Comic for February 6, 2009: Thopp
Roy could resolve this issue in a heartbeat if he’d just break the jinx. Of course, if Milo had made it a personal jinx, it’d be a completely different story. I’m surprised he was so careless!
(The comments below refer to dialogue that has since been changed. You are warned!)
I don’t quite remember the full rules of jinx/personal jinx. Milo said Jen’s name in panel 4. Shouldn’t that have cleared the jinx? Or does he need to say it 2 more times?
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i agree with the rapping black man from outer space!
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That is an excellent point, and one we did not consider. I grew up playing such that you must to say the name three times, but I think both variants of the game are in common practice.
So I guess there are a two interpretations for what’s going on:
1) Both Jen and Milo play with the three-times rule, and Jen inadvertently violated the jinx because Milo goaded her to talk. (Or perhaps she just thinks the jinx game is dumb and childish.)
2) Jen plays with the one-time rule, but Milo plays with the three-times rule—in which case the whole event is just a terrible mix-up. In this view, Jen’s retaliatory outburst is a protest against having been unjustly punished for breaking a jinx that in her mind she had already been freed from.
Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, there are further variants of the game that could be a source of confusion: for example, it seems as though some folks don’t count nicknames towards breaking the jinx. Perhaps Milo thinks Jen remains unfreed because he did not call her “Jenelle”?
Clearly the issue is complicated. We may adjust the strip so that Milo doesn’t say Jen’s name at all, just to avoid confusion amongst future readers. Then again, perhaps the present discussion is sufficient clarification. I’ll see what John has to say about it.
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What I have to say about this is that Greg’s answer is hilariously comprehensive. I’ll change the dialogue so that a legal brief isn’t required to address the confusion.
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Much appreciated. I used to play that game when I was a kid. I got hit so many times, I probably have some sort of permanent bruise or something… (not really)
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When I was little, the first person to realize the jinx, and then get through saying “jinxonetwothreefourfivesixseveneightninetenBUYMEACOKE!” was then owed a coke (one can) by the loser.
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Oh, and if they finished at the exact same time, double-jinx was called. I can’t remember what happened then.
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