and if you know then that’s just one more way you can disappoint Mama… TT )
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I didn’t see her heritage coming. Though in my case I can claim that a internet friend of a friend who I interact with regularly of late not only has a very similar hair cut but likes to put things like feathers/flowers in it. I believe her to be mostly european but with darker hair than our new super here. It didn’t help that the first time we see her she is silhouetted against Jiggawatt whose banana hair and lipstick plus dark skin throws the parts of the mind that handle peoples coloring into full anime mode. I can see it better now against She Who Fears The Sun.
I like informative surprises and the twist with the rainbow choker so I am happy with this. (in case anybody thinks I am taking a tumbler [having a tumbler?] or doing anything but pointing out my internal reactions for Dave so he can get a feel for how his art WITHOUT dialogue explanation is coming across to folk.)
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Ah, I want to know more about all the characters and will appreciate the next update very much but that said I am hungry to know the powers of Effeminate Size-Alternating Man.
Where do you get that her name means “Flower Flower Precious Feather”?
The first name as flower was given in comic by the character. The last name had that as its more straight forward translation from wikipedia which, before someone says something about wikipedia, is a good enough source for a fun comment of my own (not a nit picking reply to someone elses) and probably about near as good as whatever Dave used. (and its Dave’s mind I’m trying to guess here… )
It also said she was Quetzalcoatl’s mom.
Yea, I would say, other than the second to last panel, Sydney is looking fairly creepy in all of them. But panel four is the winner for creepiest.
I think you have good guesses as to possible powers. I suspect that the multiple colours in her feathers, and choker might be indicative of her powers, in some way. Although the dialogue above might discount that, if it is purely for ornamentation. But, if not, then the plants might be pretty flower-bearing ones.
Albeit that the need for physical contact might preclude there being manifestations of plants. But, even if there are just mood-altering effects, or hallucinations, they could incorporate perdy flowers in the imagery.
I originally had only the choker and feathers to go by and thought that her power incorporated light in some way (Vibrant). But now with the new info I think its just some combination of hereditary cultural pride and that goddess’s love of colorful feathers and flowers.
If her only power is mood altering with heavy foreshadowing that it would revolve around femininity or fertility she would be unnecessarily horning in on Dabbler’s act. While if it is merely a side show to her plant abilities then it doesn’t have to be powerful enough to make you feel like we have too much of the same thing (even if done differently). Frankly I’d go nuts if she was mostly about plants and the long range scent power only affected pollinating insects. That would be more original and wacky fun for this group which already has a decent helping of all the regular powers (and weaker back ups of those powers ). Like sure I can make things grow but my offensive power is actually THIS *cue horde of insects she can communicate with*. Little odd for a plant person but not for the plant aspect of a fertility goddess.
But there are lots of other fun flower (poppies poppies poppies… zzz ) or plant (Grooot) themed powers that would be more original than just “control plants” or even “control insects” for that matter. I’m sure I’ll be surprised. Dave used the paper master concept so he might do anything!
Impressed by your bringing in some Aztec names! Most people see them and nope out.
I was assuming that Halo was referencing Pulp Fiction. Where Bruce Willis’s character says that American names don’t mean anything.
Brandon means Sword.
I am scandinavian. I speak with americans. I find it funny how often americans don’t realise that their name mean something and believe me English names very often mean something.
David for example comes from hebrew and means “the loved” or “beloved”
I think the reason why many english speakers don’t realise that their names mean anything is because they are very often either taken from the bible, latin or another cultur.
My name apparently means ‘Great One’
I kid you not. I looked it up. :)
pan·der
ˈpandər/Submit
verb
1.
gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire, need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.).
“newspapers are pandering to people’s baser instincts”
synonyms: indulge, gratify, satisfy, cater to, give in to, accommodate, comply with
“David was always there to pander to her every whim”
noun dated
1.
a pimp.
Uh, dude. I could be wrong, but I think Pander was talking about his IRL first name. His name, which, like an intelligent person, he declined to share with the interwebs.
Though… You could perhaps infer his name from the definition he gave. I think “Alex” means something like that.
Their name here has inspired that definition to pop into my head every time I encounter it so I took the opportunity to “misread” their comment so I could post this humorously.
Other names that might mean “Great One” come up as Denali, Chao, Taweret, Darra (small great one), a lot of other names like Mor (and its many derivatives) that mean great without the “one” noted (but if its a name its kinda implied… )
Pander’s a ladyfolk, though. So perhaps Alexandra.
Same nickname though…
Nice name, but no, that’s not my name.
Now I’m wondering if anyone will be able to ‘reverse engineer’ what my name is now that they know the definition + my gender. This should be interesting! :)
Ἀλέξω means something like “defend” or “protect.” You could say Alexander “defender/helper of mankind” was pretty great, though.
According to Jeff Foxworthy you might be a redneck if you think it is a kind of bear.
Ally
noun
1. a state formally cooperating with another for a military or other purpose.
“debate continued among NATO allies”
verb
1. combine or unite a resource or commodity with (another) for mutual benefit
Ally McBeal
pronoun
1. She who fears the dancing ooga chaka baby
Source: https://www.movies-dictionary.org/Ally_McBeal
Always thought her name sounded like ‘Alley’ rather than ‘A Lie’
… well I do fear dancing babies. But doesnt everyone?
I think what he meant is that many other cultures give the name because of the meaning where as while english names have meaning it’s not usually the reason for the name.
Maybe a thousand years ago when people had two names: a birth name (or Drunken Name-giver Shaman was high that day) and a name they were given when they reached ‘Adult hood’ (or passed some ‘coming of age test’)
That’s like naming them “Strength of the Mountains” and are extremely weak
As people have mentioned above, ‘David’ doesn’t mean ‘King’, and doesn’t /quite/ mean ‘Beloved’.
דוד, however, does.
English is a language that beats other languages up for their words and/or lunch money, so there are names of German, Latin, Celtic, Hebrew, and other extractions, but that have had the pronunciation and spelling beaten out of them until they’re unrecognizable words that have lost all association beyond “A person’s name”.
This arbitrary collection of sounds means “Me”! That arbitrary collection of sounds means “you.” :D
Quote I heard once. Funny because it’s true – –
“English doesn’t borrow from other languages. It follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and rummages through their pockets for loose grammar. “
Ah… More USA bashing. We don’t do things like the rest of the world, our way is dumber…. blah blah blah. First off, the US culture is a hodgepodge offshoot of mostly European culture that has diverged over time. As mentioned earlier the Western European naming conventions definitely did have meaning, especially the family name. As mentioned, as family names became common and replaced “Son of…” naming conventions, peoples last names usually reflected their profession: Smith, Goldsmith, Baker, Carpenter, Broderick (Embroiderer), etc. Add on top of that another layer of the fact that the English language itself is a mash-up of languages incorporated as various waves of invaders conquered and settled on the British Isles so names could be a variation of multiple languages. Then culturally the English and US had a deep religious basis and many people were named after Biblical characters, such as David as you mentioned, which to the original Hebrews definitely did have meaning but to the English were associated with the Bible character rather than their original meaning. Also, naming children after royalty was very common and often the Royals were Austrian or some other nationality so their name meanings were lost as well.
If you read this as ‘American bashing’, we may need to add another trait to American stereotype–thin-skinned.
It’s a difference in culture, nothing more or less, that he’s highlighting. Americans (particularly Caucasian Americans) tend to focus more on a name’s cadence and harmony, particularly with respect to the surname, and to what’s trending currently, than on the name’s historical meaning. Neither option is superior, and Our Host makes no claim to the contrary.
I didn’t read it as Watchmaker trying to “America bash.” He (or she) merely paraphrased from a quote I’ve heard somewhere before…Probably spoken or written originally by someone who was intending to bash America when it was originally said. In basic essence, the quote does have a ring of truth on the face of it, but those of us who can recall US History & Origins of the cultures that spawned the US, we understand that the original speaker is hateful & brush it off.
here’s the quote you’re probably thinking of. Don’t think it’s America-bashing. :-)
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that the English language is as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary.
James Nicoll (b. 1961), “The King’s English”, rec.arts.sf-lovers, 15 May 1990
So, James Nicoll is either hateful of the English language, or was just trying to emphasize with sarcasm…Either way, it comes out sounding the same way.
Don’t think either.
It sounds like he is hateful of the critics!
Duuuude…
That’s like, Master Pro level in finding things to take offense for no reason at all. Will you get offended if I tell you that 50% Americans are above the average U.S. bodyweight?
No, but *I* will get upset at the statement “50% Americans are above the average U.S. bodyweight” because that is incorrect. 50% of Americans are above the MEDIAN U.S. body weight.
Beat me by one minute!
Oops. I left off the smiley to show I was not really upset.
That may or may not be true. More than half of a given set can be above or below the average, it depends on the values. For instance, if a set of 100 has 60 people who weigh 100 kg, and 40 people who weigh 50 kg, the average weight is 80 kg, of which 60% of that set are higher than average, and responsible for 75% of the total weight. :P
Someone needs a cookie. Or maybe just to read things properly before deciding to be offended.
Bostonians: People who say “khakis” and mean “car keys and “draw” somehow means “drawer.”
Although it would be a totally useless power and thus this will not be the name, the first thing that came to mind after she warned Sydney was “Virginator” or something.
Now *that* could be dramatic to the recipient! Especially if it resulted in like a mind wipe of your previous history.
—
On a less mad note, I think the *origins* of many English names do have meanings, and they were co-opted into our language as names just like so many other words were – and because of their meaning and also the history of the name, even though there is often something (or a lot) lost in translation.
eg Latte etc etc.
Also don’t know where you got the bit where it means King from. Beloved yes, from Hebrew *originally*…
In Christian influenced countries, many names are drawn from the bible. So if somebody tries to source a name, they will often check their memory for biblical names. King David is one that would jump out immediately, so many people might associate ‘David’ with ‘king’.
Should the individual have been specifically named after King David, then their assumption would actually be correct.
As it is, I am named after a king. But one neither of the bible, nor England. So it is not an immediate association for most English speakers. So I am in the opposite situation to Dave. My name does have meaning, but it is not often recognised as such.
Likewise I was named after a king.
I was # 7 and my father came home from the hospital and said, “Well, it’s a boy. What shall we name him?”
My siblings were reading the Sunday comic Prince Valiant so take a guess.
If there is any meaning attached to my name it would have to be ‘Lover of Comics”!
Indeed. I was not stating that either of you were wrong. I was just answering your question about where people get that from. Which is via the association, rather than the dictionary definition.
The irony that it can also have meaning, by doing that, simply amused me enough to mention that too.
Creative! Very good.
Xo-Xo is interesting, but god she smiles a lot!
Ooh, shiny colourful avatar!
*wags tail*
As regards your comment, I like a smiling face. XX is getting +2, on my ratings, from accent and smiling.
Thanks, it’s one of my talented friend who drew this, based on my skill-lessness drawing. It’s based on Magic: The Gathering five colours of mana and the most common combinations.
If you’re able to zoom it, it’s quite intricate.
About my comment, smiling that much is not bad per se, but she scares me a bit XD
Oh yea, the closer you look at it, the more the pattern unfolds. Nice.
Just remember Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.
V is for Velociraptor
Ah. Someone oughta ask her about the New England Patriots. I’d love to see her reaction – positive, negative, defensive, indifferent. I’m honestly curious.
(Then again, it’s unclear which year we’re in calendar-wise, so we don’t know if Super Bowl XLIX has taken place in comic-time or not. But even if it hasn’t… everyone has an opinion about football, and New England’s been one of the most… discussed… teams in the NFL.)
Flashback time is 2011
and my opinion is football uses a round ball
not a rugby ball
Soccer to me!
Soccer is typically American, because they tend to associate ‘football’ with an oval ball that rarely touches the foot
Yet is a foot long.
Which, as a mostly American measurement, means (American) football is truly an American sport.
Nonsense, England uses the foot and has done so since Roman times. It is still a valid every-day unit. If fact it is even used world-wide, when you consider that all air traffic altitude is measured in feet.
Although the more refined species prefer to measure with paws.
Picking up the ball and running with it was invented in Rugby, England, in the 1830’s. American Football evolved from that sport.
Masses of padding and crash helmets were all American introductions though.
So, maybe Achilles came from the NFL as a player on the defense…
…we don’ t say “car park”…
You don’t? Then where do you park your cars?
That’s easy. They park their cars on driveways, and drive them on parkways.
(Sorry. I had a Gallagher flashback.)
Thanks a lot…Now I have to go watch a bunch of videos.
A pahking lot, or a pahking garage.
(Alternatively, a pahking metah.)
Whoa, who turned on the halogens?
The highlights are… strong in this one.
*nods*
There are several of us finding it a bit disconcerting. Albeit that each is picking it up in slightly different ways.
Am I the only one here who thought Xochitl (Yay! I got the spelling right the first time~!)…
Anyway, anyone else thought her Codename was “Wicked Jealous”? Or… “Aztec”? Wait… we don’t even have codename yet, do we…
Ok, for a silly, off-the-wall idea, here’s a twist on a quote from the movie Spawn: “I’m not the Vindicator, or the Victimizer, or the Vaporizer, or the Violater! I’m the VIBRATOR!”
Of course, along with the “V” on her collar & in conjunction with the meaning of her last name, that would indicate some sort of vibration-based powers, like Richtor (from the X-Men).
:P
I thought her name was “Aztec” at first, yes.
Come on. Sidecut is everyone favorite hairstyle on a gal.
(and yeah, by everyone i mean me, but have you seen Natalie Dormer rocking the side cut?)
I first saw the female side-cut on Jack from Mass Effect.
https://www.cracked.com/video_18453_the-invention-last-names-stuff-that-must-have-happened.html
(This exchange always seems a bit off in the theatrical release–it comes out of nowhere. There’s a brief bit cut from scene on the DVD in which Esmeralda Villalobos, the taxi driver, first explains that her name means ‘Village of the Wolf’. If you want to see the scene, go here and go to 9:45. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19c7mh_pulp-fiction-deleted-scenes-presented-by-quentin-tarantino_shortfilms )
Ok either tubey has been put down somewhere, or has turned invisible. Also will xochitl get an easy to pronounce hero name, or will it be a running joke that the news stations all mispronounce it?
The BBC announcers would not. They have a dedicated unit who’s only job is to ensure that presenters correctly pronounce names. Most well known names can be checked on their database. And they have specialists who can advise on any obscure ones, on demand.
Although any presenter who is working in a live environment, and who has not been briefed, would likely be thrown by her name, sure enough.
I think Tubey is best viewed as being like the raven familiar in Order of the Stick. Will be present when plot relevant. At other times “POOF”. But nobody notices. Honest.
The artwork looks so shiny today!
…Actually it looks nice but you might want to tone it down a bit. Just my opinion.
… she doesn’t really look non-white to me. Her skins a touch darker than Sidney’s, but that just makes it look like she’s tanned and/or Sidney’s pasty.
She looks a lot more like a modern Mexican than a pre-Columbian Aztec. Didn’t they usually have black hair? But this is set in the modern age, where practically everyone in Mexico is a mix of…everything…or at least West African, Western European, and the local indios, anyway.
So she’s a Mexican-New-Englander of substantially white appearance with an Aztec-language name who explains it by calling herself Aztec, because if she called herself Mexican they’d think it was supposed to be Spanish.
The sidecut hairdo really isn’t Aztec, except the young boys would shave their heads leaving only a sidelock (growing a ponytail on the side of the head) until they could prove themselves in battle by capturing an enemy. Then they could shave off the sidelock & grow their hair any way they wanted, some warriors liked to tie up a high-set ponytail. Both men & women sported long, straight haircuts though, but hairstyle could also denote a specific social class & position.
For all intents & purposes though, as far as Xochitl is concerned, that’s all ancient history.
;)
Who said the haircut was Aztec? Totally Mayan styling there :P
Another example (good, bad, clichéd, don’t care) is Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons (or JFK if you can remember your US Presidents :P)
That’s the whitest looking Aztec indian I have ever seen. I love this comic, but I had to comment on this without even finishing reading the page. At least give her darker skin. wtf!
Well, for one thing, you do know the Aztec basically died out a couple hundred years ago, don’t you? Same with the Maya, Olmec and quite a few others, so she is possibly only 1/18th Aztec with the other 17 parts being European starting with the Spanish who helped destroy the Aztec
Chillax… ;)
Maxima is white and has gold skin. Cho there is Aztec and her power make her Anglo… Oh horror.
Now if we find out Adrian is actually Japanese and looks black I will call foul…
There was a black guy in “Porridge” who was Scottish, and would head butt anyone who said otherwise :D
I think she means she’s of Mexican heritage and has a Nahuatl name. It’s very, very normal for a Mexican to be genetically and phenotypically “mixed.”
I beg to differ about the white names mean nothing. Mine is a full math problem:
Integral of cotangent of t * Integral of tangent of e to the kith power
I just have to work out what the three variables are to gain infinite Powah.
And to make it all math I tell people that David comes from divide. ;)
Sorry, but I can’t buy that.
To be an integral, you must have a continuous real-valued function defined on a closed interval.
The first function – “cot(t)” is real, continuous and its antiderivative is “Ln|sin(t)|”. However, since you didn’t specify the interval (or limits of integration), the result is undefined (or at best “indefinite”).
The second “function” is either a constant (if k is constant) or invalid (if k varies).
The result of first case would be the undefined difference of the unspecified differentials or totally meaningless if k is a variable since integrals require a continuous (real values) variable and “k” is an integer. This “function” would require a summation, not an integral. Note that even if you allowed k to be continuous, the result would still be “undefined”.
So by that logic, your name means “undefined + undefined” or “undefined + meaningless/invalid” which is pretty close to nothing.
QED ;-)
PS, Before you take any offense, this is just a proof that the name means nothing, NOT that YOU mean nothing. Also I am assuming that your original post was tongue-in-cheek, as is my response, as it has been a long time since I have had to exercise any calculus brain cells.
So Aztec by birth, with a Bostonian accent. So basically no way to know what the hell she’s saying.
All these people jumping on the “White names don’t mean anything” bandwagon (either for or against) obviously didn’t understand: that was simply DaveB‘s personal (maybe tongue-in-cheek) opinion, and he did say ‘In my experience, white people’s name generally don’t mean anything.’
After some thought I realized that Xochi might have what Sydney called a ‘bad’ power. Something that can cause more harm than benefit. Most Aztec ceremonies to invoke supernatural powers involved the act of human sacrifice, sometimes by the dozen. So Sydney, if she asks for you to ‘help’ her demonstrate her power, politely say no (and then run away) especially if she is holding an obsidian knife.
What, she just wants to use her fertility powers to bring life to a velociraptor! Ok, it has to chew it’s way out of Syney’s chest cavity, in the process. But… dinosaur! With feathers! Cute!
ok hair, build, weird accent, touch powers…
her name will be vigilante, as she’s kind of like a rogue…
I know you meant well David, but there are those of us who know what our names mean and take strength from it. My real name William means Spirit Defender. It’s old German, and the theme is common enough that I can find a version in almost any language, or at least a name close enough that I feel comfortable using it.
Hmm… This is one of those things where I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but as I was reading the first few panels, something seemed off about the coloring. After taking a second to look at it, I thought maybe Keith overdid the shading a bit. Looking back at some earlier pages confirmed that, especially on character’s faces, the shading IS much more pronounced than it used to be. But as I said, I can’t tell for sure if it’s intentional. I know that for me, it makes the faces look… wrong. Like in the first panel, it makes it look like Sydney’s really angry and she’s glaring, while I think she’s supposed to merely be staring. In the third panel, I’m not really sure what her face looks like it’s portraying, but confusion caused by a bit of cognitive dissonance isn’t it. Maybe it’s intentional. Maybe I’m the only one who sees it this way. But I’m guessing I’m not, so I’m pointing it out.
I hope I don’t come off as overly critical or whatever. That’s not my intent. It seems to me that Keith hasn’t been doing the coloring for very long, so maybe he just hasn’t settled in yet. Normally, I don’t even pay too much attention to the specifics of the art in webcomics, but (A.) I really enjoy the art in Grrl Power and (B.) this time it really just felt wrong to me, somehow. I hope whatever it is, you artist types are better at analyzing and fixing that sort of thing than I am and that my input has been helpful in some way. I’d certainly feel bad if all I did was piss some people off. I hate doing that.
Whatever. Best wishes and all.
You are not alone. But constructive feedback is always useful. Perhaps it is intentional, as a build-up to Xochitl’s power. If not though, it is always helpful to get feedback when folks find a change disconcerting.
I do some touch up and play with the levels and stuff when I get the file back so if the page is a little off looking, that’s on me to tweak it out right. I’ll adjust the next page before it goes up and if I can tweak it right, I’ll come back and twiddle the knobs on this one.
“It looks like a cover from an Image comic from the ’90s.” … XD #Genius
I’d say that the flexible Uniform Dress Code going on around Arc-SWAT makes a lot of sense from a PR perspective. you still want the public to think of them as superheroes, not an “oppressive military force”, mixing uniforms with allowing personal style helps there a lot. making them look like a unit of buzz-cut GI’s, identical and faceless, would not give the kind of message to the public Arienne wants to send.
+1
It’s clever that way.
Also, there’s some market theory at play:
Supers are exceedingly rare. Psykers and magic-users may be less so, Dave hasn’t said; but they are still uncommon. So they have an advantage of scarcity. And because their powers vary from one to another, each has control over an extremely scarce resource. So they have incredible leverage.
If you want to use Harem’s powerset, which is awesome, you have to keep Daphne happy. And so on.
Even the technical non-supers can pull this off. If you want to use Math, you have some incentive to put up with him being a perv, so long as he’s basically a harmless perv.