I think the mistake is on G&K’s part rather than Alan’s. If Piro really were a corpsman than that’s the term he would’ve used rather than medic (the Navy really takes their terminology seriously too), and that’s what Alan would’ve known him as. This is just G&K either not knowing or not caring that the Navy has their own vocabulary. But it’s a very common mistake, so I don’t hold it against them. Besides, the point Alan made got across just fine.
I wonder though, out of curiosity, why does the Navy insist on a separate word? I know the reason they refer to their fighter jet jocks as aviators instead of pilots is that in naval vernacular a pilot is the person who drives the ship, so they needed a separate term to differentiate. But what’s wrong with medic? Sometimes I think the Navy just likes to be different.
I’m not convinced that there really is some long-term plan to let Luann grow up. My suspicion is that once Greg passes away then Karen will either end the strip altogether or reset it back to middle school (similar to what happened in For Better or for Worse.) After all, Luann has been in community college for over a decade now and hasn’t done a single thing to prepare for a transfer to a 4-year university. She’s just treading water. Brad’s character development stalled out upon marrying Toni, and Gunther has barely appeared at all in the past year. Tiffany’s been featured a lot but only to obsess over Kip over and over again.
It’s like the strip has given up on all its characters.
I guess this disproves the idea that Bernice had gotten over Piro. Though it’s rather sad that she only regained interest in him after finding out Luann liked him too.
She’s college-aged, not 9 years old. The self-discipline to get through college is pretty important to have when you’re that old. Especially the amount of discipline and drive needed for medical school.
How is it trolling when she has a long-established pattern of giving up after the first difficulty? Remember how she applied to a single university (Juilliard at that) and then when Frank said he wouldn’t pay, gave up on university altogether and resigned herself to junior college? How about when she gave up on dating apps after a single bad date? How about the drama camp that she never attempted again after the first one failed?
Luann either gets distracted and moves on from things, or quits in frustration when success doesn’t fall into her lap. She doesn’t have the self-discipline or commitment to get through medical school. She has a big heart, but that’s not enough.
His character entry on this very site floated the possibility.