# 9 Chickweed Lane - The Plot Thickens **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 4, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160 "2010-08-04T16:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/81 "2010-08-19T12:39:11Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > For someone [who’s just met his heretofore unknown daughter and granddaughter](http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2010/8/19&name=9_Chickweed_Lane), he’s remarkably unimpressed about the entire event. I wasn’t under the impression that he necessarily knows that he’s talking to his daughter and granddaughter just yet. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/82 "2010-08-19T18:35:12Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > In the third panel, is he looking at Juliette’s face or checking out her breasts? Peter Kiesl is an honorable man! :mad: He would never stare at his daughter’s breasts. > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Aren’t we always told that Europeans are not emotionally showy people? Let me help you out with the stereotypes here! A British person, finding out that Juliette is his never-met-before daughter, would say “Quite! This is rather smashing, eh? Would you like to join me for tea?” An italian would burst into tears, lift her into his arms, kiss her on both cheeks, and inviter her home to spend a month with the family. An Austrian should be about half-way between the two. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/83 "2010-08-19T19:54:56Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > > > For someone [who’s just met his heretofore unknown daughter and granddaughter](http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2010/8/19&name=9_Chickweed_Lane), he’s remarkably unimpressed about the entire event. > > I wasn’t under the impression that he necessarily knows that he’s talking to his daughter and granddaughter just yet. Check the strip for the 18th, when he says he’s been informed that he was acquainted with Juliette’s mom. When she asks ‘in what respect?’ his response is, ‘you are the respect.’. I interpreted that as meaning Edda told him, ‘I look familiar because I think I’m your grand-daughter, and over there is your daughter.’ Admittedly, I could be wrong, but that interpretation makes the most sense to me. Now in a world where some stranger would spout off that long soliloquy about a grave’s inhabitant(s), maybe it might well make sense to greet one’s unexpected descendants in such a fashion, I’ll admit. It just feels odd that even a Stoic Austrian would belabor such a tale to anyone, especially newly-discovered kin via a lost love. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/84 "2010-08-19T20:25:02Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Check the strip for the 18th, when he says he’s been informed that he was acquainted with Juliette’s mom. When she asks ‘in what respect?’ his response is, ‘you are the respect.’. Oops! I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/85 "2010-08-19T20:44:59Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > > > In the third panel, is he looking at Juliette’s face or checking out her breasts? > > Peter Kiesl is an honorable man! :mad: He would never stare at his daughter’s breasts. I thought it might have been within the realm of McEldowney’s sensibilities that the joke was that Kiesl recognized the family resemblance among young Edie, Juliette, and Edda from their breasts. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/86 "2010-08-20T01:18:51Z")
And it was pre-marital sex. Bill got full disclosure before he married the woman in question. What is likely is that the other guy never knew about the kid. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/87 "2010-08-21T22:45:13Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > > > In the third panel, is he looking at Juliette’s face or checking out her breasts? > > Peter Kiesl is an honorable man! :mad: He would never stare at his daughter’s breasts. > > > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > > > Aren’t we always told that Europeans are not emotionally showy people? > > Let me help you out with the stereotypes here! > > A British person, finding out that Juliette is his never-met-before daughter, would say “Quite! This is rather smashing, eh? Would you like to join me for tea?” > > An italian would burst into tears, lift her into his arms, kiss her on both cheeks, and inviter her home to spend a month with the family. > > An Austrian should be about half-way between the two. An American would demand a paternity test and keep looking over his shoulder for Maury Povich. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/88 "2010-08-23T19:46:46Z")
I wonder how Thorax is going to react about this new(old) beau of his woman? ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/89 "2010-08-23T20:22:13Z")
I have a feeling he won’t mind too much. Being a highly developed alien lifeform and all. On the inside he’ll cry. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/90 "2010-08-23T20:34:25Z")
After today’s comic, my prediction is that Kiesl and Grandma will have a long-distance relationship and soften up the character of the old biddy. The artist must have gotten tired of portraying her as a relentlessly evil old harridan. Thorax may not even enter into it. When is the last time that the comic strip implied a relationship between Thorax and Grandma? It must have been months and months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/91 "2010-08-23T20:38:19Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Thorax may not even enter into it. When is the last time that the comic strip implied a relationship between Thorax and Grandma? It must have been months and months ago. Yes, but in true newspaper comic style, “months and months ago” was the day before. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/92 "2010-08-23T23:38:55Z")
That’s true, but have they shown Grandma and Thorax as being more than friends since Edda moved to New York, for example? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/93 "2010-08-24T01:31:30Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > That’s true, but have they shown Grandma and Thorax as being more than friends since Edda moved to New York, for example? I seem to remember a few strips since then where Edna and Thorax are walking holding hands. I couldn’t pinpoint them for you, though. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/94 "2011-08-17T15:01:03Z")
I know this is an OLD thread, but someone over at the Comics Curmudgeon made [such a perfect observation](http://joshreads.com/?p=10673#comment-1002765) about the current Monty!God/Mother Superior/Nun-With-A-Bun storyline that I HAD to share it… > [@Diva](#): > > Ever notice how what people say about God tells you more about them than it does God? Loving people see God as loving, judgmental people see him as judgmental, etc. Brooke McEldowney sees God as an overly verbose dork who likes to wax poetic about why everyone else in the universe is innately inferior to him. I’m just saying. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160/95 "2011-08-17T16:36:10Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I know this is an OLD thread, but someone over at the Comics Curmudgeon made [such a perfect observation](http://joshreads.com/?p=10673#comment-1002765) about the current Monty!God/Mother Superior/Nun-With-A-Bun storyline that I HAD to share it… > [@](#): > > Brooke McEldowney sees God as an overly verbose dork who likes to wax poetic about why everyone else in the universe is innately inferior to him. But…isn’t She? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-chickweed-lane-the-plot-thickens/549160.md?page=4)