@AntC I believe it's … are. The youngster is rather effortlessly able to complete the adults' thoughts. Furthermore, in the last frame, Frazz is drawn transparently (the wall colors are visible through his head) while the youngster is not. I believe he is agreeing with her.
With John from Cincinnati, I also initially completed the last panel with "are". I think the main reason being the rhythm of the strip. "Are" fits better the brevity and punch of the earlier panels. And I don't get any hint of self-deception as a theme in the strip. Although, it might be most useful to know the persona of the character speaking last. I have some vague recollection that he's usually depicted as guileless, which I think works better with "are". But I could easily be wrong. I think I can see the point of ending with aren't. Though it does seem odd to have that as the final (implicit) word of the strip.
I think the intended completion is "are", because a disagreement would be prefaced with an explicit "yes" or "no" ("no" in this case), e.g. "No, we're not."
Logically plausible, but the ongoing theme of the strip is that Frazz, though a 'mere' janitor, is more worldly wise than most of the other adults, and quietly affirms truths and wisdom to the children who talk with him.
Since in this episode all of the adults, including himself, are depicted as transparent, Frazz is not going to go against his established character and either lie to the child, or to be unaware of the (undoubted) truth being displayed.
Jerry Packard said,
February 19, 2024 @ 7:20 am
I don’t get the last frame, the one on the right.
AntC said,
February 19, 2024 @ 7:51 am
… aren't
Jerry Packard said,
February 19, 2024 @ 8:59 am
Thanks!
John from Cincinnati said,
February 19, 2024 @ 1:48 pm
@AntC I believe it's … are. The youngster is rather effortlessly able to complete the adults' thoughts. Furthermore, in the last frame, Frazz is drawn transparently (the wall colors are visible through his head) while the youngster is not. I believe he is agreeing with her.
AntC said,
February 20, 2024 @ 12:09 am
@John I think you are mis-countiing [**] the layers of meta-/self-deception/hypocrisy (depending how generous you're being to grown-ups).
The strip has already skewed the field/queered the pitch by starting "We …".
Speaking for myself: transparently I "aren't" going to admit to being transparent.
YMMV, of course.
[**] I won't hypothesize whether you've under- or over- counted.
Nat said,
February 20, 2024 @ 12:45 am
With John from Cincinnati, I also initially completed the last panel with "are". I think the main reason being the rhythm of the strip. "Are" fits better the brevity and punch of the earlier panels. And I don't get any hint of self-deception as a theme in the strip. Although, it might be most useful to know the persona of the character speaking last. I have some vague recollection that he's usually depicted as guileless, which I think works better with "are". But I could easily be wrong. I think I can see the point of ending with aren't. Though it does seem odd to have that as the final (implicit) word of the strip.
AntC said,
February 20, 2024 @ 1:04 am
I don't get any hint of self-deception as a theme in the strip.
Huh? If the team wins, "we" are with it. If the (same) team loses, "they" are nothing to do with me.
Dennis Paul HImes said,
February 20, 2024 @ 10:15 am
I think the intended completion is "are", because a disagreement would be prefaced with an explicit "yes" or "no" ("no" in this case), e.g. "No, we're not."
Haamu said,
February 20, 2024 @ 11:38 am
For me, the joke would work better if Frazz's line was "They …"
Mark Young said,
February 20, 2024 @ 3:08 pm
Quite possibly the response is meant to refute the child's claim. Clearly both of the suggested completions are plausible….
Terry Hunt said,
February 21, 2024 @ 1:22 pm
Logically plausible, but the ongoing theme of the strip is that Frazz, though a 'mere' janitor, is more worldly wise than most of the other adults, and quietly affirms truths and wisdom to the children who talk with him.
Since in this episode all of the adults, including himself, are depicted as transparent, Frazz is not going to go against his established character and either lie to the child, or to be unaware of the (undoubted) truth being displayed.