Grrl Power #409 – Elevator predicate
Standard elevator rules Sydney. Stare forward, no talking, respect twice the normal personal space. Same as when you’re at the urinal. Not that… Sydney has ever used one.
I guess Vale could take comfort in knowing Sydney is slightly intimidated by her, or else she wouldn’t be blabbering. As much.
I know the definition of all those “word play” terms Sydney’s throwing around are written down out there for anyone to look up. People with English degrees need something to do after all, but even after reading about puns, malapropisms, eggcorns, spoonerisms, entendres, double and otherwise, etc, they all seem pretty pun adjacent, so it’s no wonder Sydney is confused. Confused but mostly just needing to fill the silence, since a comic is a sub-optimal place to do a joke about Deus piping speed metal into the elevators instead of muzak.
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I laughed when Sydney went silent for a moment and then started talking about NASCAR drivers in flipped cars. The apparent non-sequitur nature of the comments can be confusing to the outside observer, but to the ADHD person, it makes complete sense.
For example Sydney may have been thinking [internal monologue] “You know when someone uses the term flipped, they can mean it literally, like inverted, or ‘became angry’ or flipped-off – which is something you do when you flip… Like when a race-car driver flips their car, do they also flip-out… I can imagine if I was driving and my car flipped, I’d be flipping out. I’d probably be screaming and hitting the brakes… (start of apparently non-sequitur audible monologue…) Hey, when a professional driver like a NASCAR guy (etc.)
See how that makes complete sense to the ADHD person but sounds random to the external listener? I have way too many experiences of trying to figure out how I got on a topic and tracing it back to what I was talking about 2 minutes ago through a series of tangentially related thoughts that actually connect…
Tracing conversation becomes like the Wikipedia game.
Reminds me of a problem I have due to my autism. If the conversation is about a topic I find interesting, I can sometimes talk people’s heads off. What’s worse is that I’ll go off on tangents all the time, either because I’m talking about something the other person might not be familiar with, so I try to explain it or put it in some kind of context, which makes me go off on another tangent. Also tends to happen if I get interrupted by a question or remark. And so I go from one tangent to another, often resulting in neither of us remembering what we were talking about initially. As icing on the cake, if I get really engrossed in the conversation I won’t notice if I’m boring people or if the topic is going right over their heads.
My brother and I both have Asperger’s. Our conversations can go off on the biggest tangents, to the point where we occasionally stop to figure out how we got from our initial topic to our current one. It is the rare and wondrous occasion when we can actually trace all the steps back.
That’s why I’m fond of saying “People with Autism don’t have a problem talking, we have a problem with shutting up.”
It’s more that we have problems detecting the social cues (body language, etc.) that people would like us to shut up whereas most other people automatically notice even subtle cues.
People with Autism (like us) also like puns over “normal” jokes.
Mostly because they are easier to understand.
I have NVLD, which is similar to Asperger’s. I usually preface conversations (especially with coworkers) with “I do not have the ‘shut up gene’ please tell me when you want me to stop talking.
I think we often do detect those cues, it’s just that our brains are too preoccupied to give them the proper attention at the time. I’ve had instances where I’ve gone over conversations in my head afterwards and the penny drops. “Ooooh… That’s why they reacted that way.” One example being some years ago after I’d had a conversation with a girl I knew and we got to talking about the age difference (we were both 18+ at the time). She said, “I don’t think a 6 year age difference is too much”, at which point I glanced in her direction while saying, “No, I guess not.” I noticed she was looking at me and quickly turned her head as she saw I was looking in her direction. It wasn’t until a few hours later as I was going through that in my head that I suddenly thought, “Wait a minute! What the hell did she mean by that?!”
Exactly, we have a problem shutting up.
*clicks the nonexistent “ditto” button.*
If you ever want to distract someone with autism just send in a different person with autism. They will talk each others ears off for hours without knowing where the time goes.
For a lot of people following this conversation must be difficult, for people with mental disorders it seems to have a perfectly logical flow.
I think I may have a touch of ADHD, because not only did the non-sequitur make sense to me, but I also go off on strange tangents sometimes. I’m more or less able to keep actual conversations on topic, but five minutes into a conversation, in my head, I’ve already gone down three rabbit holes, and played out six scenarios on what would be the best next thing to say, or how to work those new tangents into the conversation.
Normal conversations are boring.
Obvious, yes, but that’s not the connection I caught right off the bat. She said ‘no pun intended’ inappropriately because of instincts, that lead her to think what other instincts might be triggered in people when they weren’t needed.
Gonna have to remember this now for my own writing.
Thank you for explaining it.
Me, I just figured she was talking about her inability to control the urge to talk.
No, I rather think Sydney is doing this to Vale on purpose…Noticing that Vale definitely did not want to engage in a conversation, Sydney is deliberately rambling. Let’s face it, Sydney’s got the literal “captive audience” here…
I describe it as, “You know that word association thing that psychiatrists do? My brain works like that. All. The. Time.”
Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?
I don’t know Brain… where are we going to get the 50 pounds of Ovaltine, the Pink Flamingo yard ornament, and the rubber baby-buggy-bumpers at THIS time of the night?
I think so, Brain, but burlap chafes me so.
NARF!
When I get nervous, I pull and push the pen cap. I also shred tissues. :P
not as bad as the eye twitch as i get. oh the obsessive search for all available exits and approximate distance from where i’m standing/sitting.
when I get nervous I get quiet and spread my wings, I once managed to startle someone who I was walking around for five minutes because they thought I left, there was squeaky floorboards all over the room that no one could avoid entirely if they tried.
I don’t have the link, but during one Top Gear interview, they had a a(not Nascar) driver whose car had lifted off and started flipping during a race. The guy said he was definitely still working the brakes flying through the air.
How many people have seen that Bugs Bunny cartoon where he and someone else (probably Daffy) are in a plane that ends up plummeting to the ground, and right before it would hit, it stops, after Bugs and the others get out Bugs says something about “air brakes”, maybe those drivers have seen it and are trying to see if it will work for them :D
The one I remember has bugs say “ran outa’ gas”
You know how it is on these E-ticket rides….
Might have been that one with Bugs, but do recall one where someone hits the air brakes literally inches from the nose hitting the ground and the entire plane is left standing upright
Both the “air brakes” and “ran out of gas” jokes were used in Bugs Bunny WW2 cartoons.
“Lucky for me this thing had air brakes!” – Bugs Bunny
That’s the one, thank you :D
“Sorry folks, we ran out of gas.” – The Gremlin
And that was the other one :D
One of the few times Bugs loses :P
BTW, DaveB, well done on Vale’s expressions here. For what is meant to be an expressionless servant’s mask, you can clearly see the expressions of irritation, exasperation, apprehension, and downright panic seeping through it.
I know, it’s awesome. The facade is cracking faster than old plaster in an earthquake. I almost imagine it will be a long forgotten memory by the time that elevator door opens.
proof uncontroled and individual exposure to the mightay halo is a geneva convention breach
Vale no doubt has suffered worse agitations from her boss, but the way she is acting she might think that her boss and Sydney working together would be catastrophic.
Maybe, but I’m sure her boss is perfectly capable of standing like an impenetrable stone statue of death in silence as they ride the elevator up/down the building.
He boss is annoying, but he doesn’t rant this much, generally. He does the occasional monologue, but doesn’t spout this much nonsense.
He’s got a “condition”… give him a break…
The difference on how Vale is reacting here, compared to when she’s with Deus, is that at least Deus pays her to avoid running away.
All fair points, but this level of repeated button pressing means she is reaching her limit already with Sydney. I do wonder how the two of them will act towards each other if the Major isn’t around.
Archon would be in need of a new Poster Child? o_O
I’ve been known to say “no pun intended” when my pun is, in fact, intended. It’s useful when you think someone may have missed your clever pun. The reason is it’s not acceptable to say, “hey, I made a pun, in case you didn’t notice!” but it is acceptable to say, “hey, I accidentally made a pun!” They still laugh either way (if you’re lucky), which means you score the unconscious points for being “funny” regardless.
Personally, I prefer going with “if you will pardon the pun.” That way, I am drawing peoples attention to it with out seeming pretentious, pointing out that I did it on purpose, and implying that they probably caught it themselves even if I don’t think they would have.
It’s also fun to say when there was, in fact, no pun. :D
like smiling victoriously at someone when you have said/done nothing to or about them
You could also simply say, “pun intended”. Usually works out.
Or you can completely halt the conversation to remark “Oh, that’s punny. I crack myself up. What were we talking about?”
Hmm, interesting. Now if you were to make strictly pun-free remark, and then follow it up with “No pun intended.” you could have them puzzling all day as to what pun they missed. :)
That is sooo gloriously weevil! :D
What is worse is when the ADHD hits while one is mentally multi-tasking. I hate when I am really interested in what someone is saying, but everything they say keeps triggering a new thought path, and soon I have too many thought paths going at once, and I have to ask them to repeat what they just said, and that doesn’t really help, because it just reinforces the alternate thought paths…
I’m not sure what your issue is, Vale. I find this conversation rather interesting.
That’s because you are not stuck in that elevator lift with Sydney :P
I wouldn’t mind being stuck in an elevator with Sydney, tbh. I may even wish for it to break down for a few hours so we could keep talking.
. . . talking.
Is that what they’re calling it nowadays? ;)
I wouldn’t call if a conversation, as that usually involves both parties present to be talking, typically back and forth on a subject matter. In this case, Sydney is doing all of the talking and the other gal looks as if she would rather face a hoard of gun toting maniacs than another second in that elevator with Sydney.
That’s because she doesn’t now it’s best to counter Sydney with words, not silence (remember the last time Sydney rode an elevator with someone?)
Vale is Deus’s combat specialist. At some point she and Math should have a sparring match while she is wearing that outfit to see if he has gotten over his ‘problem’.
Me and mum have a term for what Sydney has: Kangaroo Mind, your thoughts just jump from one thing to a squirrel driving a Mack Truck down a river
The ‘fun’ part, is attempting to back trail your thoughts to where you possumed off
My gaming chums and I used to play a game we called “Associations”. Someone says a word, the next person says not the first word that pops into their head but the third or fourth word. And so on down the line. You may challenge a word if it does not parse; the utterer gains a point if they explain it and all other players other than the challenger can honestly follow the leaps.
You need at least five persons to play; four or less leads to arguments. :D
The thing is it’s not just jumping around. There is a chain of thought you just don’t see it and probably haven’t made the same connections.
Nope, talking about personal thoughts, not attempting to follow someone else
Oh yes, I can say with first hand certainty that we tend to make these leaps of logic. What happens is that a few steps get skipped mentally, so what comes out sounds unrelated., but if the connection were explained it WOULD make strange sense.
Isn’t that what Sherlock Holmes used to do to Watson?
Poor Vale, she’s just like that Nascar driver. Pushing the elevator button can’t save you now.
She’s clearly thinking “Must…escape….Mighty Mouth!”
Might Mouth! The brother of Mighty Mouse who talks with a lisp.
;)
Maybe Sydney changed topics to the NASCAR driver and futility of pumping the brakes because she noticed the futility of Vale pushing the elevator button.
No, Vale only started doing that in the last panel, after Sydney’s NASCAR side-rail
I do not noth why, but for me, in the last panel, Vale looks geniunely frightened…
She can feel her sanity slipping. It is very hard for somebody without ADHD to keep up with somebody who has it, and if the chatter started off as inane anyway, it’s much, much harder.
Highly specialized physical combat types generally have a hard time dealing with assaults (intentional or not) of a non-physical nature which they can’t solve with their skill set.
Esp when her practiced Death Stare proves so ineffective.
Isn’t Sydney’s monologue too long? It took me 55 seconds just to read her lines out loud, without any pauses (like implied by panel 7).
Just how long is their elevator ride? Judging by the last panel, they have only gone down 11 storeys…
Were you saying them at average person speed or ADHD person speed? I ask because most people with ADHD that I know talk a whole lot faster than average people, just so their mouths can keep up with their thoughts; they only get faster when they’re nervous.
I do not think I have ADHD or anything, but im familiar with the situation and have herd/met people who talk at above average speed so I read it at a heightened speed because, its Sydney, and nervous rambling, so extra speed.
Although, depending on the person I have been known to be able to follow the rambling and keep up. May not grasp the logical connection when seemingly random jumps are made, but I keep up. The pause actually helps with keeping up with the jump. Its when they shift tracks without any pause of initial indication that a change was made that keeping up can be difficult.
In a previous comic Max & Syd met Deus on the top floor indicated by the lighted button on the elevator https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2032
The elevator showed 4 rows of 8 buttons, or 32 locations total.
Vale is pressing ‘5’ on a panel that shows the top floor to be ’20’. This leaves another 12 levels below ground floor. I have never seen a building that had a sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-basement before.
Derp. Make that 8 rows of 4 buttons.
Don’t forget auxillary buttons – emergency call, open doors, close doors, call cancel.
Hold button and access restrictions are also possible.
Also note that the button paenl is on a wall that was clear of buttons in the previous comic.
They’re in a different elevator than the one Sydney and Maxima took.
Looks to me, that the buttons are on the door wall
Just checked to when they met Deus, and the panel was on the other side of the door with an extra 8 buttons
Right. Here’s one nutty explanation: They never reached the top floor. Deus uses that floor for something else (i.e. not a swordtrophy room) or as a deliberate decoy-office for would-be assassins.
Instead, they stopped at floor 20-or-below, either because it was programmed to or because Deus wanted to use the elevator. (It doesn’t matter what direction it’s was going, if Deus wants to use an elevator, the first damn elevator opens for Deus!)
Then the second scene occurs inside a “staff only” elevator that happens to serve a certain set of floors.
“I guess Vale could take comfort in knowing Sydney is slightly intimidated by her, or else she wouldn’t be blabbering. As much.”
I’m sorry Dave but I’m not buying that. It’s not Sydney pressing the 5 button like their life depended on it. Or saying she thought Vale’s “death stare” was “cute.” No, the real question here is whether Syd is blabbering to intimidated Vale. I wouldn’t put it pass her, she’s smart and has seen the effect she has on others, and as a comic book nerd she know that a good snappy patter can be used to a tactical advantage. She’s got to have ask herself “what would Deadpool do?” https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1727
Perhaps, but Vale was not maddley pressing button when she first met Sydney or when they first entered the elevator and she has the silent I’m deadly confidence to her. Also Sydney is still new to having super power, especially in the open, so she can be intimidated and nervous and such. Emotions can sometimes ignore certain facts which should otherwise nullify the emotion, such as Sydney’s shield and other associated abilities. In time, Sydney will probably loose her nervousness around other super-ed individuals and seemingly impressive/intimidating people.
After all, it took time, with Sydney rambling on, for Vale to reach the panic button pressing stage. And by that point, Sydney might not have actually noticed, she’s just talking.
I honestly think that by the 5th panel, Sydney has forgotten Vale is there.
they are crafting a special place in the afterlife to torment you for that last comment without a warning
The way I see it, Sydney is combining the GURPS skill of fast Talk & Rapier Wit. Fast Talk is an insinuative way of speaking to deliberately prevent the “target’s” mind from coherent reasoning & agree with the speaker. Rapier Wit is verbally insulting the “target” in such a way that they can be “mentally Stunned” & hesitate.
Vale is showing signs of suffering the effects of both of those skills…
My goodness…I’ve done that to people, and oh boy, does it work. Sooner or later, everybody breaks down before the endless wall of ADHD chatter. EVERYBODY.
Sometimes they cry for aspirin. Sometimes they cry for me to go away, or shut up, or even just plain stick to one subject. Sometimes, they just plain cry. But everybody breaks in the end.
Really?
‘Cause when she stops for breath, I’m going to ask her: “So, who do you think is actually the Stig?”
I guarantee at least 30 second of total silence…
And, if the ride lasts longer than that, a half a dozen really interesting possibilities in answer…
they already revealed that he is Ben Collins in the UK… various others in the USA version of the show… so she’d probably already know it… then again, was the reveal before this flashback actually happened in-universe? no clue…
Why on earth would you expect silence? You’d just hear all the real-time theorizing and brainstorming.
I also love Sydney’s comment on Vale’s death stare. That has GOT to be exactly the last thing Vale expected (you don’t death stare your own boss, after all).
LOL it was well done, wasn’t it…?
ADHD abused using an enclosed space: best way to do ethical torture. also funny.
Simple explanation:
Puns are deliberate, and happen when you deliberately use the wrong word or definition just because it sounds like it could fit, and it’s funny. “Maxima is the gold standard” is a pun.
A double entendre is when you use a word or a phrase to say something else entirely. The term comes from French, and usually implies a sexual sub-message (although not always). This is entirely logical.
A spoonerism is when you use part of one word, and part of another, without intending too. My personal favorite of this has always been when somebody starts talking about a “scoop of Boy Trouts”.
A malapropism is basically a pun that was made by accident, which completely destroys any meaning the sentence might have.
Spoonerisms often mix up the first letters of two words in a sentence to create other words, such as calling Charles Dickens ‘Darles Chickens’. As well as calling one of his novels The Sale of Two…, well you get the idea.
He stuck him a blushing crow! Hail the kinkering conk!
Malapropism is misspelled in the comic, but not the after-comic blurb.
Obviously, Dave knows how to spell it but Sydney does not.
My favorite is ‘The three type of rock are sedentary, ingenious, and metaphoric.”
Speaking to the professional driver bit, of lately they are trained to let go of the wheel and pull thier feet away from the pedals to prevent injuries to the extremities. Some cars don’t have a lot of room to pull the legs up when the driver is strapped in, which is why Kyle Busch broke both legs last year in that crash at Daytona at the start of the season.
Talking with Sydney is a specific kind of problem: The more you try to avoid it, the more she does. All you can do is have the conversations on your term.
I don’t know about NASCAR and the car flipping, but apparently F1 drivers will continue to steer after the wheels come off
<a href="https://youtu.be/xwoCLiyzdgU?t=10" title="Formula One Sebastien Buemi Crash China 2010"
So apparently I don’t really know how to a href
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwoCLiyzdgU&t=10
Formula One Sebastien Buemi Crash China 2010
Was at an anime convention once, got on the elevator, pushed the button for my floor, noticed the next person who got on right behind me also pushed that same button, decided to start counting.
Out of ten passengers, nine of them pushed a button, seven of them pushed one button (mine), two pushed another button, and one person looked and realized his floor was already pushed (a very nice Link costume).
People are strange, when they’re all strangers… :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2xxEeJTFCY :D
Silly Vale: You’re silence is just making it worse.
The sequence of expressions on Vale, culminating in her panicky button-pressing, never stops being funny.
It just occurred to me, Sydney’s hardening up a bit. She’d have shut down under that stare once.
A couple of days experience with Max’s glares was probably key.
Puns are the lowest form of wit. But wit is the highest form of humor.
You may make of that what you will.
I personally think Vale might be intimidated by the way Sydney is just chatting away as if not intimidated by the attempt to intimidate her. Or does that make any sense?
Sounds legit
I admit I kind of want the next panel to start with the elevator doors opening and Sydney saying, “So I says to Mabel, I says…”
Yus! That would be awesome. :D
And beaten and crumbled Vale barely standing next to her.
I’d go more with the pushed past broken val back handsprings out of the elevator just as the doors are closing again to leave syd behind and continues doing harley quin gymnastics down the hall with a brainless smile on her shellshocked face, next panel syd calls and tells max she broke the girl, cut to max “you broke vale?”
And this teaches Vale what happens to those who do not answer a polite question… and to request speed elevators be installed.
personally I prefer the rare quadruple-entendre where something said can mean two different things and you’re suppose to take it both ways..:)
Like one of my phrases (I have male-pattern baldness):
“The more hair I lose, the more head I get.”
And yes, you are meant to take it both ways, because it’s true.
‘Not that… Sydney has ever used one.’
This is sydney we are talking about. She has tried. :D
and will proudly teach any woman who wants to learn how its done provided they call syd ran-chan
To me, Sydney’s conversation makes sense. Vale, however, is probably looking for an escape route right about now.
I like popcorn. They remind me of traffic lights.
I like traffic jams, they remind me of tacos.
Just in and of herself whoever sells and distributes ‘Stop Talking’ cards in the ARC organization is going to make a Fortune.
I often say, “Pun intended,” because I love puns.
Hey, you got your wish, we saw Maxima and Deus interact, and a sense of what she thinks of him… and lo and behold she hates his guts because he sleazily tried to use business channels to get her in the sack, she explicitly called him a sociopath… and yet she’s still able to choke down her personal frustrations for the good of the team.
Wonder why that didn’t seem to draw comment from you.
That was the conversational equivalent of being in an SUV stopped at a light, having a Smart car pull up even with you. You glance over and notice the driver is talking on a cellphone, then lighting a cigarette and tossing the match, gesturing with the cig to punctuate the conversation … and then you see the labels on the boxes of illegal fireworks (read: dynamite) in the passenger seat and start praying for the light to change naow!
I would not be waiting for the light to change. I’d either back up (way back) or run the light, either is safer than being next to a car bomb!
One of the people in this scenario is being irresponsible. The other one is driving a smart. He might kill a few people in an explosion, but at least he is not forcing as many horrible, unavoidable, but (mostly) indirect consequences on all of earth’s life by driving an suv…
Sorry to upset you, but I dread these abominations.
Somebody’s sang is rapidly un-froiding.