Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 23, 2021

It’s a thin line between love and cooties.

right… cooties

…..ain’t love grand?

Love doctors, these two ain’t!

For me, at the age of 13, was all about boobs.

… and your mother puts two bags over you head in case the kiss tears the first one.

Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna)(and that’s Dr Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā to the likes of you) (and a strong contender for the title of the most brilliant man ever born) wrote that love is a form of temporary insanity. He suggested one or two cures, but said that the most effective was for the lovers to marry each other. That would soon bring them back to reality.

Love?… cooties?… Yeh, works for me, sure!

Whew! Thanks Hobbes – i always suspected that falling head-over-heels in love was a medical condition. My friends thought i was just an idiot.

What the heck is cooties anyway?

Yeah, once again Hobbes is right on the money, Eddie Money.

It surrounds me

Over me like a sea of madness

It controls me

Makes me do all the things I do for you

You’re on my mind, babe

Thinkin’ about you now

And I don’t know if I’ll make it through the night

- Eddie Money released 1982.

Another of my favourite strips – especially the throwaway joke at the beginning which I have quoted before. It sums up Calvin and Susie’s love-hate relationship very well.

Love is a form of insanity.

I love the first two panels.

Tiger-splaining – works for me.

Sounds like low blood sugar.

Huh. That’s my reaction to Kansas City BBQ ribs. Must be love.

Hobbs has just perfectly described love.

Cooties. Love. Same thing. Go for it, Calvin.

You’ll be admonished by them to love them for their “mind.” Go with that.

I’m trying to figure out why a strip on May 23rd (and that was the date on the original time stamp too) has snow on the ground and full winter gear! Where does Calvin live? Siberia?

An anagram of “shameless flirtations” is “Is fathomless latrines.”

Ahhhh! I had forgotten about grade school and “cooties”! ;o)

Pretty accurate description there, Hobbes!

One of my favorites!

I like how all these early strips are just setting up Calvin’s distaste for girls and love.

Hobbes has been taking “making-****-up” lessons from dad.

Isn’t Calvin a little young to need deodorant?

That’s what happens and marriage is a cure I agree.

Cooties. They always lead to smooching. And, other stuff. When you’re older.

best description ever

Calvin and Susie are celebrating their 25th anniversary in September, hosted by their three children.

I once saw an ex-girlfriend from a distance in a public place. I had a feeling like being stabbed in the gut. I thought, “It was bad enough loving her; now I’m going to die of a cliche.”

Waterson has said he based Suzie on his wife

Cootie cuties.

girl cooties

Cooties? Love? It’s all a matter of perspective. :)

If you look at the first panel a certain way it looks like Susie is wearing a mask. Waterson was just like Nostradamus

I guess Calvin and Hobbes haven’t created the G.R.O.S.S. club yet based on the “… way we flirt.” comment. Then again, this strip is an earlier one.

Hobbes is describing infatuation, not love.

In the lyrics for Colbie Callat’s “Bubbly,” “It starts in my toes; Makes me crinkle my nose; Wherever it goes; I always know” My stomach gets butterflies when I think of my love.

It was. And it is MARVELOUS!

Is he talking about love, or Montezuma’s Revenge?

Early in the strip Watterson seemed to not have Calvin and Susie hate each other so much. As time progressed, he may have thought them hating each other had better comic potential.

Cooties? Calvin, you are wise beyond your years… Wait ’til you find out what cooties REALLY are!

This is actually shockingly dead on, lol. The “Babble like a cretin until she leaves bit” is sooooooooooo true to teenage boys in particular.

Go with cooties. Safer.

I don’t think 6 year olds should wear deodorant…