Frazz by Jef Mallett for July 13, 2013

“Start” by splaining this…

And try not to startle me….

“Start” ???

I’m sure glad I don’t own a dog on the 4th of July…..Cat’s deal with it……

Maybe they are French and are celebrating July 14 – Bastille Day!

Huh?Start????

I don’t get it either.

Yet another Mallett punch line that flies over my head.Can anyone explain this please?

Is this the queue for those who don’t understand the strip?

I guess so, I don’t get it either.

It’s simple. “A start” means…oh shucks, I forgot.

Um, people? Do you suppose it means that at least somebody is patriotic enough to still be celebrating?

I don’t get it either.

If Jef is familiar with Milwaukee traditions it might explain a lot – Bastille Days in Milwaukee is a 4-day event which starts with a “storming the Bastille” race and fireworks

I think it means the late fireworks are just starting. Around here you get idiots shooting off fireworks into August.

It would startle me …

What is patriotic about fireworks? In the papers recently was a lot of coverage about how difficult random fireworks going off is for veterans – reminds them of blasts on the front line!!!! It would be far more patriotic NOT to shoot fireworks. If you want to be patriotic, donate time to help veterans instead. Or just have a cook-out with friends. The word for the behavior described in the strip would be ‘inconsiderate’.

People don’t set off fireworks to be patriotic. They do it because they enjoy making explosions happen. The 4th of July just gives them an excuse to do so without getting in trouble.

‘A Start’ means there’s an anticipation of more to come. As in, ’That’s a good start’ when someone starts doing something but there’s so much more to do. So in this case, they’re saying there’s way more to come, or should be.

Add me to the list…it is not understandable…“start”? Hmmmm…

http://astart.fmhi.usf.edu/

My guess: it’s a start toward believing in a country where there are a lot of reasons in recent years to lose sight of its ideals.

I thought perhaps Miss Plainwell was referring to the “start” of the runup to next year’s Fourth!

@varnes

As to the pets during fireworks season, I’ve heard some heartrending stories about the terror some of them experience, and the damage done to houses as a result. I’m grateful our basset hound and all our various kitties over the years have remained placid throughout those trying evenings.

Oh, well, actually, I like annieb’s answer! I agree fireworks aren’t necessarily patriotic, so maybe that isn’t the best guess.

Sad about how animals can react: the local convenience store has a note posted about a very cute dog who was spooked on the fourth and disappeared. Family misses her terribly….cash reward. Why can’t animals understand that making noise and blowing things up are fun?

?

According to freedictionary.com there is this definitionV (intr) Brit (informal) to commence quarrelling or causing a disturbanceV(but I do not get the joke either)

It’s not patriotic, it is selfish and rude. Dude across the street was shooting off illegals for 3 days past the 4th. Jerk. He has several flags that he hangs, but USA isn’t one of them.

OK, I’m feeling very old. I believe the reference is "giving someone a start, as a surprise, a jarring, and in this case, unwelcome, interruption. The term has fallen out of common use, obviously. :-)

I gave my Freddog 5 mg of valium 1/2 hour before our town’s fireworks show to keep him calm. He still barked like crazy the first few minutes, then settled down.

I give Jef a pass today, brilliance needs an occasional day off.

If my part of Michigan is like other places, kids ( and adults) are popping them off all night until school starts…and then there’s Saturday nights at the casino….

Another joining the line of the bemused.

archipelago: It has to do with John Adams’ suggestion of “illuminations” as a way to celebrate independence – on July 2 when it was declared, not on the fourth when it was merely documented.

Hmmm… came here hoping to find that someone had explained it. Not feeling quite as stupid now. Maybe it will come to me later.

As others have pointed out, Bastille Day (tomorrow, the 14th) is celebrated in many areas of the US – including Michigan, where Jef lives. I’m surprised that Frazz isn’t in the 15K run over in Fenton, today.

We really do not celebrate “Bastille Day” here in central FlorryDUH!, but my neighbors are still shooting off fireworks (started on June 30 – practice, I guess). Funny though: to purchase fireworks in FlorryDUH!, you sign a paper that you live in a rural-zoned area and are purchasing said fireworks to ‘scare off avian pests from crop fields". I do not think there is a wheat field within 30 miles of my house, and it’s only around the 4th of July that my neighbor’s ‘garden’ suffers from ‘avian pests’. And what bird is eating in the crop field at 1:30 am when the humans are setting off said “avian deterrents”?

Liberty was just declared on that day, by the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It took a long, long time to achieve. Hence the continuation of “fireworks”, as our founding fathers had to endure prolonged battle.

Just a “start”.. ;-)

I think it’s inconsiderate to have the fireworks go on so long after July 4th. Why, one of my neighbors blew up some of my Christmas lawn decorations…. :)

I think Jessica_D said it first. Regardless, if a gag is that obscure (and I’m not 100% sure that was the meaning) it’s like a Led Zeppelin.

Another candidate for the “Comics I Don’t Understand” site?

Yep, it’s already there… http://comicsidontunderstand.com/wordpress/2013/07/13/whats-the-word-hummingbird/#comments

I also get sick of all the loud banging noises. One night recently, some of the explosions went on until 11 pm, and it was at least a few days after the 4th. My kitty deals with it but doesn’t like it.

Well, I’m still thinkin’ Miss Plainwell means the neighbors are getting a head “start” on next year’s July 4 celebrations; it just seems to come closest to making sense. But – who knows.

**

Speaking of Bastille Day, when my daughter was about six months old, I visited the local day-care center, thinking she needed a place to spend a few hours a day while I worked in my home office. In the reception area, I spotted a hand-lettered sign that said, “Happy St. Bastille Day!” A brief conversation with the young lady at the desk revealed that the mostly Catholic, largely Hispanic staff there had assumed that if it was a holiday, and there was a single name involved, then it must be about a saint. When I gave her a brief synopsis of the actual facts, she looked as if I were speaking Serbo-Croatian. My daughter spent the rest of her infancy with me in my office at home, and we got along just fine.

i thought it was heading toward gang shootings, but I don’t get the “Start” reference.

July 14 = Bastille Day = the “start” of the French Revolution.

In other words, the neighbors are shooting fireworks to celebrate not the American revolution, but the FRENCH revolution. And like the American one, the French one is celebrated on a day that marks the START of the revolution (July 14).

A start to the months of fireworks shooting-off.

It means just the beginning of the rest of the fireworks…

Could be a reference to Les Mis…

Who will not be slaves againWhen the beating of your heartEchoes the beating of the drumsThere is a life about to startWhen tomorrow comes

“Tomorrow,” of course, being Bastille Day

I think it means that someone is still just starting to do fireworks and they’ll be going for a while yet