quote:

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In your first strip, "Kramer is law, you are crime," which is supposed to break this rule, Zoe speaks in the third person about her cat. I suggest that the actual rule is that "One character must speak exclusively in the third person."

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Kramer,

What the hell is the matter with you? Do you have such a fragile ego that you throw a fit before admitting that you made a few little mistakes? You did make mistakes in running this contest. They are little mistakes, but it is better for you admit them than to start blasting away at people. I was not trying to make you look bad, and I was not calling into question your character or intelligence. But you have just made yourself look bad. You can ruin this contest by continuing to act like a stupid twit, or you can be man enough to admit that you occasionally make mistakes.

1) It was a mistake on your part to identify "Kramer is law, you are crime" as violating rule 6. Zoe does speak in the third person when she says of her cat, "he ran into the bushes and must have got stuck!" It was this mistake on your part that has made it impossible for me to identify rule 6, because the data you had given would rule out this rule.

2) It was a mistake on your part to make "All dialogue boxes must contain an even number of lines" a rule, because the number of lines does vary from display to display. This mistake of yours has made it very difficult, if not impossible, to identify this rule.

Again, let me reiterate that these are minor mistakes. They do not imply that you are bad or stupid or even inferior. I am not reprimanding you for these mistakes. I am merely pointing them out, because they have served as roadblocks in making progress with this contest. It is not about being a smartass. It is about being precise. This contest is a game of logic and precision, and it calls for extreme precision.

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FPD is the foremost plague on discussion boards. Do your part to stomp out FPD.

Are we having fun yet?

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

Speaking in first, second and third person can be easily understood by imagining three people, two of whom are engaged in conversation, while the third is in another room. Speaking in first person, the lone man* speaks to himself, about himself: "I must remember to shave later." Speaking in second person, one of the pair in conversation speaks of the other: "You must come to my birthday party." The other conversationalist speaks of the absent third in third person: "He has been gone a long time." I/me, you, he/she/they - first, second, third.

That said, to "speak in third person" has taken on a new secondary meaning in modern usage, specifically, "To refer to oneself in the third person." Many people have made this style of speech famous, including Bob Dole, and several professional wrestlers. If you offer Fred some beer, and he shakes his head and says, "Fred doesn't like beer," then this would be an example of this mode of speech.

I hope this has helped to clear up any confusion that may have arisen.

* - Please forgive my use of the default masculine pronoun. While it is certainly archaic and arguably sexist, it also makes this explanation far easier. Do not blame me - blame the English language and its substandard range of pronouns.

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Get it right!

Just out of interest.....what were the rules to this contest?

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Dad was flammable

Well?

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Dad was flammable

I think the two nobody got were:

The title must contain the same number of words as there are human characters in the strip.

And

The strip must contain at least one character with no visible hands.