Also, I ***love*** that line: “like…air before snowing” That’s just about the most perfect thing I’ve ever read. I know EXACTLY what Ed means, and no I don’t think that makes me weird!!
Tribe is being made of winter…what a wonderful piece of word painting that is too.
Augh why can’t I make this time travel machine work so I can get the next update already!
Wouldn’t evil winter be ‘616 winter’?
I heard on NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” that the number is in fact 616 and not 666.
Peter Segal, Wait Wait’s host, had to keep apologizing because of mistakes he made on air in reference to this discovery. The apologies went on for like 2 shows.
There are few words to describe how very much I love Ed. What an elegant, ingenuous— and terrifying– description of the Cold Ones, in terms of smell, from someone who’s never seen/met them before.
And how like him to dismiss himself and his perceptions with essentially a “Bah! I’m talking like a drunkard.”
I just want to give him a hug… while I wait to see what unexpected and inventive use he’ll put that crowbar to.
And… I know Digger isn’t perfect, but I also know she’s not lost. She has such a knack of finding her way to where she’s supposed to be, even if she didn’t exactly *mean* to be going there…. .
Diggeridoo is up to 41 now. She’s right below something called Red Moon Rising. It’s a Steampunk story. My heart, first and foremost, bleeds wombat red. Keep voting.
Don’t you still have the brain bleach from last time, BunnyRock? Or are you out? *passes BR more*
I’d like to see Ed on a little mead. I get the feeling he’d wax even more philosophical than usual. I say a little, because he might also be a sad drunk, and he has a LOT to be sad about.
Up to 41 as of (by the time zone it’s posted in) a day later.
A thought that has been niggling at me for a while: are Ed’s speech patterns a result of nearly 20 years of solitude and grief or due to being hypoxic at birth?
@ Sage: But Ed is trying to say that ONE smell contains two very different things. It’s telling him both “hyena” and “winter”, and to us readers that means “Oh crap, cold servants,” but to him it means “This is something I’ve never smelled before, and it doesn’t make sense, and worst of all I’m trying to explain it to someone who’s all but nose-blind.” Being completely nose-blind myself, I’ve been on the receiving end of this kind of explanation, and I know how frustrating it can be for the explainer. (Not so much for me, since I just figure I’m destined to Not Get It, but people sometimes try anyway.)
SilverTwilight – I’m thinking Ed’s speech is a result of brain damage. At first I thought it was just that he didn’t speak Digger’s language very well, but none of the other hyenas had any problem with that. Having been alone and depressed for a long time myself (though not nearly as bad as poor Ed – my God, that man has incredible willpower to have survived!), prolonged solitude doesn’t make you talk funny – you tend to mostly not talk at all, with occasional bursts of saying/singing/doing things which would “normally” be “inappropriate in public”, because hey, what public? who’s gonna care?
Duckwhisperer – from birth, I would think. Having looked up on the web just how difficult RL hyena birth is … imagine trying to pass a kidney stone *the size of a baby* !!!
I speculate that Ed’s speech issues come as much from the time when he had no tribe and was outcast. Along with being unhomed, he was made less than nothing in his society, and in the process of trying to find a new way to be, developed his own language, as though he had to start all over again.
Just my guess.
Both hypoxia during birth and blunt trauma COULD have caused the speech defect, but it’s quite a specific symptom. Neurological damage can on occasion produce very “clean” symptoms that don’t affect other aspects of som0ones life, but it’s usually because of a tumour of sharp trauma/ foreign object lodged in the brain, as these affect a single area, so a speech problem is possible but unusually “neat” for either of those two possible causes of brain damage (hypoxia during birth/ head-wound from abusive mate). Might I suggest a fourth option? I personally believe he’s talking like that because seventeen years in isolation will do odd things to a person, but I would not be me if I couldn’t play devilâs advocate and suggest a new reason: religion.
We KNOW that contact with the divine in this universe, even for a second, can do unpleasant things to the sentient mind. We know that first-born hyenas are a sacrifice to She-is fiercer and that why they seldom survive ( the fact the birth canal is too short is still also true, but it seems if The People believe its she-is, then it probably is) and that those who do NOT die are “given back” by she-is-fiercer. His skin painting carrier seemed to be at least in part connecting with either their religion, healing or both, and his fame in this was made possible as he was lucky, marked out by she-is from birth.
Marked out how exactly? He had ascribes status, was it just from the circumstances of his birth or did She-is mark him in another way? if so, thatâs TWO people who are marked-down as far as the two local gods (she-sis and mother-of-earthquakes) are concerned about too walk into the lair of a third god, on the orders of a fourth, possibly with a teenage girl who’s been touched by a fifth aiming to join them later, not to mention an entire chorus of Belligerent Shrews, Trolls, of Belligerent Shrews who are ALSO trolls, Hyenas, demons, ocular slugs, theological policemen, skin-lizards, hags, ghosts, flying rats and other general hangers on.
“Wouldnât evil winter be â616 winterâ?
I heard on NPRâs âWait Wait⌠Donât Tell Meâ that the number is in fact 616 and not 666.”
A bit late to the party, but either can be correct. It’s a kabbalistic numerical code referring to the Emperor Nero, whose name was also sometimes spelled Neron. Depending on whether the final ‘n’ is included or not, the total value of the letters comes to either 616 or 666.
Oh, and I’d put Ed’s speech patterns down to a number of different influences.
1) I’ve noticed similar things happening to my speech patterns when I don’t speak for an extended period of time.
2) Having his Name eaten may well have contributed as well. I can totally see the possibility of follow-on effects from the switch to referring to himself by a third-person pronoun for non-persons. And that’s assuming the Name Eating is purely symbolic. If there were some kind of magical force involved in that, it could well inflict further damage.
3) BunnyRock’s probably onto something with the amount of contact with Gods Ed’s had. That can’t be good for mental stability.
Well here we go off to fight “The cold ones”
“Like tribe is being made of winter.”
“Ed is talking like drinking mead.”
Ed is such a marvellously prosaic little fellow.
*Scratches head.* What’s up with that “Wombat666 Winter” thingy there, where we’d usually see “Digger”?
Evil winter perhaps?
Also, I ***love*** that line: “like…air before snowing” That’s just about the most perfect thing I’ve ever read. I know EXACTLY what Ed means, and no I don’t think that makes me weird!!
Tribe is being made of winter…what a wonderful piece of word painting that is too.
Augh why can’t I make this time travel machine work so I can get the next update already!
http://topwebcomics.com/vote/10180/default.aspx
Oh, and vote y’all! Digger’s #44 as of this post đ
You make perfect sense to me Ed!
No Ed, that makes perfect sense. And I’m thinking that’s not a good thing to be smelling right now… (O_O)
Ed is being making perfect sense.
However what he is saying… *bodes*.
Ed is making perfect sense. And I suspect Ed and Digger will be needing mead before this is over. Mmm. Mead.
Wouldn’t evil winter be ‘616 winter’?
I heard on NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” that the number is in fact 616 and not 666.
Peter Segal, Wait Wait’s host, had to keep apologizing because of mistakes he made on air in reference to this discovery. The apologies went on for like 2 shows.
“Evil” Winter might be 616, or 999, or 13, but HEAVY METAL winter is 666.
I’d hate to get hit by a Heavey Metal Winter all the snow flakes would hit you like shirken. Digger is back to 42. Ed
There are few words to describe how very much I love Ed. What an elegant, ingenuous— and terrifying– description of the Cold Ones, in terms of smell, from someone who’s never seen/met them before.
And how like him to dismiss himself and his perceptions with essentially a “Bah! I’m talking like a drunkard.”
I just want to give him a hug… while I wait to see what unexpected and inventive use he’ll put that crowbar to.
And… I know Digger isn’t perfect, but I also know she’s not lost. She has such a knack of finding her way to where she’s supposed to be, even if she didn’t exactly *mean* to be going there…. .
@ Xyon. No boding doors yet though…
Thank you motub….. my flatmate who turns everything into a sexual innuendo just came home from work and read the line
“I just want to give him a hug⌠while I wait to see what unexpected and inventive use heâll put that crowbar to.”
… from over my shoulder and is now yelling it at random and out of context and laughing.
Pass the brain bleach please…
Ooooh, this is strip #666. Ominous warning indeed; Ed is smelling the mark of the Beast! đ
Diggeridoo is up to 41 now. She’s right below something called Red Moon Rising. It’s a Steampunk story. My heart, first and foremost, bleeds wombat red. Keep voting.
Don’t you still have the brain bleach from last time, BunnyRock? Or are you out? *passes BR more*
I’d like to see Ed on a little mead. I get the feeling he’d wax even more philosophical than usual. I say a little, because he might also be a sad drunk, and he has a LOT to be sad about.
Up to 41 as of (by the time zone it’s posted in) a day later.
It seems like Digger loses votes during the weekend. So keep voting strong.
A thought that has been niggling at me for a while: are Ed’s speech patterns a result of nearly 20 years of solitude and grief or due to being hypoxic at birth?
Darn! I somehow got it in my head that this was Tuesday’s update and that I had forgotten to check yesterday’s. Wishful thinking, I guess đ
Well, if saying you know what cold air smells like means you’re talking like a drunk, I must be drunk as a natural state of being.
*sneaks some of Ed’s mead*
i love the whole comic. but i think this is officially one of my favorite pages.
Vampiric fruit! http://www.cracked.com/article/128_7-vampires-around-world-worse-than-ones-in-twilight_p2
@ Sage: But Ed is trying to say that ONE smell contains two very different things. It’s telling him both “hyena” and “winter”, and to us readers that means “Oh crap, cold servants,” but to him it means “This is something I’ve never smelled before, and it doesn’t make sense, and worst of all I’m trying to explain it to someone who’s all but nose-blind.” Being completely nose-blind myself, I’ve been on the receiving end of this kind of explanation, and I know how frustrating it can be for the explainer. (Not so much for me, since I just figure I’m destined to Not Get It, but people sometimes try anyway.)
SilverTwilight – I’m thinking Ed’s speech is a result of brain damage. At first I thought it was just that he didn’t speak Digger’s language very well, but none of the other hyenas had any problem with that. Having been alone and depressed for a long time myself (though not nearly as bad as poor Ed – my God, that man has incredible willpower to have survived!), prolonged solitude doesn’t make you talk funny – you tend to mostly not talk at all, with occasional bursts of saying/singing/doing things which would “normally” be “inappropriate in public”, because hey, what public? who’s gonna care?
Otookee – Are you thinking brain damage from birth? Or do you think from the hands of his own mate?
HEY GUYS!!! Just got back from a long trip to Greece. The two downsides to Greece: no girlfriend and no DIGGER!
Wow! Ed – I now officially love you! For a being who doesn’t say much as a rule, that was sheer poetry! As of my vote just now Digger is at 41 đ
this comic is awesome!
Well, that’s not ominous at all.
Duckwhisperer – from birth, I would think. Having looked up on the web just how difficult RL hyena birth is … imagine trying to pass a kidney stone *the size of a baby* !!!
Owww!
I speculate that Ed’s speech issues come as much from the time when he had no tribe and was outcast. Along with being unhomed, he was made less than nothing in his society, and in the process of trying to find a new way to be, developed his own language, as though he had to start all over again.
Just my guess.
Both hypoxia during birth and blunt trauma COULD have caused the speech defect, but it’s quite a specific symptom. Neurological damage can on occasion produce very “clean” symptoms that don’t affect other aspects of som0ones life, but it’s usually because of a tumour of sharp trauma/ foreign object lodged in the brain, as these affect a single area, so a speech problem is possible but unusually “neat” for either of those two possible causes of brain damage (hypoxia during birth/ head-wound from abusive mate). Might I suggest a fourth option? I personally believe he’s talking like that because seventeen years in isolation will do odd things to a person, but I would not be me if I couldn’t play devilâs advocate and suggest a new reason: religion.
We KNOW that contact with the divine in this universe, even for a second, can do unpleasant things to the sentient mind. We know that first-born hyenas are a sacrifice to She-is fiercer and that why they seldom survive ( the fact the birth canal is too short is still also true, but it seems if The People believe its she-is, then it probably is) and that those who do NOT die are “given back” by she-is-fiercer. His skin painting carrier seemed to be at least in part connecting with either their religion, healing or both, and his fame in this was made possible as he was lucky, marked out by she-is from birth.
Marked out how exactly? He had ascribes status, was it just from the circumstances of his birth or did She-is mark him in another way? if so, thatâs TWO people who are marked-down as far as the two local gods (she-sis and mother-of-earthquakes) are concerned about too walk into the lair of a third god, on the orders of a fourth, possibly with a teenage girl who’s been touched by a fifth aiming to join them later, not to mention an entire chorus of Belligerent Shrews, Trolls, of Belligerent Shrews who are ALSO trolls, Hyenas, demons, ocular slugs, theological policemen, skin-lizards, hags, ghosts, flying rats and other general hangers on.
Oh Goody.
You forgot to mention the demons on both sides!
đ
I imagine air before snowing as being a single word in Hyena.
“Wouldnât evil winter be â616 winterâ?
I heard on NPRâs âWait Wait⌠Donât Tell Meâ that the number is in fact 616 and not 666.”
A bit late to the party, but either can be correct. It’s a kabbalistic numerical code referring to the Emperor Nero, whose name was also sometimes spelled Neron. Depending on whether the final ‘n’ is included or not, the total value of the letters comes to either 616 or 666.
Oh, and I’d put Ed’s speech patterns down to a number of different influences.
1) I’ve noticed similar things happening to my speech patterns when I don’t speak for an extended period of time.
2) Having his Name eaten may well have contributed as well. I can totally see the possibility of follow-on effects from the switch to referring to himself by a third-person pronoun for non-persons. And that’s assuming the Name Eating is purely symbolic. If there were some kind of magical force involved in that, it could well inflict further damage.
3) BunnyRock’s probably onto something with the amount of contact with Gods Ed’s had. That can’t be good for mental stability.