Baldo by Hector D. Cantú and Carlos Castellanos for June 17, 2010

Hello Jing! You better not be a jerk.

^Probably. He’s undoubtedly the genius of the school.

Odd, when the newspaper publishes the valedictorians of the local schools who win scholarships to Yale, Harvard, and MIT, Most are first generation Oriental immigrants. Since the liberals discounted Jennings back in the 60s, it must mean that parental involvement means something. Whoda thunk? Nurture means as much as nature.

So what kind of a surname is Shuo?

Look at Beatriz’ expressions! Just a twist of the lips and it expresses so much. Also, look at how she dislikes him from the outset. i wonder why? I know that some hotties dislike any new males because the feel that they will have to fend them off during the breaking-in period.

Carmy, I agree with you LOLs! Yeah, that Asian boy better not to be a jerk anyway.

Potrzebie, I can see the way Beatriz’s facial expression shows clearly. She just frowned after the Asian boy labeled them dumb word, “the patronymic surname.” Seems to me that Asian boy is not nice to call the people silly words.

My last name “SLAGLE” came from 100% Germany. Used to be “SCHLAGEL” so the first immigrant from Germany in 1700’s changed from his original last name to “SLAGLE.”

Though I am tempted to beat the rush hour and just start disliking Shuo right now, that response may be hasty.

Most folks do not label or make declarative statements right off the bat about people they meet. Such a declaration could indicate Shuo is “naive” with respect to manners, or it could be a distancing ploy – intended to offend and establish a position superior to Baldo and Beatriz.

In either case, Baldo or Beatriz, could level the field by commenting that Shuo’s statement “could be considered offensive, did he really intend that?” In the former case, it teaches Shuo not to say things like that and allows him to ask about such issues in the future. In the latter case it forces him to declare himself a jerk or back down.

In any event, ya gotta love Baldo! Its a great comic on so many levels.

Бальдомеро Сергеевич Бермудез

Now that has patronynic in it: Baldomero Sergeyevich (or son of Sergio) Bermudez; Graciella’s patronynic would be…

Грейшелла Сергеевна (Graciella Sergeyevna [or daughter of Sergio]).

“So what kind of a surname is Shuo?”

It might not be his surname at all. If he’s using traditional Asian nomenclature, Shuo would be his given name, and Jing would be his family name (cf. Mao Tse Tung or Kim Jong Il). (I’m not saying this is likely, just possible.)

comixavier, in Russian, Gracie’s last name would be “Бермудезa” rather than “Бермудез”, of course.

In Iceland, they might not have surnames at all. Baldo might well simply be “Baldomero Sergiosson”, and Gracie would be “Graciella Rosasdottir” (Icelandic females use matronyms rather than patronyms).

I’m confused. Jing Shou sounds patronistic, but Baldo’s patronymic?

Y’know people, Why don’t you just see what kind of person he is before rushing off to judgment? Maybe he’s not trying to establish some kind of distance or superiority. It could be that it’s just his way of thinking and talking. It takes all types to make up a planet. The neat thing is that we all fit here! Besides, a walking encyclopaedia is a good thing to have around. Ask Captain Kirk. (Remember, Not McCoy, Kirk!)

Patronymic surnames are extremely common. Celtic names with O’-, Mac-, Mc-, or Fitz-; German, English, and Scandanavian names with -son, -sohn, or -sen; Hebrew names with ben-; Arabic names with bin- or ibn- almost all Armenian names with -ian or -yan; Slavic names with -wicz, -witz, -vitch, etc. (Who knew that high-school term-paper would come in handy someday!)

But the only Spanish I know is what I learn by comparing the English and Spanish Baldo and Yenny strips, so I would never have guessed that Bermudez or Ortiz were patronyms. I wonder if the -z is all that remains of Latin “filius” (also the source of Fitz-).

As near as I can guess, Jing Shuo is Chinese, but without seeing how it’s written in Chinese characters there is no telling the meaning. However, I’m not sure the Chinese have patronymics at all.

fritzoid, matronyms have been catching on here but saying Icelandic females use them rather than patronyms isn’t quite there. My kids are Jónsdóttir and Jónsson, instead of Hildigunnardóttir or Hildigunnarson, basically because it’s shorter and easier to use their father’s name than mine. I’d say at least 95% of the population here uses patronyms, matronyms are still pretty unusual.

Except for Americans who had slave ancestors. Oopsy