Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for January 15, 2024

What the flack???

Almost as fun to say as “smock”.

The definition I know is that it’s what the pixies are giving Marigold.

This whomps.:-D

Three common uses of flack:

a noun meaning “criticism”

a verb meaning “to provide publicity for”

a noun meaning “an agent who gives publicity for something”

I did not know the second two means. That might be because I’ve never been in PR. The first meaning, though, I have received often and in great quantities.

Or almost as fun as saying laydles

While I couldn’t find a good explanation for the origin of the term “flack” as a publicity agent, I note that its origin in the 1940s is not long after the 1930s origin of the term “flak” meaning anti-aircraft defense fire, which was a distorted elision of the German term “Fliegerabwehrkanone” meaning “aviator-defense gun”. Hence, I suggest that “flack” originated as the use of negative publicity to deflect attention from someone’s foibles, as a means to defend them from criticism. Its meaning then progressed to a more general reference to a public relations representative.

This strip is on fleek!

I’d join in and contribute, but I typically do not give a flack.

It’s derived from the name of a publicist, and is only similar to other uses by coincidence.

Is it Aflac or Aflack?.

Or AFLAAAAAC!!

Flacks take flak

A flack!

Does Phoebe get to wear a flak jacket?

What the flack is going on here?!

They are the one who makes the statements to the media trying to undo your latest gaffe.

This isn’t an insurance commercial is it, usually that features a duck!

I heard of flack vests!

Just wait until she learns her first cuss word….

That won’t get old already.

A soul singer named Roberta?

Stick an ‘af’ on the front, and you came form a company!

They can be a flack pack. It’s a flack pack attack! The flack pack attack will give you a smack!!

At least Phoebe doesn’t shoot down Marigold’s ideas.

There’s a lot of words that are fun to say, some of them you probably shouldn’t say though

“So please, stay off my back

Or I will attack

And you don’t want that”

If you knock my flack, I’ll give you a whack!

Wishing you a meaningful Martin Luther King Day.

Like “emergency situation” (an emergency is a situation) “P.R. flack” is redundant. “Flack” is slang for a public-relations person. Don’t know the origin, but since a PR person’s job often is to deflect criticism—“take flak”—for a client, that might be a connection.

Seeing her adventure with the pixies, Marigold really needs a P.R. flack.

They sound like ducks to me.

muckluck