CSotD: Holiday envy
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I was kind of surprised that Columbus Day got so little play in the comics today. Normally, it is cause for a spate of drawings of sardonic Indians making witty New Yorkeresque observations about the new people in the neighborhood.
Maybe it's just as well.
But, as today's Frazz points out, it does put us one-up on the Canadians, and more, in fact, since, not only do we get one more holiday, but most Yanks also manage to wangle a day off on the Friday following American Thanksgiving. Those who do not will find it very hard to accomplish anything, since most of their phone calls will go unreturned until Monday anyway.
On the other hand, it's been a few years since most Americans got any but the major holidays off anyway, unless they work in banks, schools or the post office. And in the new economy, they don't necessarily get paid for the major ones anymore, either. These days, some of us celebrate the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas as company-wide furloughs. How festive!
By contrast, when I was living just south of Quebec some years ago, I had to drive by the beach to get from my house to the office, and it took a few cycles of the calendar before I got used to how crowded la plage would get on what seemed to me to be random days. Not only did they have Saint Jean Baptiste Day on June 24, but the construction industry in Quebec shuts down for vacance during the last two weeks of July, which would not only send the construction workers to the beach but also anyone whose business relied on construction. Kind of a trickle-down holiday.
Which brings us to the Canadian flag. I'm old enough to remember 1965, when Canada went from flying a red ensign with a Union Jack in one corner and a collection of appropriate heraldry to having an actual national flag. I also remember, during the process in which various designs were being proposed, the joke which said the new flag was going to be nine beavers pissing on a frog. But at least the frog would have had sand in his shorts and a nice tan.
In any case, today's Frazz seems like a clever way to mark Columbus Day and also for Jef Mallett to tip his hat to Canadian readers, and I'm sure he'll be getting a lot of mail.
Pointing out that Erik the Red never visited the New World.
Meanwhile, getting back to those sardonic Indian gags, I won't criticize anyone who can top this 1961 classic:
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