Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 25, 2022

The librarian probably said a few swear after hanging up the phone.

He really thought this would work out?

you don’t need to expand your vocabulary like that, Calvin

He can always ask Moe.

You’d think they could be more helpful

The question is…where did he hear this word, to begin with?

The next time Calvin sees some graffiti, he should ask his dad what it says.

Oh my god Calvin!

Attaboy Calvin – you swear to withhold their taxes, that should rattle them.

Most swear words are very easy to spell. They’re phonetic.

For our purposes, they are all spelled the same way…, G-R-A-W-L-I-X.

I remember some teacher in my youth asking me to look up the word nemonia and read the class the definition. Yeah, I know …now. P nemonia! Smart azz teacher.

Before Google the reference librarians would get calls from the bars to settle bets.

Now you just google @#$@$#.

A precursor to a cursor.

He just has to watch George Carlins 7 dirtiest words you can never say on television. Circa 1972.

It’s been implied Calvin does know a few swear words, when playing Scrabble and Monopoly with Hobbes in a couple of Sunday strips.

Today’s cartoon solves a great mystery. Now we know where Calvin gets his great vocabulary. He just calls the librarian and asks her for a big, long word that describes several small ones.

The word must have been meshugganah. Not really a bad word, just a mild insult.

I can see a future Robert Preston here working with Shirley Jones.

Was this really ever a thing? Calling up the reference desk and asking what a word meant? I know you had fewer options before the Internet (especially since respectable dictionaries weren’t likely to include obscenities) but this still seems like a waste of the librarians’ time.

Librarians do get such prank calls, but they say the words. I hope this doesn’t encourage anyone to be a copy cat.

The first, and last three, words of firetruck

A kid came into the library where I worked 50 years ago with the assignment to find out what SNAFU is short for. The librarian pointed out where he could look it up, but knew better than to spell it out herself.

I’m a strong supporter and user of my local public library and have been for over 70 years, and through moves to four different states. After my latest move, however, I found that the local library charges for parking. While I won’t stop utilizing them, I will not vote in support of their tax levies.

I like the strip, but as a librarian in reality what they would do is work with Calvin to help come up with the word even if he can’t say it, and to give the dictionary definition.

Someone should rattle his head

Filthy English: The How, Why, When And What Of Everyday Swearing By Peter Silverton

Available on Amazon & at Barnes & Noble.

I remember the commotion it caused when some dictionaries started to include such words.

You could try to spell it. You’re literate enough that if you get it wrong, the listener should be able to figure out what you mean.

Unlike Hobbes, who spells “creek” as “crk,” which could easily be misinterpreted out of context.

A law library in Florida received a telephone query from an old lady who wanted the definition of a word. The librarian was out, so the clerk took the call, and the old lady couldn’t bring herself to tell him the word. Finally, the clerk managed to drag the following information out of her: it had twelve letters, the first half was “mother”, and she didn’t think the second half was very nice.

So when the librarian got back, she found a note on her desk: “A lady called and wanted the definition of the work ‘motherf***er’”.

And then, in big block letters: “NO, I’M NOT KIDDING.”

Calvin has probably heard several swear words . . . behind his back.

If the librarian complied their mom would stick a bar of Lifebuoy soap in their mouth.

Honestly, I’ve gotten weirder questions…

I asked my Dad once how to spell a word, it was a good one, and he told me to look it up in the dictionary, I told him I didn’t know how to spell it so how could I find it in the dictionary. He ask me if I knew the first letter, which I did, and to start with the first letter and look from there. I now suspect he didn’t know how to spell it either.

Well, son of a … monkey. Yeah—monkey.

So close, and yet so far. Good one.

What is with Calvin and talking about adult and political stuff?