It’s an infamous Far Side cartoon (linked to by Banquet Bear) that’s well-known for being incomprehensible. Gary Larson said he got more questions from people who didn’t “get” that one than any other.
I figure it’s some sort of canine vitamins or something. If it was jizz, well, he wouldn’t have a litter by drinking it. And the fact that she specifies that it’s going to be a fine, healthy litter (as opposed to “Congrats, you’ll be having a litter of puppies soon!” suggests that it is something to ensure fine, healthy litters.
</Comic strip overanalysis>
Thank you dearly for that explanation. I’ve been up all night (forcing an all-niter to get my sleep cycle back on track) and when I clicked on that Far Side I just stared at it thinking how badly I need sleep.
So, did Gary Larson ever respond?
But, sleep or no sleep, this:
is freakin’ hilarious!!!
For some reason, I see this as an “Elvis Sweat”-type product, some sort of white liquid in a jar. What the heck, make it an officially licensed product- you could put a picture of Garfield holding a cup of Garfield’s Fido Jizz™ on there with a thought bubble over his head reading “Straight from Odie to you!”
By cleansing my brain of the image of Jon drinking fido jizz. :dubious:
I read that comic strip when I was a kid, and the possibility of it being dog sperm never crossed my mind at that tender age. I do remember what the hell it was suppose to be. I think I assumed that it was something to induce fertility in female dogs.
Now that I look at it again, I can’t imagine that it’s anything but dog sperm. Ugh. Ugh. And ugh.
Ah well. At least I have satisfied an inquiring mind. I shall take comfort.
I applaud you, Fear Itself
I can’t dig up a direct quote now, but he did address the subject in one of his anthologies. It was just supposed to be weird in a funny way. If cows, who certainly don’t make tools because they don’t need them, made tools, what would they look like? Like, I dunno, if I drew a cartoon of a horse buying dental floss. It wouldn’t be funny for any specific reason; just the concept of a horse buying dental floss would be funny. (Or wouldn’t, as the case may be. But the point still stands.) Readers of the cartoon, however, probably figured that there had to be more than that in Larson’s comics, because usually there is. Therefore, there was much speculation and analyzing of what Larson *actually * meant by this comic, while he actually really just meant “cow tools”.
Hey! They’re now talking about this on http://www.fark.com
You beat me to the link!
But don’t tell anyone that I look at Fark.com as one of my “cruise around the web with my morning cup of tea” websites.
I have to admit, I just read your post, then took another look at the comic, looking first at the cow’s face, then the tools on the bench, back at the cow’s face, and finally brought my attention down to the caption on the bottom:
“cow tools”
and I can’t stop laughing.
I seriously need some sleep.
As I recall from the anthology, Larson said his major mistake (besides thinking it was funny)*, was to make one of the “tools” resemble a handsaw. This made people try to decipher what the other three tools were. But, since they were just abstract forms, they didn’t have a chance in hell in that’s what really confused folks.
*His words, not mine
I’m at work, but I’m pretty sure the “cow tools” explanation is in the Far Side Pre-History. You know…if anyone has it just lying around. But Jophiel got the general gist of it, methinks.
Best comment of the thread!
My favorite part of all this is when the webmaster for garfield.com notices a spike in hits on this cartoon and tracks it back to this thread and to fark. Oh, the joy!
Daniel
I think our cover is blown. Jim Davis ain’t writing me back now.
We will be forever in the dark…and booooy is it sticky.
More specifically, here.
Drat. I wish I would’a thought of posting it to Fark…
…sez the fark-liter w. three greenlights to his name. I guess I’ve used up my allotment until I pony up the five bucks for TF…and alas, that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
I hate to say it, but you guys are wicked overanalyzing this strip. I doubt Davis ever got anywhere near conceptualizing what was in the cup. He just started with the punchline and worked backwards, in a slapdash way. Lazy bugger.
OK. Your secret is safe with me. 
I’d hate to imagine how else John would end up carrying puppies!