Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 27, 2021

Wearing shorts all year round is the goal of some UPS drivers.

Portland, Oregon, Maine, Tennessee, Connecticut, Texas, Indiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, and Victoria, Australia. According to my weather map.

What — no “guess the literary character from Caulfield’s costume” this year? I’m disappointed, Jef.

Year ‘round shorts seem to be a thing pretty much everywhere except where the temp drops so low that you can get frost bite. Son prefers shorts year around (lows where he lives get down to the teens several times in winter). I get cold just THINKING about going outside in shorts except when the temp’s above 80º F. Genetics is weird.

Number of places named Portland per country:There are 22 places named Portland in America.

There are 2 places named Portland in United Kingdom.

There are 2 places named Portland in Australia.

There is one place named Portland in New Zealand.

There is one place named Portland in Netherlands.

There is one place named Portland in Jamaica.

There is one place named Portland in Ireland.

There is one place named Portland in Guadeloupe.

There is one place named Portland in Barbados.

I was in Banff one spring day when the temps rose to the 50s. All the locals were wearing shorts.

OK, fine. So it’s the western Portland. Here in Maine, folks don’t wear shorts in the winter. (Unless they have come here from Québec).

A Canadian fellow named Peck

Was frozen right up to his neck.

When asked, “Are you froze?”

He replied, "I suppose!

But we don’t call this cold in Quebec!"

Flannel and shorts year-round? Portland OR. There are plenty of boy-buns being sported there as well. (eye roll)

Portland Hoffa, Fred Allen’s wife. I don’t think she wore flannel shirts, though. She was named after Portland Oregon, where she was born.

Here in San Diego it would be Flannel shirts, shorts, and flip flops. When it gets really cold, below 50 F, they switch to Ugg boots.

Flannel shirts are high fashion. But nobody can tell me what sort of animal they come from.

Don’t forget about Portland, Michigan!!

Don’t forget the many-strapped leather sandals with thin black supp-hose: the classic garb of Florida’s White-chested Shell Picker.

You think there are lots of Portlands? Check out Springfields.

One things humans are very good at is naming things (or using phrases) which are just descriptions of things. “We are living by the port, so we live on port land.” The city of Frankfurt is supposedly named such because that’s the place where the Germanic tribe known as the Francs forded the river, once upon a time. Oxford is where the oxen used to ford the river, etc etc

I have several, but I wear them in colder weather.

I also wear them buttoned up & tucked in my jeans.

I found this strip extremely satisfying because I remembered Portland, Oregon being the only one (of the two) that fit yesterday, but I didn’t remember why. (To repeat the comment I’ve made before, I hope to learn the skill of order and timing well enough to do that.)

The ancient Greeks figured the Persians were sissy’s because they wore pants into battle.

I’ve seen it done in Houston.

I knew a guy in college in Minnesota in the mid-70’s by the nickname “Captain Hibbing” who wore flannel shirts and shorts all year round. In Minnesota. When winter temperatures hit 20 below and fall/spring temperatures hit mid 90’s. Awesome guy.