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the Figliggie
Date: 04-24-2012
By: Kip W
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Like you, I'm used to spelling the word "figligee," which I suspect I got from Excelsior, You Fathead! A day or so ago, however, I happened to see this Smokey Stover Sunday page from a comics blog, and there in the last panel we find a wondrous thing.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A5tBg5T1mGo/T1j3IpBO6MI/AAAAAAAAdQM/Ow6KQMltqVk/s1600/Super118-03.jpg
"Phippled Figliggies," the caption reads. At a stroke, we see where Shepherd almost undoubtedly got the word â€" from Holman and Smokey, if not from this exact strip â€" and how it's spelled (unless a word doctor wants to make the case that Shepherd made a new word of it and spelled it differently). But wait, there's more!
Follow the arrow from the words and you'll see that phippled figliggies are those little trianguloid things in Smokey's briffits (a perfectly cromulent word). We even know what they are now!
Mind you, I still don't know if regular, non-phippled figliggies look like that or not, but I think we can all agree that a great stride has been taken in our knowledge, largely thanks to "Pappy," who posted the comics page (and many others) at his Golden Age Comics blog.
I await the plaudits of a grateful world. (Don't worry, I packed a lunch.)
24 Apr 2012 |
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