Thereby Hangs a Tale ...

So ... yesterday ... in the coffee shop ... I was reading (via iPad) the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon-Journal (I do so every afternoon).

And, I'll confess, I was on the prowl for cartoons to share on Facebook. (Facebook: What I have instead of a life.)

As my FB friends know, I usually "share" cartoons that are related to language or literature. (Such an intellectual, I!)

Anyway, yesterday, there was a cartoon that I just didn't "get." And that, my friends, is annoying. There are lots of things I don't "get" in this world (don't "get" me started), but daily newspaper cartoons? Not usually ...

Below you see it. Yesterday's Argyle Sweater cartoon. I stared at it, stared at it. Nada.

So I showed it to my friend Chris, sitting nearby. Nada.

So ... I thought ... maybe this is an age thing. So I took it up to the counter to show Nigel, who's, oh, about fifty years younger than I am. And a new young barista (I've forgotten her name--dotage.)  Nada.

At first ...

But then Nigel had an insight ... that old nursery rhyme "This Little Piggy."  And Chris, who had joined us at the counter (as had Nigel's mom, who owns the shop), said one of the lines involves "roast beef." And I saw the Arby's sign ... voila!  Collaboration!

And so we solved it in a multi-generational (I confess: I was the Not-So-Wise Elder), bi-gender approach. A model for world peace, etc.

Here's the entire old nursery rhyme:

This Little Piggy

BY MOTHER GOOSE

This little piggy went to market,

This little piggy stayed home,

This little piggy had roast beef,

This little piggy had none.

This little piggy went ...

Wee, wee, wee,

all the way home!