Comments on: Maize

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:03:52 +0000

I know the commericial, but this really is based on word play.

Around here people grow lots of corn, some farmers grow their corn in such a way that it becomes a maze (think of hedge mazes in England) People then pay money to try and find their way through the maze. If the farmer is really mean, he might have actors hiding in the dead ends waiting to scare the bajaysus out of you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_maze

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:14:10 +0000

Wait a minute — the water says that is A maze … not that is maze (maize). The joke the cartoonist is trying to make falls very flat because of the article (The joke is flat anyway). For this to make sense, and therefore no sense he would have had to say ‘This is A maze, which you call A corn’

By: Fnord

Fnord — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:52:17 +0000

@Judge Mental: I know that. I’m saying it doesn’t matter if I ever saw the commercial, it’s still a mildly amusing cartoon.

By: Keera

Keera — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:38:49 +0000

I’ll never forget the Mazola commercial, because someone describing it introduced me to the word “patronizing”.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:39:55 +0000

@paperboy, love the Steve Martin reference!

FWIW, I understood the joke, but forgot all about the Mazola commercial until I read the comment. I think it’s funny without it, but funnier if you recognize it.

By: paperboy

paperboy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:39:18 +0000

Man, it’s like foreign people have a different word for everything!

By: Judge Mental

Judge Mental — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:42:06 +0000

@Kat and @Fnord

This is not a CIDU, its a “Hey Geezers!”. Note the comments beneath the strip: “Certainly, readers of any age will get the play on words; but you had to have been around in the 70’s to recognize the quote from the Mazola commercial.”

By: GP

GP — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:35:30 +0000

You don’t have to be old enough to remember the commercial. Beavis and Butt-head used a very similar line in reference to the commercial: “Maize. You call it corn.”

By: Fnord

Fnord — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:36:46 +0000

The grain that is called “corn” in North American is called “maize” almost everywhere else. In those places the word “corn” may refer to wheat, barley, oats, or whatever other grain is popular there.

So this makes perfect sense if the pale guy is from the US and the dark-skinned guy is from another part of the world. He’s punning on the terminology difference: “This is maize, you call it corn (you weirdo).”

By: Frank the curmudgeon

Frank the curmudgeon — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:28:44 +0000

Unfortunately I’ve heard the commercial more than once.