Schroedinger's Cat

[Ezlo]

Mr. Scruffy, he's either alive, or he isn't. We won't know which until it happens. What do you think?

I personally think that he's alive, and will come back to join with his rightful master Hinjo! Mr. Scruffy is the ultimate proof of Ruler-ship of Azure City!:smallbiggrin:

[The Extinguisher]

Schroedinger's Cat is easy to solve. Just wait a few months. Come back. The cat is dead. Or stab it. That works to.

Mr Scruffy is alive. He was not shown dieing, therefore is alive.
Basic comic rules for main/secondary/reccuring characters.

[BlackMageJ]

He was rescued by Schroedinger's Ninja, who (assuming he was ever in it) escaped from the trap/box when Dorukan's tower blew up.

[TheNovak]

The box is actually full of ten thousand Mr. Scruffy's (the 's is right, isn't it? For plural on a proper noun ending with "-y?"), so far as Schroedinger could tell. By sheer odds, I'd say at least one survived.

[Tolkien_Freak]

He will eventually reunite with Schrödinger's Not-quite-a-paladin Fake-senile Ruler.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[Pronounceable]

Mr Scruffy is dead. He's also alive.

[Gallanoth]

There are multiple millions of copies of Mr. Scruffy that are both alive and dead. Hinjo as *former* ruler of the Azure city carries a few with him in a bag of holding that he keeps on him at all times.

Alt. Theory: Mr. Scruffy is dead because Argent ate him. Or at least one of him.

[CardinalFang]

The box is actually full of ten thousand Mr. Scruffy's (the 's is right, isn't it? For plural on a proper noun ending with "-y?"), so far as Schroedinger could tell. By sheer odds, I'd say at least one survived.

No, actually, it's not. 's is always possessive or a contraction...never a plural. The correct form could be either Mr. Scruffies or Mr. Scruffys; you can ignore the -y to -ies rule for a proper noun. The most correct form would in fact be Messrs. Scruffy, however.

[Chronos]

I personally think that he's alive, and will come back to join with his rightful master Hinjo!Mr. Scruffy is a cat. Mr. Scruffy's rightful master is, therefore, Mr. Scruffy. As well as the rightful master of Hinjo, of the castle, of Azure City, of Redcloak, Xykon, and their 20,000 hobgoblins, of the Southern Lands, the continent, and probably the planet. Just ask any cat; they'll explain it all to you, while getting scritched behind the ears.

[Bunny]

Of course Mr. Scruffy will come back! He has nine lives and the good taste to be a recurring character!

:elan: "Buuuuuuuuut ... The cat came back! He wouldn't stay away! He was sittin' on the front porch the very next day! The cat came back! He didn't want to roam! The very next day he was home sweet home!"
:roy: "That's enough now, Elan ..."
:elan: "Oh, come on, Roy! Don't be a mean old meanyhead! Sing it with me! Everyone!"
:belkar: :haley: :vaarsuvius: :durkon: "Oh! The cat came back! He wouldn't stay away ..."

I love that song! Chocolate chip cookies for everyone who sings! Yay!



Mr. Scruffy is a cat. Mr. Scruffy's rightful master is, therefore, Mr. Scruffy. As well as the rightful master of Hinjo, of the castle, of Azure City, of Redcloak, Xykon, and their 20,000 hobgoblins, of the Southern Lands, the continent, and probably the planet. Just ask any cat; they'll explain it all to you, while getting scritched behind the ears.

Ain't that the truth. This is why I can't have anything nice: the cat gets it all.

:thog: "Not-Nale now sing How much is that Doggie in the Window?"

No. Sorry, Thog. But perhaps Elan will compose a new song to celebrate the wisdom of Cardinal Fang, who not only understands the purpose of the Apostrophe, but the proper use of honorifics! Ice cream with sprinkles for His Eminence!

Bunny

[Eriol]

Since Scruffy has 9 lives, chances are he hasn't used up ALL of them, so assuming there's at least one left, then Mr. Scruffy IS dead from dying when the castle blew up. But since he has one (or more) lives left, then Mr. Scruffy is also alive. And since Mr. Scruffy is both alive and dead, then he's DEFINITELY Schroedinger's Cat.

QED (or something ;) )

[Fitzclowningham]

We won't know until Scruffy's waveform collapses.

(good one, Bunny)

[StickMan]

I think we are going to see him pop out of Roy's bag of tricks.

[Bunny]

Apostrophize

Being a song sung to the Tune Of "I will Survive".
(Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6lHwWwO3w
or here http://www.igudesmanandjoo.com/igujoo.htm if you don't know what that means.)

Please pronounce the apostrophe (') as Victor Borge would.
(Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buiOOwXatM if you don't know what that means either.)

Take it away, Elan!


:elan: Ahem:
Once I was ashamed:
I was mortified.
Didn't know exactly when
I should apostrophize!
If Mr. Scruffy is a plural
Do I use ' before the s?
I was confused ...
and my grammar was a mess!

But Papa Fang
explained the rule:
For plural nouns that end in y
write i-e-s and you are cool!
I thought it was that simple
And I thought that we were done
but Fang said no! Hold on one second!
Because your noun's a proper one!

Go on now, go! Wipe off that frown!
Take those apostrophes away
from that plural proper noun!
Though that's the cat that claims the planet is all his,
that's not the point:
the point's how many cats he is!

So keep the y!
Just pluralize
the Mr. that precedes his name.
Now your grammar's bona fide!
Messrs. Scruffy have things to do;
their litter box is full of poo;
But they'll survive,
they will survive!
Hey, Hey ...

[Ted_Stryker]

We won't know until Scruffy's waveform collapses.
Wave function, not waveform.

[Brat-t]

How did Mr. Scruffy survive?

...sea turtles mate.

[Inverno]

I say we let him be both, like V's familiar he can pop into and out of life as required. Or we could have a fractured time-line: one where Mr. Scruffy lives into his elder years, and another where he's as dead as a Monty Python parrot.

[thehothead]

:smallwink: so one where he's just sleeping?

[Rad]

Since Scruffy has 9 lives, chances are he hasn't used up ALL of them, so assuming there's at least one left, then Mr. Scruffy IS dead from dying when the castle blew up. But since he has one (or more) lives left, then Mr. Scruffy is also alive. And since Mr. Scruffy is both alive and dead, then he's DEFINITELY Schroedinger's Cat.

QED (or something ;) )

this is... GREAT!

[Oberon]

No, actually, it's not. 's is always possessive or a contraction...never a plural. The correct form could be either Mr. Scruffies or Mr. Scruffys; you can ignore the -y to -ies rule for a proper noun. The most correct form would in fact be Messrs. Scruffy, however.

's can be used as a plural when refering to numbers or symbols, ie "count up all of your 6's and 7's". However not for a proper noun. If you were speaking about Agent Smith's multiple forms from the Matrix most people would say "Agent Smiths" athough "Agents Smith" or "the Smith Agents" are probably better.

[factotum]

's can be used as a plural when refering to numbers or symbols, ie "count up all of your 6's and 7's".

I would say that would be written as 6s and 7s, because there is no apostrophe in the word "sixes" or "sevens". In the case of the 6 you might just get away with claiming the apostrophe represented the missing "e", but that doesn't work with 7!

[Oberon]

I stand corrected, but only sort of:

The following is a quote from a grammatical article about the apostrophe tht can be found here (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html)

Forming plurals of lowercase letters
Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them). Here are some examples:

p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, possibly from "mind your pleases and thankyous"?

[slipper]

Learning is fun!

[Snipers_Promise]

Learning is fun!

No it's not.

[Gygaxphobia]

p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, possibly from "mind your pleases and thankyous"?

I believe it comes from "pints and quarts" but I could be wrong.

[Rama_Lei]

Pssh, if we want to find Mr. Scruffy, all we'll find is a box filled with piping hot coffee.

[Lemur]

Mr Scruffy is alive. He was not shown dieing, therefore is alive.
Basic comic rules for main/secondary/reccuring characters.

So true. When was the last time you saw a fictional character die from something like, say, falling off a cliff?


Actually, I had to think of this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0216.html) when I wrote that down. Oh well.

Unless... Return of the Half Ogre? Dun dun dun?

[Deuce]

Of course Mr. Scruffy will come back! He has nine lives and the good taste to be a recurring character!

:elan: "Buuuuuuuuut ... The cat came back! He wouldn't stay away! He was sittin' on the front porch the very next day! The cat came back! He didn't want to roam! The very next day he was home sweet home!"
:roy: "That's enough now, Elan ..."
:elan: "Oh, come on, Roy! Don't be a mean old meanyhead! Sing it with me! Everyone!"
:belkar: :haley: :vaarsuvius: :durkon: "Oh! The cat came back! He wouldn't stay away ..."

I love that song! Chocolate chip cookies for everyone who sings! Yay!

. . .

Bunny

Counter sung with . . .

"Oh the cat got dead, so we put him in a box
Then we dug a little hole and we covered it with rocks
And we picked a couple dandelions, said a little prayer
Then we all went back inside because we mostly didn't care"

(by Heywood Banks - "The Cat Got Dead")

[David Argall]

Well, under D&D rules, we have a number of complaints about characters not dying from falling off a cliff.

And fiction is full of characters "dying" from falling off a cliff, only to reappear X pages later with a story of grabbing a branch or something on the way down.

[Caractacus]

Apostrophize

Being a song sung to the Tune Of "I will Survive".
(Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6lHwWwO3w
or here http://www.igudesmanandjoo.com/igujoo.htm if you don't know what that means.)

Please pronounce the apostrophe (') as Victor Borge would.
(Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buiOOwXatM if you don't know what that means either.)

Take it away, Elan!


:elan: Ahem:
Once I was ashamed:
I was mortified.
Didn't know exactly when
I should apostrophize!
If Mr. Scruffy is a plural
Do I use ' before the s?
I was confused ...
and my grammar was a mess!

But Papa Fang
explained the rule:
For plural nouns that end in y
write i-e-s and you are cool!
I thought it was that simple
And I thought that we were done
but Fang said no! Hold on one second!
Because your noun's a proper one!

Go on now, go! Wipe off that frown!
Take those apostrophes away
from that plural proper noun!
Though that's the cat that claims the planet is all his,
that's not the point:
the point's how many cats he is!

So keep the y!
Just pluralize
the Mr. that precedes his name.
Now your grammar's bona fide!
Messrs. Scruffy have things to do;
their litter box is full of poo;
But they'll survive,
they will survive!
Hey, Hey ...

Superb! I say, ver' nicely done, old chap! :smallsmile:

[RelentlessImp]

:elan: What's wrong with the kitty?

:vaarsuvius: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, it's dead, that's what's wrong with it.

:elan: No, no, it's resting!

:vaarsuvius: I assure you, this cat is dead.

:elan: No, it can't be! There, it moved!

:vaarsuvius: No it didn't. That was you pushing the cat!

:elan: I did not!

:vaarsuvius: Look, Elan. I've had just about enough of it. This feline is definitely deceased.

:elan: It's pining for Shojo.

:vaarsuvius: Pining for Shojo? What are you talking about?

:elan: Well, Shojo's dead now, and the cat's laying there mourning for its dead master.

:vaarsuvius: Look, Elan. It's not pining, it's passed on. This cat is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to join Shojo in the afterlife. This is a late cat. It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! Were it not nailed here with a castle, it'd be rolled over by hobgoblins! It's gone down the curtain and joined the Choir Celestial! This is an ex feline!

:elan: Guess we better bury it then.

[brionl]

Quoth Bob the Angry Flower: "Apostrophe does not mean 'Look out, Here comes an S!'"

[comicadv]

Scruffy lives!!

I can feel it in my bones!

[Basalock]

Counter sung with . . .

"Oh the cat got dead, so we put him in a box
Then we dug a little hole and we covered it with rocks
And we picked a couple dandelions, said a little prayer
Then we all went back inside because we mostly didn't care"

(by Heywood Banks - "The Cat Got Dead")

Your a big fat meanie head:smallyuk:

[Tolkien_Freak]

:elan: What's wrong with the kitty?

:vaarsuvius: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, it's dead, that's what's wrong with it.

:elan: No, no, it's resting!

:vaarsuvius: I assure you, this cat is dead.

:elan: No, it can't be! There, it moved!

:vaarsuvius: No it didn't. That was you pushing the cat!

:elan: I did not!

:vaarsuvius: Look, Elan. I've had just about enough of it. This feline is definitely deceased.

:elan: It's pining for Shojo.

:vaarsuvius: Pining for Shojo? What are you talking about?

:elan: Well, Shojo's dead now, and the cat's laying there mourning for its dead master.

:vaarsuvius: Look, Elan. It's not pining, it's passed on. This cat is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to join Shojo in the afterlife. This is a late cat. It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! Were it not nailed here with a castle, it'd be rolled over by hobgoblins! It's gone down the curtain and joined the Choir Celestial! This is an ex feline!

:elan: Guess we better bury it then.

You, sir, get a cookie.

[Nite]

p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, possibly from "mind your pleases and thankyous"?I believe it comes from "pints and quarts" but I could be wrong.


I'd always heard it came from typesetting... Ps and Qs, being in little boxes next to each other and mirror images (and reversed when grabbing the little wooden things to typeset with) are easy to confuse, causing one to accidentally tyqeset the wrong word.

[Lemur]

Well, under D&D rules, we have a number of complaints about characters not dying from falling off a cliff.

And fiction is full of characters "dying" from falling off a cliff, only to reappear X pages later with a story of grabbing a branch or something on the way down.

Exactly. Falling from a great height is surprisingly nonlethal in most stories. I can imagine Elan saying something like "We have to jump over the edge! It's the only way to ensure our survival!"

[basilisk 89]

:elan: Ahem:
Once I was ashamed:
I was mortified.
Didn't know exactly when
I should apostrophize!
If Mr. Scruffy is a plural
Do I use ' before the s?
I was confused ...
and my grammar was a mess!

But Papa Fang
explained the rule:
For plural nouns that end in y
write i-e-s and you are cool!
I thought it was that simple
And I thought that we were done
but Fang said no! Hold on one second!
Because your noun's a proper one!

Go on now, go! Wipe off that frown!
Take those apostrophes away
from that plural proper noun!
Though that's the cat that claims the planet is all his,
that's not the point:
the point's how many cats he is!

So keep the y!
Just pluralize
the Mr. that precedes his name.
Now your grammar's bona fide!
Messrs. Scruffy have things to do;
their litter box is full of poo;
But they'll survive,
they will survive!
Hey, Hey ...

Sniff....that...that was beautiful!



This is in this box because it is a bit long.

"Meow."

"What? Who's there?" demanded the Hobgoblin near Hinjo's junk.

"Meow." the cat purred, walking out of its cover in the shadows of an overturned crate.

"Awwwwwwww, it's just a little kitty! Aren't you cute? Come 'ere! Come 'ere!"

Mr. Scruffy walked slowly towards the Hobgoblin.

"That's it...that's i-AH!" The cat jumped onto the Hobgoblin's face, clawing and scratching. "Ah! What are you doing?! My eyes! Oh, the pain! Sweet, merciful gods, the pain! My eyes! My useless, torn up eyes! Stop! Stop! Ahhh!"

The Hobgoblin fell to the ground with a thud and Mr. Scruffy walked off of the corpse, nails red with blood, the Hobgoblin's face ripped apart and eyes gouged out. The cat walks towards Hinjo's junk just as Elan, the redshirts, Durkon and Hinjo himself arrive on the scene.

"Meow!" Mr. Scruffy runs up to the party, rubbing against Hinjo's leg.

"Awww, look! The kitty made it out OK!" remarks Elan.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Scruffy." Hinjo says to the cat, not exactly as enthusiastic as his bardic companion.

"Hurry, lads. We need to get onto tha boat an' get ready fer Haley an' Belkar to come back 'a'fore so can set sail as soon as they get back.." urges Durkon as the group walks onto the ship.

"Sir! Welcome aboard. I held off your junk's departure as soon as possible so you get aboard too. I knew how painful it would be for you if you lost your junk." Lian reported to Hinjo.

"Thank you, Lien, but we need to wait for two others to get aboard before we can leave." said the ruler of Azure City.

"Three." corrected one of the redshirts.

"I left the halfling out intentionally."

I'd like to see a strip like that.

[Eriol]

:elan: What's wrong with the kitty?

:vaarsuvius: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, it's dead, that's what's wrong with it.

:elan: No, no, it's resting!

:vaarsuvius: I assure you, this cat is dead.

:elan: No, it can't be! There, it moved!

:vaarsuvius: No it didn't. That was you pushing the cat!

:elan: I did not!

:vaarsuvius: Look, Elan. I've had just about enough of it. This feline is definitely deceased.

:elan: It's pining for Shojo.

:vaarsuvius: Pining for Shojo? What are you talking about?

:elan: Well, Shojo's dead now, and the cat's laying there mourning for its dead master.

:vaarsuvius: Look, Elan. It's not pining, it's passed on. This cat is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to join Shojo in the afterlife. This is a late cat. It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! Were it not nailed here with a castle, it'd be rolled over by hobgoblins! It's gone down the curtain and joined the Choir Celestial! This is an ex feline!

:elan: Guess we better bury it then.
Is this adapted from Monty Python? Seems familiar somehow.

[Brat-t]

yup... it's the dead parrot sketch.

it makes me happy

[Em Blackleaf]

I would assume Mr. Scruffy is alive.
He was probably put on a ship that left Azure city before the battle.

By the way, I like the Dead Parrot sketch parody.
Nicely done.

[BRC]

Mr Scruffy = Kaiser Sose, that is all

[Icewalker]

Ah, Schrödinger.

Yay umlauts!


I believe that Mr. Scruffy is both dead and alive. Therefore it stands to reason (as a being cannot be both alive and dead simultaneously) that there are two Messrs. Scruffy, one alive and one dead. Clearly the dead one will be brought back to life by Tsukiko as a free-willed, evil, mean undead with red and black armor.

The good one will turn out to be an epic-level character, and they will have a big impressive duel over the remains of the city.

That's how quantum theory works right?
(For those of you who don't know, that is actually how quantum theory works. Kinda)

[Breaon]

Mr. Scruffy is visiting the alternate Azure City where his other-dimensional Mr. Scraggy (with goatee) is entertaining him, until the right time.

[DraxtonSmitz]

http://www.explosm.net/comics/949/