# Not so fast, Sparky! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745 "2020-07-29T19:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/21 "2020-08-01T05:11:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Castor Oyl’s wife, Cylinda Oyl. > > Interestingly, Cylinda Oyl disappeared from the strip right before Popeye appeared. Coincidence? Or the first comic strip character to transition? I dunno, I don’t think [Cylinda](https://cdnmarquee.comicskingdom.com/system/blog/feature/999/1111_page10_original.png?1400012039) looked much like Popeye. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/22 "2020-08-01T05:15:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > Castor Oyl’s wife, Cylinda Oyl. > > > > Interestingly, Cylinda Oyl disappeared from the strip right before Popeye appeared. Coincidence? Or the first comic strip character to transition? > > I dunno, I don’t think [Cylinda](https://cdnmarquee.comicskingdom.com/system/blog/feature/999/1111_page10_original.png?1400012039) looked much like Popeye.  She looks like she wandered in from another comic strip. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/23 "2020-08-01T05:19:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You really don’t want to get into the whole Oyl family if you value your sanity. Her father Cole (Coal) Oyl, mother Nana (Banana) Oyl, Uncles Otto (Auto) and Lubra Kent Oyl…  Was there a Minnerole Oyl? Duke of Oyl? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/24 "2020-08-01T06:26:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I dunno, I don’t think [Cylinda](https://cdnmarquee.comicskingdom.com/system/blog/feature/999/1111_page10_original.png?1400012039) looked much like Popeye. When I look at comics from a century or so ago (usually while browsing old newspapers online) the majority of the time I’m struck by how stiff and clumsy and stilted and most of all not very funny the writing is. This one has at least a mildly funny punchline, but damn was it painful to get there. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/25 "2020-08-01T06:33:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > When I look at comics from a century or so ago (usually while browsing old newspapers online) the majority of the time I’m struck by how stiff and clumsy and stilted and most of all not very funny the writing is. This one has at least a mildly funny punchline, but damn was it painful to get there. I strongly disagree with you on this one. I thought it held up very well. I found it delightful. To each his own, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/26 "2020-08-01T06:40:23Z")
Don’t think so, but there’s a Deezil (from one of the cartoon series) - Castor’s daughter. There’s also cousin Sutra, but I don’t actually get the pun in her name (assuming they hadn’t given up on giving the Oyls pun names by the time she showed up). (I know both of these from Randy Milholland’s recent brief run on Popeye’s Cartoon Club. … Which, annoyingly, doesn’t let you view the archives back to the beginning of the run unless you have a premium Comics Kingdom account. Darn you, King Syndicates!) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/27 "2020-08-01T06:47:49Z")
_Buster Brown_ is especially bad for the clumsy writing, but there is something to say for a panel in the third comic down on [this](https://www.comicskingdom.com/trending/blog/2016/01/14/ask-the-archivist-buster-brown) page, where Buster’s actions have led to a decapitated goose, other apparently dead farm animals, and two pigs embracing each other in grief. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/28 "2020-08-01T06:50:54Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > There’s also cousin Sutra, but I don’t actually get the pun in her name Maybe Sutra was her middle name, first name Karma. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/29 "2020-08-01T08:11:21Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > There’s also cousin Sutra, but I don’t actually get the pun in her name (assuming they hadn’t given up on giving the Oyls pun names by the time she showed up). It’s a reference to Kama Sutra Oil, which is a sexual lubricant/massage oil. > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > (I know both of these from Randy Milholland’s recent brief run on Popeye’s Cartoon Club. … Sutra Oyl was created by Bobby London when he did the comic strip back in the eighties. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/30 "2020-08-01T12:18:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > _Buster Brown_ is especially bad for the clumsy writing, but there is something to say for a panel in the third comic down on [this](https://www.comicskingdom.com/trending/blog/2016/01/14/ask-the-archivist-buster-brown) page, where Buster’s actions have led to a decapitated goose, other apparently dead farm animals, and two pigs embracing each other in grief. Damn, those “RESOLVED” panels in those _Buster Brown_ comics read like they should be on the labels of Dr Bronner’s Soap. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/31 "2020-08-01T14:32:07Z")
FWIW, the complete run of Segar’s Popeye is available in 6 gorgeous hard-covered volumes. Well worth owning. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/32 "2020-08-01T15:45:25Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > She looks like she wandered in from another comic strip. You have to wonder whether Segar was trying to get in some risque humor by having the biscuits Olive stuffed down her blouse make her look bizarrely over-endowed, and Castor casually asking about the “two hard lumps” on his wife’s butt. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/33 "2020-08-01T18:09:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > > > There’s also cousin Sutra, but I don’t actually get the pun in her name (assuming they hadn’t given up on giving the Oyls pun names by the time she showed up). > > It’s a reference to Kama Sutra Oil, which is a sexual lubricant/massage oil. > > > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > > > (I know both of these from Randy Milholland’s recent brief run on Popeye’s Cartoon Club. … > > Sutra Oyl was created by Bobby London when he did the comic strip back in the eighties. And [Sutra Oyl](https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/Sutra_Oyl) was the exact opposite of Olive in almost every particular, except for both having large feet. ---
**Author:** ![flitcraft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8dc957/32.png) [@flitcraft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flitcraft)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745/34 "2020-08-07T03:18:54Z")
I guess no one has anything more definitive to add to Nemo’s suggestion as to the origin of the expression in the subject line? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-fast-sparky/916745.md?page=1)