I guess, but that kinda ruins the joke, right?Report
The punch line, addressed at the friend who didn’t pick him up, is “I’m getting to ride in the kind of car you can only wish you had.” That’s typical of the Briggs strips we’ve been reading and still works.
What ran through my head was that (a) he’s already late for work, so would have been late for a car pool as well; (b) there has to be some reason that the neighbor should have known, and the stranger did know, he was waiting for a ride; so (c) “car” in the first panel has to be some sort of public transit and the guy is waiting at a stop.Report
Yeah, still works. I just never made the jump to streetcar, then assumed he had a car but his driver was late. But then he wouldn’t be so excited about riding in a ‘nice’ car, because he has one!
That makes sense but did people refer to streetcars as “the car”?
Do people in San Francisco (or, hell, other places with streetcars) casually refer to them as “cars”?
If so, this is like a cartoon about (googles animals that went extinct in the 1930s… huh, they’re mostly in Australia).Report
Regional vernacular can be odd, especially from most of a hundred years ago. Chicagoans still say they’re “waiting for the ‘L'” to mean the next train.Report
I thought it was always a Trolley in SF. Not sure about NYC (I always picture these in NYC for some reason).Report
Ur-Uber.Report
I am actually curious what car he was waiting for. Was that a thing?Report
A car pool? I guess? That he just left without a care?
Gotta get to work, I guess.Report
I was guessing streetcar.Report
I guess, but that kinda ruins the joke, right?Report
The punch line, addressed at the friend who didn’t pick him up, is “I’m getting to ride in the kind of car you can only wish you had.” That’s typical of the Briggs strips we’ve been reading and still works.
What ran through my head was that (a) he’s already late for work, so would have been late for a car pool as well; (b) there has to be some reason that the neighbor should have known, and the stranger did know, he was waiting for a ride; so (c) “car” in the first panel has to be some sort of public transit and the guy is waiting at a stop.Report
Yeah, still works. I just never made the jump to streetcar, then assumed he had a car but his driver was late. But then he wouldn’t be so excited about riding in a ‘nice’ car, because he has one!
Fun to think about.Report
That makes sense but did people refer to streetcars as “the car”?
Do people in San Francisco (or, hell, other places with streetcars) casually refer to them as “cars”?
If so, this is like a cartoon about (googles animals that went extinct in the 1930s… huh, they’re mostly in Australia).Report
Regional vernacular can be odd, especially from most of a hundred years ago. Chicagoans still say they’re “waiting for the ‘L'” to mean the next train.Report
I thought it was always a Trolley in SF. Not sure about NYC (I always picture these in NYC for some reason).Report