Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 01, 2021

Next week: Pastis will show us how Goofus and Gallant do things differently.

If any of them had any need for KY Jelly, they could have slipped in one more.

Spelling ill as IL for the sake of the joke was a bit of a stretch.

Hawaii, Alabama, Missouri, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Alaska, Maine, Idaho, Oregon, Maryland, Colorado, Delaware, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Vermont, Wyoming, Illinois, Georgia. Did I get them?

HI, AL, MO, MA, PA, LA, AK, ME, ID, OR, IN, OH, MD, CO, DE, OK, CT, VA, WY, IL, GA.

Hawaii, Alabama, Missouri, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Alaska, Maine, Idaho, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, Colorado, Delaware, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Virginia, Wyoming, Illinois, Georgia.

not vermont-vt- but va, virginia. and oh yeah Ohio

What did Delaware boys…

At the first panel I thought we were going to work up to a glorious pun, but by panel 7 I saw it was going no WA.

And I was so sure we were being set up for a pun.

I was expecting another bad pun! I thought “wow I can’t wait to hear this one.”

Suddenly the old song “what did Delaware?” is running through my mind.

No. Apparently there’s 21.

I was looking for the mother of all puns…..disappointed.

I live in MO!

I think it is a state of accomplishment Stephan!

WA the f@$%

Impressive, but I know you coulda put all 50 in there somehow.

Darn. I was expecting a truly epic pun…

As we say here in South Africa, ja, well, no fine. I have no idea what all the state abbreviations are for the USA

Hawaii, Alabama, Missouri, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Alaska, Maine, Idaho, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, Colorado, Delaware, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Virginia, Wyoming, Illinois, Georgia.

Where has Oregon, boys, where has Oregon? She’s gone to pay her Texas… etc.

Not being American I figure I did well to recognize 16 of the state abbreviations. They just don’t seem to follow much rhyme or reason. Some are first two letters, some are first and last letters, Can’t Americans agree to do anything universally the same?

Well played.

98% of Republicans would fail the test….

That was fun.

That’s actually harder then it looks…not only finding them, but actually writing a coherent scene utilizing that many state abbreviations. I remember the older Pearls Strip with all the names of the NFL football teams buried in the dialogue.

My state wasn’t included

Unexpected fun for a Sunday morning, Mr. Pastis.

Still working on “GO”….

He should have talked sports. He could have been an NE Patriots fan. Well, he had MI looking pretty hard, but I found them all.

Only US states? I saw “ON” and wondered if that was for Ontario.

AR AR AR. :)

took me 5 panels to suspect it, but I didn’t read ahead wondering what bizarre pun I’d find.

21 states and one Canadian province ON

Sad “State” of affairs!

You could have had fun with PR. But, alas, they’re still just a territory.

Something in addition to my usual Jumble and Cryptoquote.

That was fun! Kind of like Bizarro.

You got me, Pastis. I was reading the comic trying to spot the (so I thought) imminent pun.

There are so MA-NY.

And one Canadian province!

Ha! Clever!

That’s just genius

Good one!

Ohio in the fourth panel

eduCAtionAL

Now add the capitals…https://youtu.be/bx6c_EefZAQ

Strip gets more and more enjoyable all the time. Thank you.

Ecch

Oh…

And the rest of the world just wanders away in boredom…

I thought we were getting the longest setup in history for some goofy pun

He also slipped in one Canadian province (ON – Ontario).

I figured it out part way through the strip. Clever, Pastis. Very clever.

Are the they using Ne lights? And wouldn’t they have used KY jelly for the CT scan? The waitress is good – she should be in PR. I’m surprised the veteran didn’t mention his MS!

the waitress was Ms O’Neal

Look at the bright side, Rat, at least it wasn’t a pun.

Not Vermont, Virginia

Rat would have said “It’s al about me!”

I got 24! … if you look at the start of words to find others.

Didn’t see that coming as his premise. I guess you have to be more inventive with Sunday strips these days.

Took me three tries, but I found them all.

Excellent!! What fun!

Stephan, today you disappointed a lot us who love your puns and were counting on a good one! You owe us one!

After reading this strip for a few years, I could tell Pastis was setting us up for another pun/word play. So I jumped to the last 2 panels.

He maybe didn’t cover all the US states, but he left commenters open to offer suggestions for many. I consider that a good job well done.

Wow! An edumacashunal Comeek!

that was fun Stephan, thanks!

So, what’s going on in today’s strip?

Chill it, Steph. NO actually that was genious!!

That’s not punny.

A nice change of pace from the usual puns.

I thought for sure this was going to end with AL LA MO DE.

This is another level of trolling.

No WI-fi?

Do it with varieties of apples next time. Please.

Finally solved it! Meantime, the garage burned down, a meteor destroyed my car, my wife filed for divorce, and I missed church.

That compulsion wasted my morning.

This is the most creative PBS strip ever. Well done, Cartoon Boy, well done!

Way to go Pastis, great strip…

We got TWENTY-SEVEN with no duplicates: HI, NE, AL, MO, MA, PA, LA, OH, WI, AK, ME, ID, OR, CA, IN, WA, MD, CO, DE, OK, CT, SC, VA, WY, AR, IL, GA! Got an underlined cartoon for proof!

Wy,Pastis,Wy?

Good job Stephan! LOLOL

Figures I liked Alaska best, would have worked with Arkansas too…AR-15

well, at least it wasn’t yet another lame attempt at a pun

Got ‘em all. And withouth looking at Templo’s post.

Have you no shame, sir? Have you no SHAME?

Hahahaha! this is a really GOOD ONE! Thanks!

Gold Medal Award!

I only got 15 so must try it again. And again! It’s a cute idea and a lot of fun!

Once on the lookout for them, they are not too hard to find. Has Cartoon-Boy run out of puns?

(Fat chance!)

I saw “ON” for Ontario.

21 + 1?

Ah, missed Maine and Ohio. Tricky.

Gotta give you a AAA+ for this one Stephan. Bloggles the mind!

I was hoping this was going to turn into a pun.

HI, AL, MO, MA, PA, LA, AK, ME, ID, OR, IN, OH, MD, CO, DE, OK, CT, VA, WY, IL, GA

Just once I’d like to see one of these build-ups to a pun that doesn’t lead anywhere, and everyone sitting quietly in the last panel.

Genius. Will Shortz should hire you.

Here I was waiting for the mother of all puns!!! I like a good quiz, however. :)

MIssing the best one

Spoiler; list below seeking validation on #20…

Spoiler; list below seeking validation on #20…

Spoiler; list below seeking validation on #20…

Spoiler; list below seeking validation on #20…

This gump is stumped, and still smiling an laughing from this and other Pearls comics…

The list of 19 that I can see… cannot find 20… then GA = 20 or 21…Help!!! :)

1. HI / Hawaii2. AL / Alabama3. MO / Missouri4. MA / Massachusetts5. PA / Pennsylvania6. LA / Louisiana7. AK / Alaska8. ME / Maine9. ID / Idaho10. OR / Oregon11. IN / Indiana12. MD / Maryland13. CO / Colorado14. DE / Deleware15. OK / Oklahoma16. CT / Connecticut17. VA / Virginia18. WY / Wyoming19. IL / Illinois20. >>> Cannot find # 20 <<<21. GA / Georgia

Every other two-letter combination, in order of appearance…

MY, GO, TO, GO, AN, ON, TO, IM, AN, IM BY, IM, TO, AT

… of which only ON looks close, and Ontario is a) a town in California not a state, and b) a province, in Canada, not a state in the US of A

Who can help and share?

Thanks!

Thanks to emmapocl , #12 is OH / Ohio… and all the others increase by 1. Thank you, also, Mr. Pastis!

I love how Rat realizes nothing until Pig uses only one L. Two flippers—I mean, thumbs, of course, obviously I don’t have flippers, haha—up!

I only found 16 (first comment)