# I don't understand Arlo and Janis today April 18 2021 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [April 18, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264 "2021-04-18T19:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/41 "2021-04-20T12:12:03Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > We’ve seen Janis’ sex smile plenty. That ain’t it. Looks like it to me. Combined with that shifty-eyed glance out the fourth wall, it suggests they’re up to something. I don’t find this “stop and smell the flowers” explanation at all convincing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/42 "2021-04-20T12:24:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t find this “stop and smell the flowers” explanation at all convincing. Especially since they’re not, you know, doing that. If they had some flowers in their hand, showing themselves actually enjoying them, or were down on the ground smelling them, or something, then this joke would work. That said, you do have to allow for the idea that everyone is right about the intended joke, and that it’s just badly executed (by our standards, at least). I mean, if it isn’t that joke, and no one actually understand it, then whatever the joke was intended to be was definitely badly executed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/43 "2021-04-20T12:42:11Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That said, you do have to allow for the idea that everyone is right about the intended joke, and that it’s just badly executed (by our standards, at least). I allow for it, I just don’t find it at all convincing. I’m also surprised that, while there are discussions elsewhere on the internet about other Arlo and Janis strips, there isn’t one about this one (even allowing that it might be a re-run of a 2017 strip). Nothing comes up under a search. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/44 "2021-04-20T12:49:11Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m seeing a copyright date of 2017. Does that mean the strip is a rerun? I couldn’t see this on our copy of the strip, or on the online version, but a search finds that it ran on February 26, 2017. That seems weird. This ought to be a spring strip. On February 26 most places are likely to still have snow on the ground > **[Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for February 26, 2017 | GoComics.com | Jimmy...](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/723250021396294132/)** > > Feb 26, 2017 - View the comic strip for Arlo and Janis by cartoonist Jimmy Johnson created February 26, 2017 available on GoComics.com I found this one line of discussion for the earlier run: > [@](#): > > Perhaps Jimmy is saying that your loved one is actually the most beautiful flower of all. That’s certainly true of my beautiful wife. > **[Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for February 26, 2017 | GoComics.com](https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2017/02/26)** > > Arlo and Janis > 'Narcissus' is a genus of flower that includes hundreds of species that grow from a bulb. Any member is considered a 'narcissus.' > 'Daffodil' simply is a common name for 'narcissus.' If it is a narcissus, it is a daffodil. > That Spring... ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/45 "2021-04-20T12:59:39Z")
Not shifty-eyed, just happy eyed. Not “smell the flowers”, just enjoy the flowers. ETA I don’t think it’s a great comic, even if I’m right. But I also don’t think it’s a whole lot deeper than that explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Blkshp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blkshp/32/7135_2.png) [@Blkshp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blkshp)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/46 "2021-04-20T13:43:09Z")
With apologies to W. Shakespeare: What’s in a name? That which we call a narcissus would be welcomed as a sign of winter’s end regardless of binomial nomenclature… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/47 "2021-04-20T16:19:02Z")
Are the authors/artists of these comics (Jimmy Johnson in this case) that hard to contact? Don’t they have facebook, twitter, or a website where you can just ask them what they were trying to convey? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/48 "2021-04-20T17:28:22Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I get that the “punchline” was “Enjoy the flowers” but I reject it. It’s a stupid strawman since no one actually gets that worried about narcissus vs jonquil vs daffodil vs buttercups. The writer impressed the differences upon us and then acted like we need to be told to ignore them. We were already ignoring them and the only one who gave a shit was the writer. It’s a non-joke and a waste of time. Perhaps it isn’t really about flowers, but is more of a metaphor for people who overanalyze things instead of just enjoying them at a simple level. It’s misses the mark with us because no one at the Dope would ever overanalyze anything. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/49 "2021-04-20T18:27:23Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Are the authors/artists of these comics (Jimmy Johnson in this case) that hard to contact? Don’t they have facebook, twitter, or a website where you can just ask them what they were trying to convey? The Arlo and Janis website has nothing about this particular strip, and the GoComics comments don’t seem to .mention any risque motives, except that Janis is purty like a flower. Sometimes a daffodil is only a daffodil, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/50 "2021-04-21T01:32:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > the GoComics comments don’t seem to .mention any risque motives, except that Janis is purty like a flower. That would be a decent alternative interpretation–of the intent at least. If the idea is that Janis and her beauty is more important than seeing those flowers and figuring out their type. ---
**Author:** ![Enjoy\_Slurm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enjoy_slurm/32/3937_2.png) [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/51 "2021-04-21T05:25:44Z")
How is objectifying women anymore funny than “enjoy a nice calm moment”? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/52 "2021-04-21T13:29:12Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > no one actually gets that worried about narcissus vs jonquil vs daffodil vs buttercups. _No one_? Is this your first day posting at The Straight Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/53 "2021-04-21T13:42:42Z")
I suppose people who don’t get casual language might get worried about that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264/54 "2021-04-21T17:59:14Z")
> [@Enjoy\_Slurm](#): > > How is objectifying women anymore funny than “enjoy a nice calm moment”? I’m just transmitting an opinion. I go with the stop and smell the daffodils meaning myself. However, a theme of A&J had been Janis worrying about the effect of age (they are both retired) and Arlo not seeing or caring about any such effects. Is that objectification in your book? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-arlo-and-janis-today-april-18-2021/940264.md?page=2)