Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for November 06, 2021

Everybody Poops.

I think it would be funny if Marigold’s name began with a “C”.

You see, Phoebe, the baby is constructed out of honeycomb, and then the stork delivers it. That’s why the process is called “The Birds and the Bees.”

I’m pretty sure it has something to do with bowls…

What’s so funny —in the parents’ point of view— about BM & AM?

My initials are BM and, as a kid, I never knew why my friends found that so funny. Eventually someone did explain it to me.

I had a supervisor once named Mike. He said he was “BM= Babysitter Mike.” That’s not how I saw him.

hate it when people tell me a word is bad but not why its bad. I also hate how I can’t talk about BMWs or Hellicopters around some people

I knew what that meant before I started 1st grade. My parent’s weren’t exactly known for making “cutesy” names for basic bodily functions, even when I was a child.

Her parents should have explained it to her!

Huh. Had to look it up—then look it up a lot more. Either I lived a sheltered 42 years or BM isn’t a term used much in Australia.

I did like that the first result when searched was “bruh moment”.

Must be an old people thing.

Hmm… Perhaps BM = “Before Marriage” and AM = “After Marriage”?

Don’t worry, kid, you’ll find out.

According to google, it’s a musical artist

Poor Phoebe. It’s so unfair when adults don’t explain what a word means.

“Bottom Mush”

In the first panel, Phoebe says “too”, but I didn’t see Marigold saying her life changed when she met Phoebe.

Batman hates it when other superheroes call him that.

Aw crap.

Let’s get it started and hot! Let’s get it started in here!

Let’s get it started and hot! Let’s get it started in here!

Oh, poo!

Marigold overlooks the fact that Phoebe is actually giving her a compliment when she refers to the period of time after meeting her as AU. (Think about the periodic table of elements)

It would also get confusing referring to a time period as “A.M.” Might get misinterpreted.

52 years on this planet, and never once heard “BM” used at all, in any context – maybe an American-only thing?

How about PM – “Pre-Marigold”?

Googled B.M. and there are literally dozens of meanings. Hard to tell which one the author meant, several of them would apply.

I’ll tell you why!

My parents were both doctors and referred to “having a BM” all the time. It was no secret what it meant in my house. Not sure why it would be — seems like it would be preferable to more vulgar names for the same thing.

So Phoebe never bothered to google it and find out? She has a smartphone and a tablet, how could she not know if she really wanted to? Nor would any “net nanny” software catch that phrase.

Bowel Movement. Really her parents didn’t tell her yet she does it at least once a day?

I’m surprised Phoebe’s parents are that prudish. I remember hearing that as like, a preschooler, though I don’t think I understood the letters – I heard it like “be yem.”

In the coin collecting world, BU stands for Brilliant Uncirculated, a good quality for coins to have. AU, of course, is the chemical name for Aurum, or gold.

One time I saiid to a stepfather that I had to go BM. He asked me what it meant, and of course I didn’t, so I guessed and said “bathroom”.

Speaking of B.M, here is the history of the Boston & Maine Railroad according to Claude Wiatrowski.

The Andover & Wilmington Railroad started operation in Maine in 1836 and crossed into New Hampshire in 1840 to pioneer the route that merged into the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1842, taking the name of the New Hampshire railroad chartered in 1835. The B&M would absorb other railroads until its rails stretched north to Sherbrooke, Quebec; northeast to Portland, Maine; west to the Hudson River in Mechanicsville, New York; and south to New Haven, Conneticut. In 1900, the B&M acquired the Fitchburg Railroad, which owned the 4.75-mie Hoosac Tunnel in northwestern Massachusetts. The B&M was purchased by Guilford Transportation Industries in 1983.

The B&M operated the Flying Yankee, the nation’s third diesel streamliner. Routed over the tracks of both the B&M and Maine Central Railroad, the Yankee could carry 140 passengers between Bangor, Maine and Boston, with a stop in Maine’s capital city, Portland.