Monday, October 5, 2009

Based on a True Story

There are a lot less similarities between my mission and that of Elder Van Dyke's than you might think. The strip isn't in any way autobiographical. That being said, there are a few jokes that came directly from my experiences. Today's strip is one example.

In the real experience, though, the women flung open her door after we introduced ourselves through her door and breathlessly asked, "Who did you say you are?"

After telling her again that we were missionaries, she said, "Oh, I thought you said you were mercenaries." She then slammed her door.

It wasn't too surprising that she got the two words confused, the Slovene word for both missionary and mercenary is derived from English. What was surprising was that she opened the door in the first place. My companion and I walked away wondering what kind of person opens her door to mercenaries and slams it on missionaries.
Posted by Arie Van De Graaff at 7:30 AM
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12 comments:

  1. Very funny story. Even funnier since it is true (which video game were the little Slovene kids actually playing when this all went down?).
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  2. The game console the kids are playing looks to be a Super Nintendo System which makes this strip terribly out of date, unless, 1) Laputania is incredibly behind when it comes to video games or 2) the kids are a bunch of retro hipster making some sort of statement.

    The video game of choice for a Super Nintendo is, obviously, Techno Super Bowl.
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  3. I think the video game looks more like Super Mario Bros. And they are playing without warping, without fire power and without dying.
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  4. Nope, Jena, notice how both children are involved in the game and one isn't sitting there bored while his sibling accomplishes that incredible feat, waiting impatiently for him to hurry up and die or pass all nine levels so he can get a turn. (All the while bemoaning the fact that he ever agreed to let his brother go first.)
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  5. I've noticed that the author is responding to each comment posted. While some may interpret this as laudable attentiveness on his part, I view this as nothing more than a cheap attempt to surpass the previous record of 8 comments on an individual post.

    Having said that I now see that we're up to 5 comments already. Almost there.
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  6. What's your record, Eric? Arie's up to 6!
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  7. By the way Arie, you loved watching Mario kick Luige's butt and you know it. And you never complained when I asked to go first. (And yes, I wrote this one seperately so that Arie could have 7 comments.)
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  8. I think my record is 8, too. And I think Arie deserves to break it.
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  9. Nine comments from two readers and the author just doesn't cut it (especially since the two readers are two of my siblings). Sorry, guys, I just can't count this. The record still stands at eight.
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  10. My name is Ivan Dobrovskyevitch. I from Slovenia. Here in Slovenia my people love you funny American cartoons. You very funny man. We love play video games also. We no love Mercenary but very funny joke. adijo in srečno
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  11. We had a similar experience in Korea knocking on doors near a university. Apparently the word for "missionary" is very close to the word for "sex teacher." Go figure!
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  12. Kevin, your story beats mine.

    And for everyone's information, Kevin's blogs are full of even more Mormon cartooning. I'm a big fan.
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