tongue
Original: tongue on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (narration caption over a close-up of a hand cooking): "They'll never understand how in my mother's tongue, I was a poet. In this country, I am just a cook."
Panel 2 (narration caption over a silhouette before the Statue of Liberty): "I came here for work. For my children to have a chance in this world."
Panel 3 (narration caption over a man gesturing toward two smiling children): "I speak to them in our language. They speak back in English. And they laugh."
Panel 4 (narration caption over a car driving away): "I gave everything to get them here. Everything. Now I drive them to school and they run away so their friends won't hear me."
Panel 5 (narration caption over an extreme close-up of a furrowed brow / face): "Ours is a language spoken by kings and conquerors! Philosophers and artists!"
Panel 6 (the man leans out of the car window, shouting): "HERDY GER! HOODY FROODY FROO!"
Three children stand on the curb.
Child (to the girl): "What's with your dad?"
Girl: "He's having a bad morning, can we talk about something else?"
Votey:
A crude, scribbly close-up of a stern face with the word "FROOODY!" scrawled above it.
Panel 2 (narration caption over a silhouette before the Statue of Liberty): "I came here for work. For my children to have a chance in this world."
Panel 3 (narration caption over a man gesturing toward two smiling children): "I speak to them in our language. They speak back in English. And they laugh."
Panel 4 (narration caption over a car driving away): "I gave everything to get them here. Everything. Now I drive them to school and they run away so their friends won't hear me."
Panel 5 (narration caption over an extreme close-up of a furrowed brow / face): "Ours is a language spoken by kings and conquerors! Philosophers and artists!"
Panel 6 (the man leans out of the car window, shouting): "HERDY GER! HOODY FROODY FROO!"
Three children stand on the curb.
Child (to the girl): "What's with your dad?"
Girl: "He's having a bad morning, can we talk about something else?"
Votey:
A crude, scribbly close-up of a stern face with the word "FROOODY!" scrawled above it.
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. The first five panels show poetic, heartfelt narration captions over moody images: a hand cooking food, a silhouette before the Statue of Liberty, a man gesturing at two laughing children, a car driving off, and an extreme close-up of a furrowed brow. The captions read as an immigrant father's lament: in his mother tongue he was a poet, but in this country he is just a cook; he came for his children's future, yet they laugh at him, run away so friends won't hear him, and he insists his language is one of kings, philosophers and artists. The final panel undercuts this: the father leans out of a car window yelling pure gibberish, "HERDY GER! HOODY FROODY FROO!" Three kids on the curb watch; one asks the girl "What's with your dad?" and she replies, "He's having a bad morning, can we talk about something else?" The joke: his eloquent inner monologue is, to everyone else, just nonsense. The votey is a crude scribbled close-up of a stern face with "FROOODY!" scrawled above it.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.